Vox Populi Issue 281

                                                            VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 281                      Date: 13.05.2019

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:       

1. Do We Need Modi To Lead Us Again?

2. Conspiracy Theories Originating At The Level Of The Supreme Court 

3. His Master's Voice

4. Security Is Politicised

5. Model Code Of Conduct To Cover Financial and Other Enforcement Agencies

                                     Do We Need Modi To Lead Us Again?

Under Narendra Modi for the last 5 years India's image among its citizens and on the world stage has fallen down from an erudite, responsible, cultured, sympathetic, secular  and progressive nation. We are decidedly lo-brow today besotted with confusion, controversies, confrontations that seem decidedly unnecessary  

Modi's anathema to family and dynasty as indicated in most of his statements stems from probably the fact that he has no family. The fact that he has been separated from his wife since his marriage clearly makes him unable to perceive and understand family values. Lately to add to the claim of a 56 ins. chest the BJP has been saying that Modi is a 'mard' like no other. In Indian society where 'mard' is associated with masculinity there are two facets to it, one of physical strength which one grants that Modi maybe has but the other aspect of the ability to procreate is something that we have not seen from him. So like Modi's most claims the 'mard' label is also half true. His visits to his mother are cultivated to add more to the Modi persona and timed to maximise political gain to show that he still has family. The lack of family has led to unbalance in his life which reflects in his policies that tend to be unstable. The over-effusiveness while meeting foreign leaders with some cringing away from the Modi hugs while maintaining a haughty reserve with Indian fellow politicians and leaders including his own party - the BJP, shows an anxiousness to be accepted by foreigners while wanting to keep a distance from countrymen. 

In his utterances which tend to be outrageous and outlandish one clearly sees the lack of education. This is more so reflected during election times when the edge of vindictiness creeps into his comments. These are unnecessary and do not fit into the characteristics of a leader particular as senior as the Prime Minister. Modi in his enthusiasm to appeal to the uneducated and uninformed voter gets carried away and makes bombastic statements which verge very little on the truth. One is sure in these Modi himself knows that what he is saying is not true but at the same time he knows that his audience has little knowledge of the truth and he takes advantage of it, revelling in the cheap thrills it brings to him. In the same style he thrives in challenging the system, to see how far he can go without being caught out. This is seen in most of his statements that have been reported to the Election Commission on the violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The problem is that Modi in the campaign mode more often than not forgets that he is the Prime Minister of India and says whatever comes to mind which again more often than not devalues the image of the Prime Minister, his office, his party and himself. 

The other thing that we have seen with Narendra Modi is that he likes to hear what he believes and if there is anything not matching with that, he tends to come down on it with a heavy hand. Thus among international ratings India lately went up a few notches in the Ease of Doing Business but in the Happiness and Press Freedom indices, India was rated very lowly. So while Modi's government publicised the Ease of Doing Business achievement, they were ominously silent on the slippages or low rankings in the other two indices. There is also another tendency to discount international ratings or figures relating to India, mostly when they do not find favour with the present government, by saying that the ratings or figures are not true. And what do foreigners know about India, since we obviously know better! That is the reason why today India's economic indices are such a mess. Why talk of transparency, we have become as opaque as China in reporting of the country's economy. We are fast coming to the situation like in China where any economic figure is given and that's it. No question entertained, no answers given. Then with Modi there is this tendency to hide uncomfortable facts or events like the employment figures recently or the jiggling of the GDP figures. A compulsiveness to show only that is complimentary to the government. 

Economic measures under Modi as we have seen are characterised by limited thinking and implementation programs are defined by two steps forward, three steps backwards. Nett result a mess all around. These have been the hallmarks of the demonetisation exercise, the cashless program, the GST putting through,the health plan which has very limited takers among private hospitals since rates are not remunerative showing sloppy preparatory work for the world's largest health program! Demonetisation failed all around but brought down real estate prices even though there were still no buyers and the sector is still recovering from the debacle. But that is what Modi was touting recently. This was akin to taking an elephant by its tail to wag its head.  It was touted that demonetisation would bring more tax payers into the tax net but current year e-filings have shown a shortfall of more than half a million in Mumbai alone. As for cashless operation, the amount of cash in the economy has gone back close to the pre-demonetisation levels signifying that in India cash is king. Again in disaster situations like it was found during Cyclone Fani when it hit Orissa recently cash was desperately needed by people to buy emergency needs since with no power and wireless connectivity ATM's and PoS' were down and which will be limping to normalcy only in a months time. With Modi becoming PM people were banking on the replication of the much touted Gujarat economic model across India but sadly 5 years hence economic performance has become the Achilles heel of the Modi government. 

With the economy in disarray Modi has little to talk about the 'achhe din' he had promised and that is why the dialogue during the elections has been artfully diverted to nationalism and personality issues. These latter issues stir up emotions and easily divert the mind of the electorate which is what the BJP strategy has been. 

With Modi there has been this noticeable tendency of fitting in yes-men and cronies in major institutions be it the RBI, Election Commission and also in the government bureaucracy making sure that instructions are carried through with the least obstruction. Sadly this leads to a paralysis in the diversity of views and leads to a situation of a horse running with blinders. This is not good for a country like India with its range of complexity and may lead to a situation of some sectors and communities getting preference over others. 

Do we need a person like Modi with his erratic ways to lead us again? The answer to that will be given on May 23 but the alternative to Modi is a barrenness and the possibility of a terribly fractured mandate and more uncertainty as we go into the future. 
So essentially the choice is between the devil and the deep sea.

              Conspiracy Theories Originating At The Level Of The Supreme Court 

Two Supreme Court judges have lately raised the bogey of judgments being marginally modified in text for advantage to the entities involved be they individuals or corporate entities. We who have worked in corporate India know of the deteriorating quality of administrative support to recent times. Therefore the incidents mentioned by the judge in the cases of Ambani, Amrapali and combining the hearings on the Rahul Gandhi case and the Rafael case are where the judges themselves have slipped up and shown lack of due diligence. This can also be attributed to the Registrar of the SC who should be pulled up for these errors which benefit the litigants except in the last case. If judges bring up such cases of 'unseen hands' then it is a insult to the competence of the SC and shows an erosion of their ability to handle such matters. Conspiracy theories should not be originated at the level of the Supreme Court since that will lay the precedent for the country to follow which is a dangerous thing.

                                                      His Master's Voice

We are steadily seeing the His Master's Voice culture developing in our incumbent BJP government. Toe the official line seems to be the diktat to everyone and defend it at all costs. We had seen this in the case of Rajeev Kumar, Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, a respected home grown economist who was an avid critic of Modi's financial policies particularly demonetisation up until he took up his official assignment and once in the chair started to sing hosannas in praise of Modi's policies including that of demonetisation. The same kind of thing is happening with Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the new Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). Again a professional with good credentials is succumbing to the ploys of government and like a canary singing their tunes once he has assumed office. He had said lately that the crimping of the GDP figures in the last two quarters is indicative and reflective of the fact that alls well with the system for computation of the GDP which was under pressure for manipulation to output rosy figures. This is a simplistic argument and the CEA is well advised to look closely into the matter since the rot is dark and deep.

                                              Security Is Politicised

On the one hand the PM claims the nation is secure under the BJP but it is the BJP who are seeking and being given security exposing the lie to the PM's claim. Lately the NSA Doval's son has been given Z+ security. Why? It is not clear. The son is learnt to be heading a private foundation. If there is a threat to their person, should not the foundation arrange for the security and pay for it? Again some of the BJP candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and the BJP party functionaries in West Bengal have been provided security. As a level playing field should not the other other party candidates and functionaries be provided similar protection. Or is this security provision also a political ploy to show that the BJP is under threat in West Bengal?

       Model Code Of Conduct To Cover Financial and Other Enforcement Agencies

From the time that the Lok Sabha elections were announced or a little before that the financial and other enforcement agencies, the triumvirate of the IT, ED and the CBI have been raiding one or the other political party opposed to the incumbent government. The last was Mayawati being named by the CBI in the sugar mills scam just about a fortnight ago. Earlier it was the DMK, the Congress splinter party in Andhra  Pradesh and also Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi party in UP for the sand mining scam.  Should these investigating agencies not be brought under MCC - Model Code Of Conduct since otherwise as we have seen now the incumbent government uses them to their advantage by launching raids or naming people from the Opposition parties in one or the other scam to unsettle them in their election campaigns. It is best that this be done and the Election Commission be advised to amend the MCC before the next elections. 

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Vox Populi Issue 280

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 280                      Date: 06.05.2019                     Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com   Contents:          1. The Charge Against The CJI & A Comment On The Working Of The Judiciary 2. NSE Fraud Stalled By SEBI           The Charge Against The CJI & A Comment On The Working Of The Judiciary   Nowadays nothing seems to be beyond the pale of clouded working down to personnel handling as we have seen with the sexual harassment case in the Supreme Court against the CJI at that. And the way the case is being handled is like the court is the last resort of law, which it is but maybe this case is one such where it needs to show how it will come out of the furnace of justice burnished and shining for the values it upholds. However the way the case was moved it did not look like the path of fair and equitable justice was being laid out for the victim. First, the CJI by calling a special hearing prejudiced the case of the complainant. Then the internal  committee was not constituted per the guidelines of the Vishakha Committee report in sexual harassment cases with the main lacunae being no independent member from outside the accused organisation was included. When the sittings of the Committee commenced then the victim claimed that she was fearful and felt threatened by the proceedings of the Committee and sought the presence of her lawyer, which was not allowed as per rules. With this the woman stopped participating in the proceedings of the committee and was told that the committee would proceed ex-parte. Though the CJI did appear before the committee,it seemed that was more to comply with the rules. This is what essentially transpired and carried on to the logical conclusion which was to give the CJI  a 'clean chit'. A number of questions arise out of the handling of this incident which does not pre-suppose anyone's guilt neither that of the woman in bringing a false accusation or that of the CJI. In the special hearing convened by the CJI, who constituted the panel? Was it not the CJI himself? Why did the other two judges participate in the proceedings of this hearing? Should they not have persuaded the CJI that an internal committee be best formed and allow it first to examine the allegations. What transpired at this special hearing? It was only a show of umbrage and the CJI filled up with his own importance bearing down on the complainant, a woman holding a LDC post at the SC, with not only his own position but that of the SC and drawing up unsubstantiated allegations of devious entities with vested interests trying to derail him personally, the SC and by inference the judiciary of India. These are serious and weighty charges that the SC brought out but without a shred of evidence and if one may say, the last charge seems to be brought in to divert attention from the sexual harassment charge. Again it was reported about 6 months back that the CJI was involved in an incident  at the Kamakhya temple in Gauhati where he was required to wait a few minutes before he could be taken in for darshan because some other political dignitaries were in the garbagriha and the CJI had then taken offence and as a consequence a senior police official supervising the VIP movement at the temple was removed from his position. This incident is being brought in since it bears a striking similarity in the way the CJI reacts when placed in certain situations. As for the internal committee the constitution of the same should have reflected the intention to be fair by following government guidelines as said earlier in the absence of any in-house rules since we are told that that this is the first case of sexual harassment that the SC is facing involving the CJI. The fact that at the end the committee had two women judges in it was heartening considering the matter before it but inspite of it the victim claimed that the proceedings were frightening after participating for 2 days which indicates that maybe the women judges did not put enough effort to put the victim at ease. This essentially is the problem with our judges and the judiciary who are filled to the brim with their own importance and refuse to look at reality. Here the reality was that every effort should have been made to have the victim participate in the proceedings since that was important for the institution i.e. the SC while again we saw the importance of the judges predominating with the ex-party procedure being called in. If the victim had wanted her lawyer to be brought in to assist her, then one thinks that should have been allowed since for one it would have shown the magnanimity of the SC and showed that every effort was made to get to the truth in the incident. By closing this door the SC has given the impression that it is a closed club and it will shut its doors if it feels threatened. Essentially the SC has come out as a weak institution. The CJI has claimed that there is no truth in the allegations then he had nothing to worry about and if it was a matter of confidentiality the victim's lawyer could have been sworn to secrecy if that gave the SC any comfort. Again the committee we were told had no deadline to submit its report but. within a few days almost in the manner of a hasty closure it filed its report with the judgment that the CJI is not guilty. There is a broader aspect in all this and that the judiciary and its members particularly the judges should come out of their cocoon and be more integrated with the society at large. This will make them appear to be more human. The fear that judges have that if they intermingle in society then there are chances of bias creeping into their judgments and that charges of favouritism will be levelled against them may not be valid. The challenge is that by not being isolated and by participating in society and still being able to give impartial judgments will take the judges to a greater level of competence and performance which will also elevate them as individual human beings. We need to do away with the archaic image of the judiciary in India and put it in a progressive path in line with the growth and development of the nation as we go into the future. The last thing is the timing of the revelation by one of the lawyers that the SC could be 'fixed' in the choice of judges to sit on a bench to hear particular cases  etc. which if you link the CJI's charge of certain interests trying to remove him seems to a red herring to divert the public’s attention from the sexual harassment charge. One must finally conclude that the SC has not covered itself with any glory of absolving the CJI of the charge in the manner that it has been done which raises more questions about putting a lid on the matter rather than closing it in a fair and equitable manner aligned to the principle of natural justice.                                            NSE Fraud Stalled By SEBI   The latest to come out with scandals in its operations among corporate institutions is the NSE which was pulled up by SEBI for irregularities and then had strictures put on two of its senior management personnel with another person being moved against on the heels of the other two. A ban from stock trading for some 3 years and hefty fines running into crores of rupees indicates surely the seriousness of their crimes. The stock markets in India are operated in a none too fair manner one would presume going by this incident. One must confess that an understanding of the stock markets particularly in India is beyond comprehension of most people considering that like as of now when the economy is doing badly and staggering on the path of growth we have seen the stock market indices rising and going to record levels. Surely the stock markets should reflect the state of the economy. But then we are told that it moves with the foreign funds coming in to India seeking returns (sometimes called 'hot' money), the international prices of oil and whether the US Federal Reserve has sneezed in the morning or not, let alone the fact that that our RBI has been in a deep freeze for quite a while which does not jiggle the BSE index even a wee bit. So one asks why should one invest in the stock markets where they are absolutely un-Indian in its reactions. Investing in them seems to be more like a gamble and it would be best to invest in the horse races where there is more ease in putting in your money and taking it out. The business TV channels and the anchors therein try pompously to label the stock market movements to a science but fail miserably since after all it is a 'satta' market and what science can you infuse it with. Coming back to the NSE issues, connivance at top management seems to be the norm in most corporate entities in India these days and the tendency is to pursue such activities and make sure that you do not get caught. Things like CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility and pursuing social values are more for lip service and the primary activity seems to be to fill in your pockets and look after yourself first. That is why we have been seeing a run of these kind of frauds across industry sectors lately. That the regulator SEBI was alert and could get a fix on the NSE was merciful so that the fraud could not be persisted with is the saving grace for us.                                                          **********************

Vox Populi Issue 279

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 279                      Date: 29.04.2019                     Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com Contents:        1. Modi's Bag Of Dirty Tricks At Play During The Elections 2. Of Poetess Laureates, Bank Of England Governors & Curry & CTM 3. The EVM & Indian Elections                     Modi's Bag Of Dirty Tricks At Play During The Elections Narendra Modi has been trying to use every trick in the book to subvert the rules of the Election Commission relating to campaigning for elections. Thus starting from the Namo web series to Namo TV to Namo biopic to the interview with Akshay Kumar, he has been trying to subvert the regulations and influence the voter every which way. Though the EC has put its foot down, better late than ever, on the web series and declared that Namo TV cannot show political content except for maybe transmitting live the election speeches made by the Prime Minister and delayed the release of the biopic. These have been calculated and calibrated steps by Narendra Modi  to take undue advantage and influence the voter much before the election campaign began. He cannot claim innocence and profess that he is not aware of all these methods that were used to promote him in the minds of the people. That would be insulting the intelligence of not only him but the people of India. That as Prime Minister he is using these questionable tactics speaks of his compulsive desire to win the elections at any cost and not following the precept of a level playing ground indicates flaws in his leadership makeup. Apart from that Narendra Modi tends to play naive in some of his statements. Like when the EC asked that the armed forces should not be drawn into the election campaign and incidents like Pulwama and Balakot be avoided, he asked - If farmers deaths can be brought up in elections then why not those of soldiers. This is a matter of debate for the next elections but for the present one when the EC has put out a stricture is it not Modi's duty to follow it being the Prime Minister? Similarly, when the question of Sadhvi Pragya's nomination for the Bhopal seat came up for criticism, he had said that if Malegaon was terror, was the 1984 Sikh killings not terror? If as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi cannot make a distinction between Malegaon and even the Samjhauta Express blasts which were deliberate and planned to kill people and put through with a twisted objective in mind, the Sikh killings in 1984 were the consequence of an emotional upsurge upon the assassination of a sitting Prime Minister. That the 1984 Sikh killings  were used by certain people to carry out their personal agendas in playing up to the rulers that be is a completely different matter. Narendra Modi  himself is not new  to this since the 2002 Gujarat riots were a similar emotional upsurge because of the Godhra carnage in which because of the slaughter of Hindus on the train, hundreds of Muslims were killed. And Modi had at that time allowed the communal mobs to vent their fury across Gujarat for 3-4 days without raising a finger. So by Modi's definition, if this was terror does it not make him an accessory after the fact and thus a terrorist.                   Of Poetess Laureates, Bank Of England Governors & Curry & CTM It was in the papers that Imtiaz Dharker, the mother of the actress Ayesha Dharker, is likely to be named as the Poet Laureate for England following in the footsteps of another lady from whom she will be taking over, who was the first lady to hold the coveted post. I am not sure if Imtiaz is the wife of Anil Dharker from BBY, a literary figure in his own right, controversial also, and which is most likely. Raghuram Rajan, the noted economist who was our earlier RBI Governor, unceremoniously given the boot last year by not giving him the customary second term extension is No. 2 on the list for the Bank of England Governor post. The pay is £480,000 per year. Who says being an economist means you have to economise on your finances?  For long, curry has been the favourite food of the Brits with CTM - Chicken Tikka Masala topping the list of most ordered food in the UK. Thus be it culture, be it finance and even food Indians are most likely to control the minds, wallets and stomachs of the British. We can then maybe say that the British Raj has been reversed completely.                                           The EVM & Indian Elections The EVM, rightly so, has become the central figure in Indian elections but the unfortunate part is that it has come for a lot of unfair criticism mostly from those that end up losing elections on it being manipulated. The first series of EVM's were made in 1989 by BEL & ECIL who continue to be the present vendors to the Election Commission from a common design. The singular characteristic of the EVM is that it is a stand-alone device with its software resident in an EEPROM, at least for the first series of production. The stand-alone feature makes the machine impervious to being manipulated like if it were connected to the Internet or having wireless connectivity when it could have been tampered with through remote means. If you have to manipulate the EVM now you have to be in possession of the machine which explains why the EC takes so much precautions of the security for the EVM. Again the EEPROM resident software to be manipulated needs the person tampering it firstly, to be in possession of the EVM and then secondly, have an external programming device like an UV (Ultra Violet) Reader and Writer. This complexity is what makes the EVM tamper-proof. A number of political parties have said that nowhere in the world do they use the EVM but in India. The reason for that is that most countries like the US and Europe tried with machines linked to the Internet and with wireless connectivity which fell foul as said earlier of the tamper proof necessity. We therefore need to appreciate our designers at BEL & ECIL who came up with this unique design which has stood the test of time for close to three decades for almost all elections held in India. However, the number of failures of the EVM's in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is somewhat distressing whether in the Ballot board or Control Unit or with the VVPAT which has brought another dimension to the machine. Like they say the more number of sub-systems you have the more likely are the chances of failure of one or the other. But apart from that fact there seems to be some lacunae in the production quality of the EVM's and then in their subsequent handling by the EC and those involved in conducting the elections. These processes need to be tightened. As for manufacturing quality both vendors have from the first manufacture been rushed for time by the EC and have to take extraordinary steps to meet the deadlines of large volume delivery. These rush-rush delivery stipulations do not allow for quality to be consistently maintained and built-in across the large volume of machines that are put through. Therefore in-process manufacturing methods need to be tightened. As for testing once the EVM's are to be deployed it is more a procedural issue and rigorous testing and an adherence to the testing manual and proper training of staff of both EC and officials that conduct the elections, should address these issues. The problem has been that when the criticism of the usage of EVM's is increasing it is then that the failures have also been increasing. Therefore the EC and both BEL & ECIL need to put their heads together and combat this criticism for a machine that has stood the test of time, as said earlier. There is one other thing about the EVM and that is, we should de-criminalise the fact that you cannot complain about its working after using it. The reason for this is the EVM is a tool of democracy and we should not stifle the voice of the people if they have any problems in using it. The levels of education in India of voters is diverse and illiterate voters may have a genuine grievance while casting their vote though there maybe others who deliberately desire to create nuisance. But even one vote with a genuine grievance should not be disregarded. The EC should take a broader view on this matter and either have the existing rule and publicise it vigorously but not implement it, thus using it as a deterrent. Or have re-polling if the number of complaints seriously affect polling on the election day in the particular booths with a different EVM which will install confidence in the people that democracy really works.                                                           **************************

Vox Populi Issue 278

VOX POPULI                                                                         by                                                                   S Kamat                                                                          as                                                                 Aam Admi                                            Issue: 278                      Date: 22.04.2019                     Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com   Contents:          1. Justice Gogoi Did Not Follow The Principle Of Natural Justice  2. The BJP Is Best Advised To Pull Out Sadhvi Pragya From The Election Fray  3. Are Turf Wars Linked To Uncoordinated Raids By Financial Enforcement Agencies               Justice Gogoi Did Not Follow The Principle Of Natural Justice  The news that Justice Gogoi, Chief Justice Of India has been accused of sexual harassment was sensational and more so was the expediency and despatch with which Justice Gogoi convened a Special Bench to hear the matter with himself sitting on it though he left the announcement of the order to one of the other judges on the bench. Now consider the matter in its totality without being biased as to the position held by the accused and the fact that that the complainant was a woman and it was a sexual harassment issue. Justice Gogoi should have waited and set up a separate Bench as has been done now with Justice Bobde heading it and waited for its deliberations to see whether it clears him of the allegations or not. Instead of that he went ahead and played out a drama of how onerous and important a job that he is holding with many important judgments coming up ahead of him in the coming week. And how he has foregone material rewards to serve in his position and that these allegations are below his dignity to address. These arguments are emotional and have no place in a court of law where the accused stands stripped of his position and judgment should focus on the accusations and not on the accuser. This Justice Gogoi also did by almost naming the accuser, her husband and her brother-in-law giving their criminal histories so that by a system of triangulation you can arrive at the identity of those that are being hinted of.  Thus what transpired during the hearing of the Special Bench was the sacrifice of the principle of natural justice, the playing out that India remains a paternalistic and position conscious society where the people lower down the pecking order, more so women, have no chance to seek fair and equitable justice. The accusations may be false, motivated and instigated as alleged but the manner in which Justice Gogoi came across at the accuser was like using a Bofors gun to kill a chicken. This clearly was patently unfair and Justice Gogoi did not serve the ends of justice by what he did in the matter. One hopes that the new Bench will come out with the truth exonerating Justice Gogoi and punishing the accuser as appropriate to her offence. As to Justice Gogoi whether he should continue in the chair he occupies is up to him to decide since he may not be guilty but he needs to ask himself that as holding the highest office for justice in the land did he uphold the principle of natural justice in this matter?            The BJP Is Best Advised To Pull Out Sadhvi Pragya From The Election Fray    In nominating Sadhvi Pragya from Bhopal the BJP will meet its Waterloo in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Narendra Modi's impudence in first approving her nomination and then defending it will come a cropper as May 23 comes around. The BJP poll pundits may have done their calculations while giving her the ticket but one knows Bhopal as a city with a sizeable Muslim population which will surely work against the BJP candidate. In claiming that Sadhvi Pragya's nomination and forecasting her victory to demolish the label of Hindu terror, Narendra Modi has shown his and the BJP's communal agenda in supporting a terrorist. Narendra Modi the self-proclaimed fighter against terrorism around the world has succumbed and sided with a terrorist thus proving that his campaign against terror rings hollow. Irrespective of whether or not Sadhvi Pragya is convicted for the Malegaon bomb blast or not for which she is on bail the fact remains there is enough evidence that she was involved in terror activities both in its planning and execution. That is the reason why she should not have been nominated by the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. Narendra Modi needs to also understand and differentiate between those on bail for civil offences and those involved in criminal and terror related offences. He often changes his colours as a chameleon does like in the instance of Karkare. Modi visited their home after Karkare's death at the hands of the Pakistan terrorists to commiserate with the family and offer them Rs. 1 crore for being martyred which the late wife of Karkare had refused. But now he is singing a different tune about Karkare and charging him with torturing Sadhvi Pragya. Simply put Modi lacks the quality of being steadfast on any issue and will change the dialogue to suit his present narrative. This is just to make short term gains or simply to prove a point in a debate or fit an argument. As for the torture of Sadhvi Pragya the same finicky process of thinking persists with Modi. Where he claims that he has been cleared of any guilt related to the Gujarat riots in 2002 because of a Supreme Court judgment and flaunts that clean chit around, in the context of Sadhvi Pragya he is refusing to accept the Supreme Court judgment which said that her claims of torture were baseless. This is a typical example of the classic saying that says - What is good for the goose is not good for the gander. As for Sadhvi Pragya she suffers from an advanced case of the foot-in-the-mouth disease. Symptoms of this have already emerged with her Karkare curse and that since she apologised for her comment, she has asked whether those who tortured her will now apologise. Her fevered mind probably does not realise that when there was no torture, where is the question of an apology? These are early days and Modi will realise what a liability he has picked up in this self-styled sadhvi. Modi cannot pull her out now but a diplomatic way out of the embarrassment would be to get her nomination papers rejected on the basis of some technicality to save the BJP's face, that is if Modi is bothered about the party's reputation.          Are Turf Wars Linked To Uncoordinated Raids By Financial Enforcement Agencies   That DMK Kanimozhi's house was being raided by the IT Dept. was the Breaking News on TV on the night of 16th April 2019. The next morning the newspapers carried the news that the raid did not reveal anything and was based on a 'false tip-off'. The IT Dept. seems to very agile when it comes to conducting raids on parties or agencies or people opposed to the present government. Also the TV news on 16th night indicated that the tip-off was that cash had been stashed in the first floor of the house. Now at election times, is not seizures of cash under the purview of the Election Commission - EC? So is the IT Dept. overstepping its boundaries and even if it had received the tip-off should they not have referred the matter to the EC. More so because Kanimozhi is contesting the elections from Tutikodi. Why is the IT Dept. so over-jealous in the performance of their responsibilities just prior to the elections which we do not see at other times? The raids now on politicians to look for cash is like going at harvest time to the Hapus mango orchards in Ratnagiri where you are bound to get some mangoes at the least. But if Kanimozhi has managed to get a clean chit, smart girl - she has managed to stay one step ahead of the IT Dept. Not only that the IT Dept. upon not getting anything at Kanimozhi's house tried to twist the story that it was not a raid but a 'surveillance' action. That still does not explain the timing of the raid just 2 days before the election date in Tutikodi! Not only that the IT Dept. per their latest instructions did not keep the EC informed about their plan to raid Kanimozhi's house. Was this deliberate? This instruction had been given to the Secretary of the Revenue Dept. by the Chief Election Commissioner - CEC after a meeting over the unbridled random raids that the financial enforcement agencies were conducting mostly against the Opposition parties. At that time the Revenue Dept. Secretary had the temerity to tell the CEC that they should be more active in seizing cash that was moving around in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. In a sense this seemed to be asking the EC to lay off the domain of the IT, ED & the DRI. A clear turf war as it were was shaping up and maybe not informing the EC about the Tutikodi raid was part of that agenda. Under the present government this is how our governmental agencies have become extra-constitutional authorities filled with their own importance which makes them disregard any controls put into their area of operations. Or maybe they have the ear of the PMO and can count on support from that quarter if at all they are questioned or fall into a soup.                                                     ******************************

Vox Populi Issue 277

                                                            VOX POPULI

                                                                        by

                                                                  S Kamat 

                                                                        as

                                                                Aam Admi

                                           Issue: 277                      Date: 15.04.2019

                    Visit: skamat.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:       

1. Nirmala Sitharaman's Immaturities On The Rafael Deal 

2. Deliberate & Orchestrated Raids By  Financial Enforcement 

    Agencies To Cow Down Opposition

3. Modi's Campaign Style In Present Lok Sabha Elections 

                                 

                       Nirmala Sitharaman's Immaturities On The Rafael Deal 

Nirmala Sitharaman as Defence Minister needs to brush up on government procedural matters and diplomatic protocol. This comment is being made in the context of the latest news from France as published by Le Monde, their leading newspaper, that Anil Ambani's Co., Reliance Flag had been given a substantial concession on tax running into millions of Euros, months after the Rafael deal was signed. That Nirmala Sitharaman voluntarily issued a statement that this had nothing to do with the Rafael deal made her sound like wanting to clarify the matter before any question about it was raised, making us feel that was there really a link? Like they say there is no smoke without a fire and then saying there is no smoke, no smoke when you can actually see it makes one ask - Where is the fire? The other thing it also seemed as she was the spokesperson for Anil Ambani, clarifying on his behalf where actually it was Ambani who should have come out and said that there is no connection between the tax refund and the Rafael deal, which he did but later. As for the truth of the matter only the prime players can tell like the then President of France, Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani but one must say that France as a country thrives on controversy and in international deals things like this can happen and the tax refund may have been part of the package given Ambani along with the Rafael offset deal. Coming back to Nirmala Sitharaman and her somewhat blaise  comments, just after the Supreme Court recently junked the AG's argument that the 'stolen' Rafael documents could not be accepted by the Court, she had said that Rahul Gandhi without knowing the full story is going to town with bits and pieces of the Rafael deal. What choice does the poor fellow have since those who have the full story will not come out with it, that is why he has to make do with the bits and pieces hoping one day that he will have the whole. It is time therefore that Nirmala Sitharaman puts out a White Paper on the Rafael deal. 

                   Deliberate & Orchestrated Raids By  Financial Enforcement Agencies 

                                                 To Cow Down Opposition

Arun Jaitley's claim that the raids by the IT, DRI & ED on mostly the Opposition parties and in States that are not run by BJP governments are based on inputs received and actual data need to be taken with a pinch of salt. If you look at the statistics of raids since 2014 almost all the raids conducted by the above named financial agencies have been against those inimical to the BJP. The present raids and those in the past show a clear agenda by the incumbent BJP government to intimidate or one can say even terrorise those that are opposed to its policies and programs. In the context of the present raids it is a known fact that in India cash is used during elections as an incentive to buy votes. So it does not need a large amount of intelligence or exceptional competence to raid the functionaries of political parties and seize large amounts of cash. If the financial agencies had raided the BJP party functionaries they would have found similar amounts of unaccounted cash. In fact there have been reports that in Andhra Pradesh a large amount of cash was recovered from a BJP leader and in Itanagar in Arunachal a Pradesh one of the cars in the PM's convoy moving to a political rally was found with cash in excess of Rs. 1 crore. Thus there seems to be a deliberate plan to use government machinery to serve the political ends of the BJP in the run up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. At the same time the incumbent BJP government seems to be hesitant and chary to use the same enforcement machinery against its crony industrialists like the Ambani brothers. Apart from the quid pro quo of Anil Ambani getting not only the Rafael offset contract but also the tax refund on his Reliance Flag Co. deal that was hanging fire for years and which was cleared months after Narendra Modi signed the Rafael jet deal, we have the Dutch Co. involved in supplying equipment and material to a major gas pipeline Co. in India being hauled up in the Dutch courts for having laundered money in excess of US $ 1 Billion by overinvoicing and then channelising this money to a Singapore family owned Co. that is linked to the Indian Co. The media has attributed this to the Reliance Group of Cos. run by Mukesh Ambani, though the Group itself has denied any links with the Dutch case. This is a clear case where a large amount of money is involved for our enforcement agencies to ask the Dutch police or through government to government channels to get details of the Indian Co. so that this amount can be chased and brought back into the country. If this is done then at least some part of the promise that Narendra Modi made in 2014 to bring back black money from abroad can be achieved. Otherwise what has happened is that instead of black money coming back to India, we have had those with black money leaving the country at regular intervals like Vijay Mallya, Choksi, Nirav Modi and others so that they can enjoy their ill-gotten wealth abroad. Even in the manner that these named people have left the country there are pointers to large scale corruption being involved within the PMO, finance ministry officials, CBI, DRI & ED. Thus for all of Narendra Modi's claim of being a chowkidar his role even in that role has been at most patchy with the blackguards running circles around him and fooling him completely. 

                        Modi's Campaign Style In Present Lok Sabha Elections 

Narendra Modi comes across as a personality who thrives on controversy, is cheeky, chafes at restrictions and wants to push the boundaries. He has also a cockiness about him making him want to see how far he can go without being questioned or pulled up. Representative of these traits were the ASAT announcement, Modi biopic and NAMO TV  which are all clear pointers to skirt the boundaries of democratic norms and thus seek undue advantage in the upcoming elections.

Such behaviour is unacceptable in a leader at the level of leading a nation like that of a Prime Minister. The cutting corners syndrome by a leader encourages the people down the line to also do the same in their own way and manner which may end up in taking the law into their own hands. If the people exceed the boundaries such leaders are unable to pull them up. In the context of Modi we have seen this happening when the intolerance debate commenced soon after he assumed office then the lynching cases emerged linked to cow slaughter and beef eating. The long drawn out silence, reminiscent of his silence during the Gujarat riots,  not only encouraged the perpetrators but prompted the leaders in the BJP hierarchy make conflicting statements getting the party deeper into the morass of controversy. Even now on the beef eating issue we have a case in Assam where an elderly Muslim was assaulted and forcefully fed pork. This latter aspect of feeding pork is a new  dimension to the brutality being inflicted on simple folk going about their livelihood.

Again an orchestration is apparent in trying to take undue advantage in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections like in the planned release of the Modi biopic and the launch of NAMO TV along with coordinated raids by the IT, ED & other financial law enforcement on non-NDA parties and in States ruled by Opposition parties. This is apparent in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Just prior to elections if the raids are conducted then the authorities are bound to find something since the targeted entities are equal to sitting ducks. The same applies to the Agusta Westland case where the leaks about naming Ahmed Patel and the Gandhi family seem to be timely and the ED & DRI are playing the dumb ones by asking for a report on how the chargesheet was leaked to the press after maybe themselves putting it out. Michel, the Italian in custody in the Agusta Westland case has in the meanwhile said that he has not named anybody as being connected to him or as beneficiaries in India of the helicopter largesse.

Thus if you put all this together you will see we are no different from any country in Africa or that in Central Asia who use any and every means to tomtom their own views and publicise themselves during elections while going after their competitors or adversaries again with every means at their disposal to terrorise the opposition into submission or at the least unbalance them and disrupt their campaigns for the elections. 

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