Gandhis poor excuse

In the National Herald case, is there any public interest involved in the first place? Why should the people of the country suffer with the Parliament being stalled without debating important issues pending with it?

The Gandhis do not have time to discuss the agrarian crisis haunting the country even as lakhs of farmers are committing suicide owing to debts. The grandson of Indira Gandhi takes a selfie with a farmer and questions the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, whether the latter had any time for farmers.

Important bills are pending in the House and yet the Congress leadership disrupts the House unmindful of the impact the delay would have on the nation's progress and development. Major tax reforms are on the anvil-all initiated by the Congress itself in fact. Apart from these issues, the House should have insisted on a discussion on its foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan as the Modi's government's flip-flops are sending wrong signals to everyone.

Still, the Congress feels it is vendetta politics and seeks to settle scores with the ruling alliance and without much support politically. Several of its own MPs are privately expressing their discomfiture over the "politically disastrous move"

"I am Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law and I am not afraid of any allegation," thundered Sonia Gandhi the other day much to the amusement of the nation with reference to the National Herald case against her and her son and Indira Gandhi's grandson, Rahul Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi, nay the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, is right for once. She need not be afraid of any allegation. After all, she has the power and paraphernalia to be defiant of the rule of the land. Hence, a case against both of them becomes a case of political vendetta in this country! How shameless this party could be when it comes to its leaders’ misdeeds – alleged or otherwise – are rather shocking.

In the case of Robert Vadra, too, a similar argument was extended. Congress leaders cried hoarse when the Haryana government sought to probe Vadra's alleged misdeeds in land deals. K T S Tulasi, senior counsel and Congress RS Member was asked whether it was justifiable that Vadra was given a loan of a few lakhs of rupees by the DLF to buy a piece of land in Gurgaon owned by the company itself which later buys the same land paying a huge amount to Vadra thus benefiting him disproportionately. Tulasi had this answer: "Jab miya, biwi razee, tho kya karega quaazi." In the present case too, Tulasi's argument remains unchanged.

In all earlier cases filed against the leaders of other parties and against its own dissenting leaders, this very same legal luminary argued on channels that "it is a legal matter and the party has got nothing do with it. Let them prove their innocence in the court of law and come out clean. If they are not guilty why should they worry anyway?"

Back in 1978, when Indira Gandhi, mother-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, preferred a confrontation with the Janata Government in defying her arrest, she knew that that was the only way she could win back the sympathy of people. If Sonia wants to repeat the same by invoking her name and her family ties in this era and time, will she gain politically?

The present case has got nothing to do with the Parliament, people or the government. The case was not foisted against the present Gandhis because of their political ideology, commitment to people's causes or for their probity in public life.

It is a simple open and shut case wherein a charitable private non-profit company Young Indian acquires Associated Journals Private Limited, by getting the loan of Rs 90 crore given to it transferred in its name Associated Journals which owned and published National Herald and other journals earlier secures this Rs 90 crore loan from the Congress party. In turn Young Indian pays the Congress Rs 50 lakh as consideration amount for transferring the debt to it. Now 38 per cent each of these shares of Young Indian are in the name of the Gandhis.

Justice Gaur of the Delhi High Court had observed that "...appears that Young Indian was a sham or a cloak to convert public money to personal use..." The loan received by the Associated Journals was in fact an accumulated debt taken from the Congress party.

The Congress declared AJL as a zero worth entity and transferred the debt to Young Indian when the UPA was in power. In effect, the Congress leadership consisting of both the Gandhis took control of the AJL and its assets - mind you, this runs into few thousand crores - through deft transfer of debt to Young Indian, a company owned by the two again.

Similar to something that Vadra has done. Is not it so? So now Young Indian comes to own at least Rs 5,000 crore of prime properties in the country spread across New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Patna etc., This is not the end of it. Now Young India also controls the rentals that run into few more crores every month.

Another hiccup for the Gandhis is that the very National Herald House located on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg had been given to the AJL then to publish a newspaper at concessional rates. In addition to the Gandhis the Young Indian's other two directors and shareholders are Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes of the Congress.

These last two were the directors of the AJL with Motilal Vora being the chairman of the company too. Along with the Gandhis these two and in addition, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, are also accused now in the case.

What is intriguing is the fact that the AJL which had properties worth not less than Rs 5,000 crore across the country was dubbed as a company with negative worth by the same Congress leadership which has a major stake in the Young Indian when it comes to repayment of Rs 90 crore worth debt. Any of the AJL properties could have fetched more than Rs 90 crore if it wanted to repay the debt. And who an earth would settle for Rs 50 lakh against a debt of Rs 90 crore? That the Gandhis felt so raises the doubts in the minds of any sane person.

Again coming to the deal, is there any public interest involved in the first place. Why should the people of the country suffer with the Parliament being stalled without debating important issues pending with it. The Gandhis do not have time to discuss the agrarian crisis haunting the country even as lakhs of farmers committing suicide owing to debts. The grandson of Indira Gandhi takes a selfie with a farmer and questions the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, whether the latter had any time for farmers.

Important bills are still pending in the House and yet the Congress leadership disrupts the House unmindful of the impact the delay would have on the nation's progress and development. Major tax reforms are on the anvil all initiated by the Congress itself in fact. Apart from these issues, the House should have insisted on a discussion on its foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan as the Modi's government's flip-flops are sending wrong signals to everyone.

Still, the Congress feels it is vendetta politics and seeks to settle scores with the ruling alliance and without much support politically too at that. Several of its own MPs are privately expressing their discomfiture over the "politically disastrous move".

If the TMC finds itself on the same page as the Congress did today, it is more because of its own Saradha scam. After all, three of its own MPs and a former Minister of West Bengal are in jail in the scam. The bonhomie between the Left and the Congress would bode ill for the party in the next Assembly elections and Mamata is fully aware of it. She knows that the BJP need not be taken seriously in the State after its Bihar debacle and hence is worried about the Congress-Left combination. That is why she has joined forces with the Congress now in the Parliament.

It is now up to the Gandhis to appear or not to appear in front of the Court on December 19 personally as the Court ruled, but to disrupt parliament for personal benefit sounds like they want to threaten the judiciary as the BJP pointed out. Aam Aadmi is now asking just two simple questions. Why cannot the Gandhis face the courts? Why are they stalling the Parliament instead of proving their innocence in the Courts?