The winter session of the Parliament began by paying rich
tributes to the Indian Constitution and its makers and celebrated the iconic,
Constitution Day on November 26th , to mark the 125th
birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. The occasion was marked by
invigorating speeches delivered by the leaders of ruling party and opposition
who reposed great faith in the preamble, reiterated the founding principles of
constitution and promised to abide by them. The government stung by the remarks
of being cavalier reached out to the opposition but was imperiled by its
non-committal attitude. Slammed by political critics for their inability to
reach consensus with opposition, ruling party gave enough ground and were optimistic
of a discussion on the crucial GST bill that can invariably give a major fillip
to the reforms process announced by NDA government. Government committed for a
conducive functioning of the Parliament has unleashed a whip on the loose
cannons in the party to make the winter session more productive. Seemingly,
they truly meant business and anticipated to break the logjam in the
Parliament.
So far the winter session witnessed grand standings on
constitutional values followed by intense debates on intolerance. Besides both
houses discussed the flood situation in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,
situation in Nepal and price rise. Government has lined up four bills for
consideration in Lok Sabha and seven for Rajya Sabha which include the GST bill
and Real Estate Bill. So far in this session, two bills were passed in Lok
Sabha- the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2015 and The Bureau of Indian
Standards Bill 2015. The Arbitration and Conciliation Bill 2015 was introduced
in Lok Sabha and discussions on Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2015 just
began in Rajya Sabha. But with the issue of summons by Delhi Court to Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi pertaining to the National Herald case, in a worst
display of intolerance, Congress stalled the proceedings of both houses of
Parliament. The court refused to relent to pleas of the Gandhis’ and issued
summons to both of them and five others (Motilal Vohra, Sam Pitroda, Suman
Dubey, Oscar Fernandes and YIL) to appear before court on December 19th.
Immediately the Congress raised a banner of tirade branding the dictum of the
Delhi High Court as Vendetta by government. Subsequently, Congress upped the
ante against the government with their lawyers holding press conference and the
Parliamentarians reducing both houses of Parliament to ransom. Both the houses
had to be adjourned with MP’s entering the well and raising slogans brandishing
the ruling party.
National Herald, the mouth piece of Congress was established
in 1938 by a group of Indian nationalist leaders besides Jawaharlal Nehru in
Lucknow. It started off by publishing three newspapers- Navjeevan in Hindi,
Quami Awaz in Urdu and National Herald in English. Nehru worked as initial
editor and was Chairman of Herald’s board of directors. In fact all the investors
and the shareholders of the establishment are sympathizers of Congress and for
long it served to eloquently voice out the choicest path desired for the
nation. Over a period of time, the paper degenerated financially due to various
reasons. Delhi edition came into existence in 1968, from a building in Bahudur Shah
Jafar Road. Lucknow office was closed in 1998. All the flung assets of National
Herald (Associated Journal Limited) including its offices at Patna, Mumbai and Panchakula
are now valued at Rs 2000 crores and by 2008 it accured an outstanding debt of
90 crores. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) extended a loan of 90.25
crores from the tax exempted funds (meant for political purpose) to AJL to restart
the newspaper. Meanwhile, Young India Private Limited (YIL) started under
section 25 company act 1956 (currently section 8 of company act 2013) with a
provision of exemption from paying income tax on par with other Charitable
trusts by paying Rs 50 Lakhs acquired AJL which owe money to AICC. YIL is
majorly controlled by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi with each having 38% of
shares. Now the plush buildings of the National Herald obtained at
concessional rates from the government for setting the newspapers have turned
into real estate assets earning Rs 60 lakhs of rent a month.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a private complaint
against Gandhis’ for alleged breach of trust and cheating in acquisition of AJL
in a trial court in 2013 (during the UPA-II regime). In June 2014, court has
summoned Gandhis’ to appear before the court. By August 2014, however the
Congress leaders obtained a stay till all parties are heard. The high court in
its latest judgment noted that “the probity of the legendary political party”
is at “stake” and prima facie case “evidenced criminality”. It is worth noting that companies registered
under the section 25 are ordained to promote commerce, art, science, education,
research, social welfare, religion, charity, protection of environment etc. But
interestingly YIL doesn’t conform to any of the aspects mentioned above. Had
the Central government really conspired to implicate the opposition leaders, it
has the authority to revoke licence of any company that contravenes the section
8. With cessation of publication of newspaper, actually the exemptions
guaranteed under this section can no longer be availed. Also if the central
government had wished to implicate the opposition leaders, it could have
deferred the case to a later date and couldn’t have risked its reputation when
the final discussions for the GST bill are underway. The ruling party have
cleared decks for the two of the revised formulations suggested by the Congress
party for the GST bill, by constituting committee headed by Chief Economic
Advisor Arvind Subramanian. It backed the key demand of Congress dropped 1% tax
on inter-state sales over and above the GST rate and proposed a neutral rate of
15-15.5%. But didn’t favor inclusion of the GST rate into constitutional
amendment. Moreover, Prime Minister Modi wouldn’t have even extended an
invitation to Sonia Gandhi and Man Mohan Singh for deliberations on GST bill.
What infact demands serious contemplation are series of
contradictions that clearly indicate that Congress is hell-bent on playing a
victim card. Stirring statements of Gandhis’ reminisced those of Late Indira
Gandhi who came back to power in 1980 on the behest of being victimized by the
Janata Party. The ballistic rhetoric of Sonia Gandhi, “Why should I be scared
of anyone? I am daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi” truly expounded the political
theatrics played by the President of the Congress party. Similarly Rahul
Gandhi’s egregious statement of government playing vendetta politics does in
fact conform to the prevalent paradigm of the dynasty being above law. The
outlandish comments by the top leaders and the congruent vociferous protests of
their members in Parliament revealed their brutal disregard for an independent
judiciary and the recourse of the democratic process.
Interestingly, the Congress speaks in a double voices. On one
hand, while seemingly mellowed down by Court order its leaders promised to
abide by legal process, on the other hand it is horrendously whipping the
ruling party for harboring a political vendetta and stalling the proceedings of
the Parliament. Democracy has four basic pillars- Legislature, Executive,
Judiciary and Press. While it has obfuscated one of the pillars with its
financial largesse. The vendetta claims surely endorses that it is beyond any
legal scrutiny and aims to debilitate the judiciary. By hypothetically linking
the PMO to court order, Congress party seem to suggest how they wield political
control over the judiciary.
Challenging the prudence of court order at every possible
platform is tantamount to contempt of court. After ruling the country for over
five decades, the intolerance exhibited by the congress leaders towards
judiciary truly smacks of self-aggrandizement. The vindictive stance adopted by
Gandhis’ reminded the arrogant posturing of Indira Gandhi’s in 70’s when she
roared “Indira is India”. The excesses and legacy of Congress is not sacrosanct
anymore. The electoral drubbing to the lowest ever tally of 44 in Lok Sabha,
denied them the post of Leader of Opposition. But this abysmal public disdain
failed to bring even an iota of change in its hierarchical standing and
functioning. Undoubtedly, Congress has resorted to disruptive politics of
stalling Parliamentary proceedings. Its unrelenting attitude of holding
protests before the Parliament on frivolous charges despite the open debates in
both houses of Parliament failed to persuade them. Subsequently they stalled
the functioning of Parliament in Monsoon session throttling various
developmental activities (GST included). Almost half of the winter session has
passed without any major transactions in Parliament. Needless to say, the slug
fest flagged off by Congress alleging politics of revenge held a high pedestal
to its political Godfathers undermining the welfare of people at large. With
Opposition showing no signs of forsaking their political interests’ discussions
on GST are highly unlikely. Ironically the party that claims to have moral high
ground is remorselessly stifling the very fabric of the nation-Democracy.
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