“The media trial against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi or for that matter against Sonia’s son-in-law Robert Vadra will yield no results. Two years have passed since the Modi government came to power, but the Gandhi family remains untouched.” – Syed Firdaus Ashraf
While watching the news last night, my phone kept buzzing.
Unable to ignore the constant buzzing, I checked my phone to find pro-Narendra Modi friends bombarding me about the revelations about Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s alleged role in the AgustaWestland chopper scam.
Message after message informed me of how finally achche din had arrived now that Sonia’s name had been mentioned in the Rs 3,600 crore (Rs 36 billion) VVIP chopper scam.
The messages were more or less identical: ‘AgustaWestland scam—Rs 250 crore paid as bribes to Sonia Gandhi and her aides to clinch deal.’
“Italian court convicts AugstaWestland Chief Guiseppe Orsi for paying bribes to top Congress leaders in India,” the messages read further, “Sonia Gandhi struck the deal and used her puppet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to loot public money.”
Initially, I felt the urge to ignore the messages, but later I responded that despite my friends’ delight, nothing would happen to Sonia and that she would not land up behind bars.
My phone went quiet. My Modi bhakt friends fell silent.
The media trial against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi or for that matter against Sonia’s son-in-law Robert Vadra will yield no results. Two years have passed since the Modi government came to power, but the Gandhi family remains untouched.
From 1998 to 2004, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, the issue of Sonia’s foreign origin kept being raised by many in the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party. But the Vajpayee government did not do anything during those six years. Why?
Because if Sonia, the “Italian,” was at the helm of the Congress party, it would only serve the BJP well.
Today, the Modi government does the same thing. It keeps highlighting the alleged scams that the Congress is involved in. But the people of India did not elect Modi just to talk about scams and to let Congress leaders go scot-free.
If some Indians elected a prime minister with a self-professed 56-inch chest, they want to see some action against the Gandhis, which is not happening.
Check out the allegations against the Congress party and check what action the Modi government has taken. The answer? Zilch.
The Adarsh scam. The 2G scam. The coal scam. The Delhi CNG fitness test scam. The Delhi Jal Board tanker scam. The Delhi power scam. The Uttarakhand liquor licence scam. The Tatra truck scam. And now AgustaWestland.
Newspapers and television channels report one scam or another, but there is little follow-up government action.
The sole exception is the National Herald case, undertaken by Subramanian Swamy who dragged the Gandhis to court and for which, it appears, Modi rewarded him with a nominated Rajya Sabha seat.
The BJP believes the Gandhis are a liability for the Congress party which is a huge advantage for Modi come the 2019 election. I believe none of the Gandhis will see a prison cell, at least till an election year.
Modi knows the Congress without the Gandhis is a more formidable and more dangerous adversary.
After the back and forth with the Modi bhakts on the phone last night, guess the answer from them.
“There is no person fit to be PM than Modi today. If you have any alternative leader, convince us—maybe we will vote for him in 2019.” – Rediff.com, 27 April 2016
» Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports for Rediff.com in Mumbai.
Filed under: india | Tagged: BJP, BJP leaders, congress leaders, corruption, india, indian government, indian national congress, modi sarkar, psychological warfare, rahul gandhi, sonia gandhi |
The writer is pathetic but has been able to fool some. Like dead elephant is more valuable than a live one, because of its ivory, similarly if free Gandhi’s are strategically important for an ultimate aim of anti Hindu Congress free Bharat, what is to whine about short term short distance Tihar? Let the pathetic author take comfort in his masters not going to jail until next election, congress mukt Bharat is first priority which is assured by Gandhi liability.
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@ Admin
You forgot to mention the empty black money promises. When one short list was published, no politician’s name appeared on it. Politicians as a class look after each other whatever their party. Jethmalani was Modi’s ardent supporter but became his enemy because Modi fumbled on his black money promises.
The claim of the Modi bhakts that there is nobody else to sit in the PM’s chair is really dumb. There is always somebody waiting to sit in the PM’s chair. There is Nitish Kumar to begin with …
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This response seems more logical and relevant in the current situation. MODI+BJP are known and seem reasonably OK only in the Hindi and fellow chaiwallah belt. In the non-Hindi states and areas, Modi is probably seen as the current PM of country bitten by travel bug, rather than as great BJP leader of great hope to reckon with. Even his audacious projection of Dharmic egalitarian values gets deciphated and diluted with the lack of followup in consensus building and concrete results at the ground level. MODI does not seem to comprehend or appreciate the value of unity in diversity and pluralist culture, languages, and customs. In other words, he is still to grow as a national leader. It is also difficult to see Congress re-emerging as a strong national party any time in the future, with Sonia or anyone else.
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Not only Modi govt,no govt will take any action against any political leaders in India.There will be some drama of conducing enquiery but it will never lead to a logical conclusion..That is the mutual understanding of Indian rulers.As far as Indian judiciary is concerned they are helpless against week prosecution.Ultimately the whole population made fools.
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The BJP will not put Sonia in jail but probably for different reasons than the author thinks.
The BJP is afraid of the backlash including the international backlash.
Besides, BJP politicians are friends with Sonia and Rahul outside of parliament and the public eye. You don’t put your friends in jail over a little matter of a few thousand crore paid here and there!
The BJP won’t put Chidambaram in jail either, or Vijay Mallya or Lalit Modi or Digvijaya Singh or or…. They are all friends—remember.
And all the hot air Subramanian Swamy puffs wont convince the judge to be straight in the National Herald case. At best Sonia and Rahul will get slapped on the wrist and told to return the money (or shares, or whatever).
The court is overburdened and has no time for ‘political’ cases like the National Herald case. Just ask the weepy CJI. He’ll tell you between sobs and he’ll tell you they are all friends too!
You don’t put your friends in jail—even if they are your pretend enemies in public!
But—if push should ever come to shove, there is a Reliance plane standing ready on the runway to whisk Sonia and gang away to the cool banking paradise of the West.
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