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Posted on 17 January, 2015, No Comments Comments admin
The Chairperson of the Censor Board has sent her resignation to the Government. So have some other Members. They have alleged interference by the Government and corruption in the Board.
Along with my colleague Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, I look after the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. At no point either of us have communicated with any Member of the Censor Board or desired that any bureaucrat to do the same. I have not met or spoken to any Member of the Censor Board nor authorised anyone to do the same. It is the UPA appointed Central Censor Board which has since continued. If there is any corruption, the UPA appointees have themselves to blame. I only wished that the fact of corruption had been communicated even once by the Chairperson of the Censor Board to me. The non-functional Chairperson never did so. The charge that meetings of the Censor Board are not being held is a Self Condemnation. The meetings are to be convened not by the Minister or the Secretary but by the Chairperson. If the meetings are not being convened, it is for those responsible for non-functioning who must blame themselves. I have checked up from officials of the Ministry who informed that the funds for the Censor Board have been returned to the Ministry as unspent by the Board.
The legal regime with regard to the functioning of the Censor Board is clear. It is the Censor Board alone which decides issues within its’ jurisdiction. The aggrieved producer has a right to move to the Appeal Tribunal. The Congress Party has politicised even Membership of the Appeal Tribunal. We have restored its dignity by appointing a former Judge of high credibility as Chairperson. If an Appeal Tribunal disagrees with the Board, it is a part of the due process of law and not an onslaught on Board’s autonomy. Can a subordinate judicial authority ever cry foul if its decision upset by an appellate authority? The NDA Government maintains arms length distance in all matters relating to Film certification.
The UPA Government had politicised the Censor Board. In 2004 they dismissed the existing Censor Board headed by an eminent Film actor Anupam Kher merely on the ground that Anupam Kher was appointed by the earlier Government. We did not wish to do that. It is regrettable that the UPA appointees have decided to politicise routine issues.
Posted on 13 January, 2015, No Comments Comments admin
Last week two State Governments – West Bengal and Gujarat, organized their respective global summits. I had an opportunity to participate in both of them.
The West Bengal Global Summit was an effort of the State Government to attract investment in the State. West Bengal was a key industrial State. Beginning with the naxalite problem towards the end of 1960s, coupled with the policies of the Left Front Government, industry moved out of the State. Kolkata remained the principal engine of development in West Bengal’s growth. The State has a successful agriculture. West Bengal has a lot of intellectual capital and in the past one decade information technology has picked up in a big way. West Bengal has to be redeveloped into an industrial center once again. My colleague Shri Nitin Gadkari, who also attended the summit, was willing to help the State in the creation of a Kolkata-Siliguri highway. If such a highway is combined with an industrial corridor, it will give a major boost to West Bengal. Creation of more townships, better infrastructure, an industrial corridor, more effective utilization of the sea resource has to be a future agenda of the State.
I was particularly enthused by the fact that groups representing a cross-section of industry, both manufacturing and service sector, attended the conference. The State would now need a consistent pro-reform and business friendly steps in order to build confidence in the mind of present and potential investors. We, in the Central Government, would be extremely keen to help West Bengal to grow. The GST implementation will increase the revenues of West Bengal. Part of the proceeds of the coal block auctions will augment State’s revenue. NITI Aayog is intended to further decentralize the various schemes in the hands of the State Government.
Gujarat Business Summit was a magnificent affair. The Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar is an extremely impressive convention center. This is the seventh Vibrant Gujarat show being organized since 2003. The prime Minister and other Ministers of the Union Government actively participated in this year’s Vibrant Gujarat. In fact Union Ministers have shown up for Vibrant Gujarat after ten years of absence. Prime Ministers, Ministers, policy makers from all over the world, large business groups – both domestic and international, were all present at the Vibrant Gujarat. Vibrant Gujarat has become the principal economic convention in the country.This year Vibrant Gujarat marketed India.
A few months ago, Madhya Pradesh had organized its own investors meet. News reports indicate that Maharashtra is going to organize a similar meet in near future.
My participation in the West Bengal and Gujarat meet have enthused me. The idiom, vocabulary and mind-set of the organizers was to attract investment. States in India are going to compete with each other in cornering investment. I have no doubt that the ones which consistently and uniformly pursue reforms and business friendly policies are likely to succeed.
Posted on 04 January, 2015, No Comments Comments admin
On December 31, 2014, the Government promulgated the ordinance to amend some provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Act, 2013. What was the need to amend the 2013 law and what is the effect of these amendments?
It has been repeatedly mentioned that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 had become obsolete and needed amendment. It indeed had. The compensation provisions in the 1894 Act were highly inadequate and, therefore, it was desirable that higher compensation coupled with a rehabilitation and resettlement package be provided. The 2013 Act did that. I support the 2013 Act on that ground. However, thirteen Acts of Parliament, which provided for land acquisition, were put in the Fourth Schedule of the Act. Section 105 of the 2013 Act made the provisions of the Act inapplicable to these exempted Acts. The said Section provided that the Government could issue a notification and direct ‘any’ provision of the Act relating to compensation or R&R would be made applicable to the exempted acts. The “Proposed” notification had to be placed before Parliament for a period of 30 days and Parliament was expected to approve, disapprove or modify the said proposed notification. The need for an ordinance arose because such a notification would have to be put before Parliament in the Budget session itself in July-August, 2014 and the approval or disapproval taken accordingly. 31st December, 2014 being the last day for such a notification, the Government decided to amend the Section 105 and apply all the compensation and R&R provisions of the 2013 Act to the thirteen exempted laws. Through this provision the present ordinance provides that the farmers’ would get higher compensation if land is acquired under any of the exempted laws. It goes a step further than the 2013 Act itself. This also explains the urgency of issuing the ordinance on the last day of the year since otherwise the Government would have been in default of the complicated approval provisions outlined in the 2013 Act.
The 2013 Act provided for consent of the land owner in varying percentages in a number of cases. It is only when the land owner’s give consent that their land be acquired and the Government can initiate the acquisition process. Thereafter, the Act provided for a detailed social impact study. It further provided for special provisions with regard to food security.
Historically the power to acquire the land is a sovereign power. The State needs land for any form of development. Land is required for housing, townships, urbanization, sub-urbanisation, industrialization, infrastructure, both urban and rural, irrigation and defence of India. This list would be endless. A larger public interest always prevails over private interest. However, the land owner who loses the land has to be more than adequately compensated. A highly complicated process of acquisition which renders it difficult or almost impossible to acquire land can hurt India’s development. When the 1894 law is amended in the 21st century, it must provide for a 21st century compensation and cater to the developmental needs of the 21st century. It cannot completely ignore the developmental needs of the society and mandate that India does not grow.
The present amendment carves out five exceptions for which this complicated process of acquisition will not apply. However, the compensation provisions remain untouched. The five exempted purposes are discussed herein below:
The defence and security of India has been made an exempted purpose. The 2013 Act completely ignored it.
Rural infrastructure, including electrification, is an exempted purpose. Roads, highways, flyover, electrification and irrigation will all add to the value of the farmer’s lands. This exemption is entirely in the interest of rural India.
Affordable housing and housing for poor is an exempted purpose. Migration from rural areas to urban and sub-urban centers where employment opportunities are available, is a reality. It is the migrants from rural areas who would benefit from this exception.
Industrial corridors which run for a narrow distance alongwith various highways, give a fillip to the entire development of those rural areas. A Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor would benefit thousand of villages while running alongwith national highway. There could not be a greater opportunity for the rural areas than an industrial corridor running close to agricultural lands. This would generate employment opportunities and enhance the value of the land itself.
Infrastructure and social infrastructure projects, including those under public private partnership, where ownership of the land vests with the Governments. This is bound to benefit the entire country, particularly the people in rural areas where infrastructure and social infrastructure is inadequate.
Almost all the exempted purposes benefit rural India. They would enhance the value of land, create employment and provide rural areas with better infrastructure and social infrastructure. This is in addition to the enhanced compensation and R&R provisions being expanded to the thirteen exempted acts.
The amendment, therefore, balances the developmental needs of India, particularly rural India, while still providing enhanced compensation to the land owners. Will the State Governments ruled by political parties, which are opposed to this ordinance, publically declare that they will not use the law which provides for enhanced compensation in the case of exempted acts and acquisition process which balances the developmental needs of society, particularly those of poor, weaker sections, rural India alongwith defence requirements of the country?
This 2013 Act had over 50 drafting errors. The provision with regard to the rectification of errors will be used to cure most of them. Some are being cured through this ordinance which alters the earlier mandate of the 2013 law that unused land has to be returned five years after the acquisition. The earlier provision was clearly defective. Creation of smart cities, townships, industrial corridors, business centers, defence projects, cantonments, ports, nuclear installations, building of highways, irrigation projects, dams have a long gestations period. They cannot be completed in five years. If the earlier provision is to be effected, we would be a nation of incomplete projects on account of defective legislative drafting.
The draft provisions of the 2013 Act enthusiastically provide that no part of an acquired land could be used for a private educational institution or a hospital. How will new smart cities and townships come up? Will they only have a civil hospital and a Government school/ college and no other healthcare and educational institutions will be allowed to be established there? The ordinance permits hospitals and educational institutions to be established on an acquired land. That is the purpose of acquisition for townships. A township without a social infrastructure would be inherently incomplete.
The needs of a modern growing and developing India need a balanced approach. Development and justice to the land owner must coexist. One cannot be done at the cost of the other. The amendment ordinance is based on extensive consultations where State Government of most political parties supported these changes. Those who are opposed to it can certainly mandate their party’s State Governments not to use the provisions of the ordinance. History will judge how these States will lose out in the era of competitive federalism.
Posted on 31 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
2014 was one of the most challenging years for India. For two consecutive years our GDP growth was sub 5 per cent. Employment generation had declined, the revenue buoyancy was low and the country had become investment starved.
The 2014 general election results brought in an air of freshness. After thirty years, the Indian electorate gave a majority to a single party in the Lok Sabha. The Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi promised to be decisive and firm. The popular expectation was that the Government would usher in an era of reforms and growth.
In the past seven months, the Government has undertaken more reform oriented measures than any Government in recent memory. Some of the steps are as under:
Outlining the vision of the cooperative federalism through the creation of successor to the Planning Commission. The new structure would provide an alternative to the command and control economy.
Building a national consensus and introducing a bill to amend the constitution to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Opening the gates of investment by raising FDI limits in the insurance, defence and the railways. The FDI conditions in real estate have been liberalised.
Issuing an ordinance to amend the complicated procedures of the land acquisition law. The new law facilitates development but balances it with higher compensation, relief and rehabilitation measures for the farmers. Compensation and RNR package has been made entirely applicable to the thirteen exempted laws.
Clearing up the mess in the coal and power sector, a law has been introduced to facilitate a transparent and non-discretionary method of allocation of coal blocks, enabling commercial mining to enhance the potential of the sector. This will cut down power cost and increase generation in the country.
Deregulation of diesel prices and facilitating the opening up of petrol and diesel sector to private investment.
Raising the gas prices while maintaining a balance between cost to the consumers and the need of gas exploration in the country.
Moderating inflation and particularly inflation in agricultural items.
Replacing the model of cooking gas subsidy to direct transfer so that deserving consumers get the benefit and the leakages in subsidy are plugged to the benefit of the exchequer.
Unleashing an era of financial inclusion, providing Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana where over 10 crore accounts of the weaker sections have been opened. The DBT cash benefits will be transferred to this account. Account holders have an accidental, LIC policy and overdraft facility.
Launching flagship programmes such as Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India and Skilled India so that the real image and potential of India is explored.
Facilitating States like Rajasthan to usher in an era of labour law reforms.
Major tax rebates given to tax payers by raising the income tax limit, and providing incentives on both savings and housing investments.
Rationalizing tax management to end the image of India having an ultra-aggressive tax policy.
Resolving of pending disputes through appropriate mechanisms so that our tax structures do not become a disincentive against investments.
Giving major tax rebates to the manufacturing sectors which is facing a slowdown.
Undertaking various banking sectors reforms such as recapitalisation of banks, professionalizing managements, bringing Government equity to 52 per cent, and allowing greater autonomy to banks and financial institutions.
Undertaking major steps to unearth black money, both domestically and that lying in foreign bank accounts. The assessment of assesses with illegal foreign accounts available with the Government in India to be completed by 31st March, 2015 and prosecutions launched against those against whom evidence is available.
Amending the provisions of the Companies Act to add to the ease of doing business in India.
Giving major boost to tourism by introduction of e-visa.
Various measures for trade facilitation by allowing 24 X 7 custom clearance on 17 airports and 18 seaports.
Despite major reforms steps taken, there are still challenges which the Indian economy faces. Investment needs to be enhanced and encouraged. Infrastructural spending has to be stepped up. Manufacturing sector has to be given a major push. This has to be done both through encouraging public and private investment. This is our resolve for the upcoming year.
Posted on 30 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
CBI Special Court at Mumbai has discharged Amit Shah, the BJP President, of all charges relating to a case of his involvement in the alleged killing of Soharabuddin and Tulsi Prajapati. I have been following this case actively from the time of its investigation, filing of charges, arrest of Amit Shah and grant of bail to him. I had written a letter on 27th September 2013 to the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in my capacity as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. The letter pertains to misuse of CBI against BJP leadership. In the letter, I had written with regard to these two cases as under:
“Sohrabudin Encounter case
The encounter in which one Sohrabudin Sheikh was killed was an operation allegedly directed by the Intelligence Bureau of the Central Government. It has been a practice that when the Intelligence Bureau processes and develops intelligence, it keeps vigilance on the target. Thereafter when an opportunity arises to arrest the target the State police is associated with the operation. Sohrabudin was a noted mafia who operated in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and was carrying prize on his head in Madhya Pradesh. He was an illegal weapon dealer. He had also been convicted under TADA. The search conducted by Madhya Pradesh police at his premises at village Jharnia, District Ujjain had yielded more than 40 AK-56 rifles, hundreds of AK-56 cartridges and hundreds of hand grenades. He was an absconder from the police agencies of various state governments.
After his encounter on 24/25-11-2005 his brother filed a Writ Petition in the Supreme Court. The filing of the said petition was also sponsored by Congress Party. The then Addl. Solicitor General of India, Shri Gopal Subramaniam in a pre-conceived and planned move, appeared on day one before the Court and agreed to take instructions from the Central Government. Subsequently, the Attorney General appeared for the Union of India and Gopal Subramaniam designated himself as Amicus Curiae without any specific order of the court appointing him. The Government of India conceded that the investigations be handed over to the CBI. Though the Central Government should be a mere formal party, the then Attorney General used to appear and oppose even motion for adjournments. Since objections were raised with regard to the fairness of the CBI, the Supreme Court ordered investigations by a team of Gujarat Police officers of the State Police under its supervision. The State police reconstructed the encounter, conducted scientific investigation under supervision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and implicated and arrested several police officers including three IPS officers. Upon hearing the arguments of the Union of India and Shri Gopal Subramaniam, the amicus curiae and others, the Supreme Court referred the matter to the CBI. The ground on which the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI was that the investigation involved inter-state ramifications and the Andhra Pradesh angle of the matter had not been probed. As a matter of fact the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh did not cooperate in the investigation by Gujarat police which is a matter of record.
The CBI investigated the case but did not investigate any of the four points, on the basis of which the case was referred to the CBI, which were the points found lacking in Gujarat police investigation. It did not probe the Andhra Pradesh angle of the case seriously. The probable purpose of the CBI in this case was to try and implicate the political establishment of Gujarat, setting aside the pretence of federal character of India’s governance. The CBI targeted Shri Amit Shah, the then Home Minister and also the Minister of Law, Transport & Parliamentary Affairs of the State of Gujarat with the ultimate desire of implicating Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Shockingly, when the Legal department of the CBI opined that there was no case against Shri Amit Shah, the same was responded to by the Supervisory Officer of CBI, putting up a “Note” by observing that the arrest of Amit Shah would enable the CBI to get some more witnesses particularly the police officers since they would then feel intimidated. He also opined that arresting Amit Shah was necessary since it was necessary to reach the eventual target of investigation of Narendra Modi. This note was approved by the Director, CBI, Shri Ashwani Kumar.
The CBI arrested Amit Shah with no prosecutable evidence against him. In order to arrest Amit Shah they relied on the false testimony of two witnesses namely, Ramanbhai Patel and Dashrathbhai Patel, noted land grabbers of Gujarat. Shri Amit Shah, as per the CBI theory in the Charge Sheet, is alleged to have told both of them six months after the encounter that Sohrabudin had left no option for himself. This was incorporated as an extra judicial confession It is noteworthy that both Ramanbhai Patel and Dashrathbhai Patel have criminal antecedents and criminal cases in Gujarat. These two witnesses were felicitated for having given such a deposition against Shri Amit Shah in a function presided over by Shri Shankersinh Waghela, the then President of Gujarat Congress. The testimony of these two witnesses is based upon the alleged extortion from them to help them in PASA detention. The record of the Gujarat Government shows that no detention of these persons under PASA was never in contemplation. Said two witnesses also claimed that they have paid a sum of Rs. 75 lacs to Shri Amit Shah through one Ajay Patel in three different installments with specific dates mentioned by them in their statement. They gave the specific dates of payments on which they allegedly physically handed over the alleged amount to Shri Ajay Patel. They further claimed that they were there through all the dates. This testimony is false without any further probe inter alia on the ground that on some of the dates Ajay Patel was not even in India and his passport establishes this fact. This was a key substance of a frivolous charge sheet filed against Shri Amit Shah. Shri Amit Shah was granted bail on this charge sheet by the Gujarat High Court by a detailed speaking order inter alia holding that there is no prima facie case against Shri Amit Shah. The CBI, however, challenged the said order and upon the request of the CBI, the Supreme Court ordered Shri Amit Shah to remain out of Gujarat and all political activities. He remained outside the State of Gujarat for a period of two years. The said order of the High Court was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Tulsi Prajapati encounter
Tulsi Prajapati was a case built up by the CBI as an extension to the Sohrabudin case. The CBI solicited the investigation of this case by making a specific prayer in the Court. Their ostensible case was that Tulsi Prajapati was a witness to the arrest and disappearance of Sohrabudin while in custody of the police officers and correspondingly he was eliminated by the Gujarat Police. The only evidence mentioned against Shri Amit Shah by the CBI in this case was that he was regularly in touch with one police officer Shri R.K. Pandian, IPS who was an accused in the case. The vast contemporaneous record shows that Shri R.K.Pandian, IPS had been regularly in telephonic contact of Shri Amit Shah much before and after the incident as a part of his official duty since he was also heading the charge of SP, IB (Intelligence) of the State Police looking after political agitations and political activities. Any Home Minister of any State will have to necessarily remain in touch with SP, IB (Intelligence) of the State Police looking after political agitations and political activities since he had to keep himself informed about the activities on a regular basis. Without a point of evidence a separate Charge Sheet was filed against Shri Amit Shah in the Tulsi Prajapati case. Very importantly, though the CBI was under the direction of the Supreme Court to complete the investigation of Tulsi Prajapati case within 6 months from 11-04-2011, the CBI deliberately and as a part of political conspiracy did not obey the direction and filed the Charge Sheet on 04-09-2012 so as to arrest Shri Amit Shah once again just few months before the Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections which were scheduled to be held before December, 2012. Shri Amit Shah had to approach the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vide its order date 08-04-2013 held that no separate charge sheet could be filed in this case since CBI itself had alleged that both the cases were similar and it merged the charge sheet with the Sohrabudin case charge sheet thereby preventing the CBI arresting Shri Amit Shah once again.
Tulsi Prajapati and the arrest of Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, former Home Minister Rajasthan
Shri Gulab Chand Kataria is the former Home Minister of Rajasthan and the present Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly and a very important leader of Rajasthan BJP. He is a complete stranger to even the existence of such persons known as Sohrabudin and Tulsi Prajapati. The CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet against Gulab Kataria wherein it was alleged that the motive of elimination of Tulsi Prajapati by Gulab Kataria was extorting money from marble dealers of Rajasthan namely RK Marbles. As per the CBI there were two motives; one the Gujarat Police wanted to eliminate him in order to eliminate the eye-witness in the Sohrabdun case and the Home Minister of Rajasthan wanted to eliminate him for extorting money from marble dealers. What a co-incidence. It was alleged by the CBI that Shri Gulab Chand Kataria allegedly met one Shri D. G Vanjara, IPS of Gujarat Police allegedly between 26/12/2005 and 28/12/2005 at the Circuit House at Udaipur. The CBI evidence of his presence was that PS of Shri Gulab Chand Kataria was staying in the same Circuit House during that period and Shri D.G.Vanzara, IPS also stayed in the said Circuit House. However, records of the Rajasthan Government conclusively establish that Shri Gulab Chand Kataria along with his wife had flown on 25/12/2005 to Mumbai and stayed there till 2/1/2006. He attended the meeting of the BJP National Executive and thereafter a meeting of the National Council and after celebrating New Year along with his wife, returned to Jaipur on 2/1/2006.”
It is clear from the above that the charges were filed against Amit Shah at the behest of the then political Government. There was legally no admissible evidence against him. Amit Shah’s application for discharge was opposed both by the CBI and Sohrabuddin’s brother. The court heard both their lawyers. The charge was without any basis. The fact that the CBI allowed itself to be misused is a cause for concern.
Since I had analysed the alleged evidence, both during investigation and after the filing of the charge sheet, I was amongst the few voices which had consistently maintained in the past three years that the prosecution of Amit Shah was a case of “No Evidence”. Without analysing the evidence in detail, the media allowed itself to report as was briefed by CBI. Even a vital noting on the CBI file that the implication of Amit Shah was necessary so that the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi could be implicated, was no news for them. I am relieved at the fact that we have an independent judicial system in India which has vindicated Amit Shah.
Posted on 30 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Today morning I was surprised to read the reports appearing in the Media of my speech delivered yesterday, at the “Make in India” workshop. What is reported is a speech that I did not deliver. The reports indicated that I had spoken on the Reserve Bank, its Governor and voiced differences with them. The fact is that there was not a single sentence reference (not even a word) in my entire speech on either the Reserve Bank or its Governor.
Since the subject of the workshop was to develop India into a manufacturing hub, I had made several suggestions, which would enable India to improve its manufacturing capabilities. The key point that I made was that our manufacturing has to be cost and quality competitive. I suggested various steps, which were essential to achieve that. One of the many points that I made was that the cost of capital has to be cut down. Any one speaking on the subject of ‘Make in India’ into a manufacturing hub would necessarily suggest this.
The report of this speech in several sections of the Media convinces me that in the competitive world of journalism, reporters are always looking for an “angle”. Where none exists, the speech itself can be twisted to create one. My full speech is available at https://www.facebook.com/ArunJaitley. It is for the readers/viewers to decide the difference between my speech and the reporting in the newspapers.
Posted on 28 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
I complete 62 years today. The NDA Government has completed its’ seven months. What are my priorities in the days to come?
Obviously, the first priority has to be to arrest the slowdown in growth and radically improve the investments environment. The Government in the past few months has undertaken several reforms . More are to follow. Additionally the liquidity in the market has to be encouraged and improved.
The services sector is doing well. Additional investment in irrigation is required. The manufacturing slowdown has to be reversed. Changes and reforms which impact favorably on the manufacturing sector have to be undertaken. That is a focus which I intent to pursue.
The menace of black money and the parallel economy is a curse on the Indian economy. It needs to be eliminated. The next few months will witness an increased focus by the Government to fight black money both within and outside the country. If we succeed this will add an additionality of resource for the National Economy.
Posted on 27 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The online edition to “India today” and “The Hindu” have reported that a Goa based activist has asked the Prime Minister to order an enquiry on the alleged misuse of naval helicopter by my wife and daughter on 23rd December at Goa. The news item mentioned that one Mr. Aires Rodrigues has claimed that my wife and daughter were flown by a naval helicopter from Dabolim Airport to a resort at Cancona in South Goa. He has further alleged that the naval helicopter was made available at the instance of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
2. The news item is entirely false on three counts: Firstly, it was my wife and son (not my daughter) who were in Goa on 23rd December. Secondly, they did not use any governmental facility, least of all a naval helicopter. Thirdly, Manohar Pariikar, the Defence Minister, had not sanctioned the use of any Defence helicopter for them. In fact, since it was a purely private visit, Manohar Parrikar was not even aware of the fact that they were in Goa.
3. No activist has a right to invent falsehood and then publicize it over the social media. I am waiting to see whether this activist and the online editions, which have published the statement without verification, retract from the falsehood and tender apology and express regret over the same.
Posted on 24 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji turns 90 on 25th December 20 14. I wish him all the best. The Nation has honoured him and Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya ji with the Bharat Ratna.
I first heard Atalji’s speech in 1967, when I was a school student. There was a political rally near my house in Delhi for the 1967 General Election. He came to address that rally. He had already enjoyed a formidable reputation as a great orator. He was on way to becoming an iconic political leader. Many youngsters used to repeat the sentences that they heard in his speech. They imitated his style.
I became student activist of ABVP in 1970. Atal ji was a familiar face in both Parliament and political rallies. We had invited him for several speeches in the Delhi University. Whenever we wanted some issues to be raised in Parliament, we rushed to brief him. My acquaintance with him started in 1973 when I was a student leader in Delhi University. Thereafter, I started interacting with him frequently. He has been a great listener. He used to occasionally react to some enthusiastic ideas, which we gave, with humour. During JP’s movement in 1974, he was active in addressing rallies across the country.
When the emergency was proclaimed in 1975, he along with Shri Advani ji, and some other politicians was detained in Bangalore. I was initially detained in the Ambala Jail and subsequently in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. We heard about Atal ji having a serious health problem with his back. He was shifted to a house detention at his Delhi residence. His back problem worsened for which, he spent a significant part of emergency period at the AIIMS, where he was rushed for surgery. During this period, we received a latest Poem he had written from his hospital bed.
The context of that Poem was relevant. The Doctor at the AIIMS asked Atal ji, if he had bent a bit too much – “Aap jyada jhuk gaye honge” to which he replied – Doctor Saheb, “jhuk to sakte nahi, Yun kahiye mur gaye honge”. He penned a Poem, which was very often heard in 1977 election. The opening sentence of the Poem read as – “Toot sakte hain magar hum jhuk nahi sakte”.
Thereafter, we saw him as India’s External Affairs Minister in 1977, an opposition MP, as the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (Lok Sabha). As he was growing in years, my image of him in the early 1990s was of “the best man”, who never became the Prime Minister, but history vindicated him, and he went on to become, one of the outstanding Prime Ministers of India.
Atal ji is the product of a democratic system, and trained in Parliamentary values. He realised the virtues of both consensus and harmony. His conduct of the Cabinet Meetings was never tense. If any of us raised any point, or even contradicted a point, he encouraged discussion. The last word, of course, belonged to him.
He was liberal in his economic thinking. He realised the importance of infrastructure creation. The National Highway programme, and the Power sector reforms are the part of his legacy. He was committed to normalising the relations with our neighbouring countries. His ‘Bus initiative’ with Pakistan was undertaken at a great political risk, since his own constituency had to be convinced of this. In 2003, he tried to normalise relationship with China, and signed an agreement on settlement of the boundary dispute. A new Chapter of Indo-US relationship was authored during his tenure.
He was unquestionably the greatest orator India has heard, since Independence. He could play with words but he was always measured. He was a wordsmith. He never fell into temptation of committing an impropriety. He realised virtues of social harmony. His ability to rise above the party for a larger national cause was significant.
Today, as we are celebrating the 90th year of his birth as ‘Good Governance Day’, we wish a very Good Health and Long Life to this Gentle Giant.
Posted on 11 December, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Read my response given in Lok Sabha on December 10, 2014 with respect to Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2014-15. http://bit.ly/1yTbwiH