Press Briefing Tuesday, 28 Apr 2009

Shri Anand Sharma addressed the media today.

Shri Anand Sharma said that the campaigning for the third phase of the election has come to an end and it has seen the Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, General Secretary Shri Rahul Gandhi and several other leaders criss-crossing the country. There is an encouraging response and the Congress party is more convinced that the people of this country want a Government which is stable and secular to steer India in a time of global economic crisis.

Secondly Shri Anand Sharma said that the BJP in particular and L.K. Advani have double standards on all major issues whether it was internal security, terrorism or on the autonomy of the various institutions which are fundamental to the governance of the State. He added that the BJP's track record in office speaks for itself. He reminded that the Congress party does not draw distinction on the basis of religion when it comes to terrorism. Terrorism has to be condemned in all its manifestations. He further added that the BJP had not shied away from targeting the Maharashtra ATS and had unfairly targeted its Chief Shri Hemant Karkare and the charge was led by none other than Advani, BJP President Raj Nath Singh and Narendra Modi. In fact it continued till the night of 25/11 and this has been well recorded by the media. But on the 26th when Shri Karkare embraced martyrdom, the same leaders sent Narendra Modi to his distraught family and wife offering money as compensation.

Shri Anand Sharma said that the BJP continues to be selective in their statements and misleading in their inceptions and continue to adopt double speak on every subject, an art which they have mastered.

To a question, Shri Anand Sharma responded that there are courts in the country which are independent and which follow the procedure of law. Their decisions are neither influenced by any political party or by any electoral consideration.
To a question on CBI's decision favouring the Congress, he replied that there was no decision which is either in favour of the Congress party or against it. The Congress party has nothing to do with it. The BJP's leader L.K. Advani has to be reminded that when he was the Home Minister, the CBI charge sheet against him and other leaders was split and parliament was not allowed to function for 45 days and it was manipulated. Also when he became Deputy Prime Minister, Advani had the charge of the CBI for a period of 24 hours despite, he himself being charge sheeted by the CBI. It was only after the then Prime Minister realized this, that the CBI charge was then taken away from the hands of Advani and given to the Cabinet Secretariat. But probably Advani has faint memory of this fact. Shri Anand Sharma said that today the BJP says they will make the CBI independent but they need to be reminded that it was their decision to place the CBI under the superintendence of the CVC.

To another question, Shri Anand Sharma said that the CBI is bound by the due process of law and also the international laws and conventions. The circumstances of the background of the interestingly timed report in question need to be mentioned. It refers to an opinion of the Attorney General of India, the highest law officer of India . a constitutional authority. Those aware of the constitution will know that article 76 and 88 lays down the tasks to be performed by the Attorney General of India. Besides the Prime Minister, the Attorney General is the only person constitutionally mandated to address both Houses of Parliament, to seek audience with the highest Court of the land when required, to give legal opinion to the President of India and legal opinion which will be final and binding. It is rather amusing to see Arun Jaitley ridiculing this procedure despite being the former Law Minister. The CBI has not violated any constitutional procedures. The matter is sub-judice. He added that the BJP has used the Bofors matter as a political agenda. Not a shred of evidence has ever been produced which could lead to any successful prosecution. It was in 1989 that an election was fought in India unfairly vilifying the then Prime Minister who had bought, for this country the finest defence system which later on proved its worth and merit in the battle of Kargil. Those who were responsible for blacklisting the suppliers leading to a shortage of ammunition were later on praising the Bofors which included the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Defence Minister who then reached out to same agencies for the supply of the ammunition. Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh often promised the country that within 30 days he would expose the secret accounts relating to the Bofors case. But after he became Prime Minister, three people including the Additional Solicitor General of that Government, Director of Enforcement and senior CBI official criss-crossed Europe in this regard. The Additional Solicitor General was none other than Arun Jaitley. Crores of rupees were spent but not a single shred of evidence was ever found. Two judgments of the Delhi High Court, one coming in Feb 2004 made it crystal clear that not an ounce of evidence was produced in the last 20 years and the charges were quashed. At this point of time Arun Jaitley was the Law Minister of the country and continued for three months. He and his Government had the right and jurisdiction to appeal against this decision but did not. Advani was Home Minister for 6 years and no one prevented him to prosecute and extradite the guilty. In fact, in 2001 in Malaysia, based on the same ground, an arrest was made. A top battery of lawyers went to Malaysia, diplomatic pressure was exerted by the Government of India {NDA government} and despite the case continuing for two years, the Sessions Court dismissed it. Thereafter it went to the Court of Appeals in Malaysia where again strictures were passed, costs were imposed on India and the case for extradition was quashed. Shri Anand Sharma questioned as to who was responsible for this 2-1/2 years of litigation, 3 appeals - all lost and strictures passed by the Court. This question should be posed to Shri Arun Jaitley who was the Law Minister at that time. Clearly, one can see the political motivation with which the BJP has fired the Bofors bullet several times and has overused it. They have come to power once climbing the barrel of this gun but now it has become too hot. One clearly remembers the BJP campaign in 1989 which said that the Bofors guns were fake but despite acknowledging that these guns were useful, the BJP never thought of apologizing for their campaign targeting Shri Rajiv Gandhi.

To another question that for five years the UPA Government did nothing to take Narendra Modi to court and that the Supreme Court was now required to take the lead in this, Shri Anand Sharma said that the Government cannot delegate to itself the task of the judiciary and they were doing their job. The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter and so the Government is not in a position to say anything on this issue. As a Government, the UPA has ensured that there was no communal divide or clash in this country and no repeat of the Godhra carnage.

To a connected question as to why the UPA could not bring the Communal Violence Bill into force, Shri Anand Sharma said that there were constraints put because of the coalition Government but it remains the commitment of the Congress party to do so.




(Tom Vadakkan)

Secretary, AICC