Is Congress shielding Salman?

Is Congress shielding Salman?
From Anil Nair in Mumbai

The taped conversation allegedly between Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai has stunned internal security experts like nothing else. For several reasons: One, the confessional statements by Khan are too good to be true. Two, the Mumbai bomb blast case, which till now revolved around Bollywood veterans like Sanjay Dutt and Bharat Shah, will now get a new twist with Salman Khan stating that he was in the know of things. And as BJP leader Gopinath Munde pointed out to the press last week, the fact that the state government had refused to take action on the tapes even though it was recorded in 2001 only makes the case curiouser.

Understandably, the issue had provoked Hindu-Muslim riots in places like Aurangabad where the Muslim youths supported Salman Khan for having shown a Hindu girl her place. The veracity of the tapes will finally settle a lot of questions and would in all probability fix Salman Khan. But if the ongoing cases related to bomb blasts are any indicator, then Salman Khan can rest assured that his future will not be in any way jeopardized by all the high profile court hearings. Sanjay Dutt'sfilm career blossomed after his arrest, and he even goes abroad for shoots, has changed his personality completely since those wretched days and today often talks about his watan and his love for the country. He has also acted in several highly publicised war-movies to boot. When Sunil Dutt died, Sanjay was almost anointed as the natural heir to his father'slegacy.

This brings us to the central issue with regard to all the bomb blast cases. How long will judiciary take to render justice? Will the accused be given their just deserts or will the cases be dragged for years on the end with no justice in sight, either for the accused or for the faceless and often hapless victims of terror? Nearly 400 people were dead in the gruesome bomb blasts, which took place nearly 13 years ago. The hearings have been protracted and long-winding. There are several victims who ask if it is relevant to even talk of justice anymore.

One, the confessional statements by Khan are too good to be true. Two, the Mumbai bomb blast case, which till now revolved around Bollywood veterans like Sanjay Dutt and Bharat Shah, will now get a new twist with Salman Khan stating that he was in the know of things.

But Munde'sinterjection in the Assembly on July 19 led to Mumbai police quickly getting their act together. The police first denied having taped this conversation, then went on to investigate the matter. Interestingly, a group of college students amongst the BJP workers who protested at Pune had a different take on the issue. When this correspondent asked them why they were politicising the issue and that they should leave it to the law to take its own course, the students said, political parties have to rake up current issues that matter to the people. ??Should political parties abjure all those issues that are considered to be communal by the secular media? It is the poor and the common people who die in bomb blasts, shouldn'tthe victims have recourse to seek political solutions to political problems???