THE point is generally made that when one points a finger of accusation against a person, one simultaneously points three fingers at oneself. How one hopes, some of our politicians understood this. There are frustrated politicians in the country who can only be pitied, like, for example, Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu and HD Kumaraswamy in Karnataka. Kumaraswamy lets no opportunity go, if he can charge KS Yeddyurappa, the current Karnataka Chief Minister, whose own behaviour invites criticism, of some land scam. Now Yeddyurappa has come out with a statement in Deccan Herald (March 20) charging Kumaraswamy of de-notifying about 193 acres of BDA land worth Rs 2,000 crore during the latter’s tenure as Chief Minister, even when the then Urban Development Department (UDD) had strongly opposed the move as ‘illegal’. What this shows is that, in future, certain rules and regulations must be laid down in the matter of a Chief Minister’s rights as the head of the government in regard to various decisions.
Every action should be seen as transparent. A Chief Minister is not a Maharaja to give away land or other amenities at his sweet will and pleasure. He should be accountable. In many ways we seem to be a sick society. Flaunting power and wealth is almost become standard practice. The Hitavada (March 4) published a picture of a wedded couple (Yogita and Lalit Tanwar) along with their respective parents. The bride’s father, Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria is a former MLA and the groom’s father Kanwar Singh Tanwar is a Congress Party leader. So far so good. But, according to The Hitavada, the wedding extravaganza is tipped to cost both families a staggering Rs 250 crore! The groom, apparently received a Bell 409 helicopter as a gift! And, no doubt the reception cost the parties quite a penny. Is all this show of wealth necessary? To say the least, it is sickening. How much do these celebrities annually pay by way of Income Tax, one wonders.
Incidentally, the media is quiet in the matter of Rahul Gandhi’s future. Is he ever getting married? How often does he go to London? And why did Sonia Gandhi need to visit the city? Gossip abounds.
The Indian Express (March 19) in a report revealed that the Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan’s income multiplied by over 100 times in six years from Rs 529 crore to Rs 54,268 crore. His taxable income, according to the assessment made by Income Tax authorities jumped from Rs 528.9 crore in 2001-2002 to Rs 5404.7 crore in 2002-2003 but the good man apparently forgot to file income tax returns for five assessment years. Where did he get all that money from? There are reports that he was being used by well-known politicians to stash their own ill-gotten wealth abroad in Swiss banks. The money he has stored abroad is reportedly not his alone. But who are these politicians and ministers guilty of cheating? The media has suddenly become silent on this score. The approach plainly is: Don’t offend those in power.
There is such a thing as ‘Paid News’. There is also such a thing as ‘Paid Silence’, which is a more serious crime. There is a saying that while speech is silvern, silence is golden. One can also say that while news is silvern, absence of it is golden. Money, matters. And how! It is in this context that one must ponder over a news item published by The Times of India (March 17). According to the paper, every third Bangalorean lives in ‘sub-human slums’ and that there are 310 ‘notified slums’ and 287 ‘non-notified’ slums in Karnataka’s rich capital. How nice. The people living there have probably never heard of the Jaunpurias, the Tanwars, the Hasan Ali Khans or even of Batcha, A Raja’s man who committed suicide because, according to one account, he knew too much about the 2G Scam and he himself had risen from poverty to riches. Nobody, incidentally, has raised the issue of ‘suicide’. Could it be something else? But why blame Batcha?
According to WikiLeaks quoted by The Hindu (March 17) four days before the Manmohan Singh Government faced a crucial vote of confidence on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in 2008, a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a US Embassy employee “two chests containing cash” – part of a bigger fund of Rs 50 to Rs 60 crore meant to ‘purchase’ the support of dissident MPs. Apparently Ajit Singh’s RLD’s four MPs had already been paid Rs 10 crore each for their pro-government support. Part of the course. The US Embassy must have enjoyed a good laugh.
According the WikiLeaks “PM Singh and others were trying to work on the Akali (8 votes) through financier Sant Chatwal and others.” Who is this PM Singh? Could it be Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh? Prime Minister Singh? The poor man is like a child. He knows nothing. He needs to be blessed with sainthood. He should know that the world has lost all confidence in him.
Then we have another sad story. Finance Minister announces “a massive cut in import duty” on silk imports from China, from 30.66 per cent to a mere 5 per cent, making Chinese silk cheaper than Indian silk. A fall of Rs 100 in the price of cocoons wipes out 20 per cent of the annual income of our farmers. The sericulture in India is facing a bleak prospect, thanks to Pranab Mukherjee’s generosity to China, our enemy. As a result, a couple in Mandya ended their lives by committing suicide, reports Deccan Herald (March 20). As many as 80 per cent of the 1.4 lakh farmers in the sericulture industry across three districts, Ramnagar, Mandya and Maddur, are small and marginal farmers. Thanks to Pranab Mukherjee’s gift to China one can expect more suicides. It is a sick UPA government that is running this country whose shortcomings are endless which it refuses to acknowledge. The BBC-Big Boss of Congress-Sonia Gandhi deliberately ignores charges against her of stashing wealth abroad. Silence is the best way to dismiss charges. The theory is that if one does not get into an argument a charge is soon forgotten. Dr Singh confesses to everything being unknown to him. By now he has lost all credibility. But he continues. Charges of corruption are being levied at Supreme Court judges, top Army officers and whoes who of the country. One eagerly awaits for the end of the world on December 24, 2012. This is not the India one wants to live in.
