By Sushil Kutty
“You bring me the man, I’ll find you the crime.” That was Lavrentiy Beria, chief of the Soviet secret police, boasting during one of his more expansive moods. After Rahul Gandhi returned from London, it seems like there’s an Indian Lavrentiy, who has found a crime to fit Rahul Gandhi. The Congress MP has a target on his back with “Mir Jaffer” painted in bold letters.
The Congress leader is teasing the Modi government to take action against him. But the government is wary. There was nothing in Rahul Gandhi’s London remarks to brand him a treacherous “traitor”. Calling the RSS an Indian version of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ cannot be a crime. Besides, it would be difficult to prove when the entire case hangs on the word “oblivious”.
Now, if the word “oblivion” was used it would have been something to sit and scaremonger. But scaremongering over the word “oblivious” is ridiculous. The word “oblivious” means “not noticing or realizing what is happening around you”. And Rahul Gandhi in London had merely charged the United States and the European Union of “not noticing or realizing what was happening around them”.
Rahul Gandhi found this perplexing, and frustrating. Millions of the Indian diaspora must be living the same frustration. Rahul Gandhi only stated a state of mind. He did not break sweat trying to push the US and the EU into sending their armadas to effect a regime change in India. Even Rahul Gandhi, who is often dismissed as a “Pappu”, knows what should be spoken and what should not be aired.
The Modi government has a lot to hide. And that must have triggered the government to fret and defame. That said, the Modi-Adani “friendship” was platonic. It was special. It left one partner moneywise stinking rich, and it fed the ego of the partner drunk with power. The power-drunk partner of the alleged nexus appeared to be oblivious to what was happening around him.
But the rest of the world was not oblivious to the Modi-Adani affair and its implications for India. And the opposition could not have remained oblivious to what was happening around them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga’ is now in shreds.
The allegations of a Modi-Adani nexus cannot be easily dismissed. The Supreme Court also thinks so. Otherwise it wouldn’t have set up a committee and asked it to submit a report on the issue within two months. In a manner of speaking, the Modi government has been put on notice.
It will be interesting to see what the Modi government would do if the panel submits a report that is damning to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose rating is the highest among world leaders. The BJP says there’s no such thing as a Modi-Adani nexus and the SC panel will reinforce this once and for all to see.
That said, Rahul Gandhi is not hiding his contempt for the Modi government, asking why the Lok Sabha Speaker was not allowing him to speak in Parliament on the issues raised by him in London? The Gandhi scion has called the charges against him “totally baseless, and unfair”.
”I am making such a request again. I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,” he said in his letter to Om Birla.
It is incumbent on the Speaker to respond. He cannot be seen to be anything but bipartisan. The Speaker’s job is to run the Lok Sabha in an impartial manner. If the government thinks that not allowing Parliament to function solves the issue, the government is hallucinating.
The Modi government must show that India is a democracy. For, isn’t that what is at the centre of the whole hue and cry? As of now, there is a blot on the fair face of India’s democracy and that perception cannot be allowed to gain ground. The onus is on the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. His reputation is at stake. He has the responsibility on his head and he should make sure it’s also in his mind.
There is a rule that says, ”A member may, with the permission of the Speaker, make a personal explanation…”. Rahul Gandhi said the Modi government had made ”scurrilous and defamatory claims against me”, both within and outside Parliament. It, therefore, is the duty of the Speaker to allow the Congress MP to reply to the allegations levelled against him.
Making “personal explanations” is not outside the house rules. The institution of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is not to be trifled with. History will judge the conduct of Speakers, Speaker Om Birla should not forget that. (IPA Service)
