After Jayalalitha’s death continuous raids are happening in Tamil Nadu. This time it’s P Chidambaram. There was media hype, they called it a big raid but no one knows what did they find? The entire raid was only speculation and drama to create a headline against Congress. Did the CBI hope that they will find the 10.5 lakhs just hidden away in a mattress somewhere at Chidambaram’s house, 9 years after the said crime happened? What exactly was the purpose of the raid? BJP revels in moving from one made up crisis to the next made up crisis. CBI should stand up for itself. They are answerable to the constitution, not to the whims of the political party in power. Moreover, BJP’s Piyush Goyal said Mr Chidambaram is accountable for his son’s actions. Not sure how this prankster came to this conclusion! Every grown up individual is accountable for themselves, not their parents.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at the Chennai residence of P Chidambaram and his son Karti in connection with a case against the latter for allegedly influencing officials in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to regularise “unapproved” investments by INX Media when his father was finance minister. In its FIR against Karti and others, the CBI alleged that at least Rs 3.5 crore was paid by INX Media, promoted by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, to companies directly or indirectly controlled by Karti to influence the FIPB decision. Peter and Indrani are in jail, charged with the murder of the latter’s daughter Sheena Bora. The agency didn’t name Chidambaram in the FIR According to the CBI, INX Media brought in Karti’s Chess Management Services after the I-T department sought clarifications from the FIPB as to how overseas investors had put Rs 305 crore, including through indirect investment, in INX Media when co-investors of the Mukerjeas had permission to get in just Rs 4.62 crore. In fact, INX Media had acquired 26% stake in INX News without FIPB’s clearance.
If the Finance Minister’s revelation is true with regard to immediate past FM’s son’s involvement in shell companies, then ex-FM also is equally to be blamed. Under such circumstances, the present government in power should withdraw all the taxation policies, especially the service tax introduced by the Ex-FM. Law maker cannot be a law maker in the first instance and taxes levied by a law breaker cannot exist in the system of democratic republic.
Because, FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases, the five Secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials. There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against P Chidambaram. When every case was processed according to law, why the present government, using the CBI and other agencies, for targeting particular people in politics? The government’s aim is to silence their voice and stop them from writing? Chidambaram, these days aggressively attack BJP and its economic policies.
The CBI conducted raids at around 14 different locations in Chennai and also in the national capital in connection with the criminal misconduct in grant of FIPB approval. The CBI raids at 16 places related to former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti are indications that Narendra Modi government at the Centre has begun a massive crackdown on corruption cases against individuals of all hues — no matter how high and mighty they may have been in the preceding years. This action is likely to have sent a chill down the spines of political leaders and other individuals against whom serious corruption charges are being probed. But the irony is that in spite of all stunts, BJP failed to prove their allegations and book the so called culprit. They just made headlines and evaporated with time.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the CBI would not embark on such a massive early morning raids at the homes of the senior Congress leader, Rajya Sabha MP, noted lawyer and the man who ruled at the finance and home ministries of the country for 10 years, unless the investigative agencies had gathered substantive evidence against him. It should also be noted that no matter how much the CBI and government may claim that the law was taking its own course and the investigative agency was acting on its own, the fact remains that the investigative agency would not proceed with an act of this nature against a person as high as Chidambaram unless it had secured clearances from the political leadership in the government. The political leadership in turn would have scrutinised all the documents against the former finance minister. The Modi government can’t afford to set off on raids at multiple locations owned by the former finance minister on the basis of a half-baked case, unless it was pursuing the cases with malafide intent, commonly called a political vendetta.
The timing of the CBI raids at Chidambaram’s homes is such that he will have to fight his own battle, without much support from the Congress. As it stands, the Congress top brass is busy protecting Sonia and Rahul in the National Herald case, in which besides the main case of cheating and misappropriation of public money, acquiring real estate worth Rs 2,000 crore that belonged to the defunct print media outlet, the Income Tax Department is now allowed by the high court to scrutinise party books. It’s not yet certain as to what the CBI has secured from Chidambaram’s homes and elsewhere. The investigation agency may or may not make that public. It depends on how much the CBI wants to reveal in the public domain. But the former finance minister must have seen it coming. There have been so many reports, so many notices and also searches by various central investigative agencies to firms purportedly linked to Karti.
Let’s see whether BJP succeeds in proving anything against P Chidambaram and his son or not but, after five years of BJP rule we will see their great achievement, that is India divided. South and North India just like South Korea and North Korea. Raids are happening only in the south.
