Robert Vadra faced ED for five long hours after five years of the BJP rule, what the illusive species spotted? Has the DLF land issue suddenly become so important for the CBI when there are zillions of other more important cases to be resolved? A case untouched for five long years and unexpectedly on the table before elections – is it because of Priyanka’s entry into active politics that has everything to do with Robert Vadra’s future of freedom? The day when Priyanka Gandhi decided to be in active politics, Robert Vadra became the subject of attack.
Now, the Delhi court extended his interim protection from the arrest granted to Manoj Arora in a money laundering case in which his employer Robert Vadra joined the probe before the Enforcement Directorate. The relief to Arora was granted as the probe agency informed the court that Vadra has also been granted interim bail till February 16 after he filed an anticipatory bail application and sought time to respond. The case is linked to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London based property — 12, Bryanston Square — worth 1.9 million pounds. Vadra allegedly owns the property. The ED had opposed Vadra’s anticipatory bail and claimed that he had also got kickbacks in a petroleum deal in 2009. Vadra had moved the anticipatory bail plea from London where he had gone for the treatment of his mother. In his anticipatory bail plea, Vadra said that he was being subjected to “unwarranted, unjustified and malicious criminal prosecution which on the face of it is completely politically motivated and is being carried out for reasons other than those prescribed under the law”. His wife and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi strongly came out in support of her husband, whom she dropped off at the ED’s office. The court will next hear the matter on February 16, when Vadra’s interim bail is scheduled to expire. The court had also granted relief to Vadra on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of like amount while asking him not to leave the country without its prior permission.
Well, this attack might boomerang because how can a private businessman be called corrupt and caught? It is easy for any government to catch a government servant as he or she can always leave some proofs while doing corruption. Any person not in the government service, if indulges in corruption, it is always with the connivance of the government servants. If the malpractices involve big money, naturally the ministry level officers and even some ministers are involved in that. What made BJP or ED wait for five long years in this case? It is nothing but an election Jumla! Before the elections, BJP not only targeted Robert Vadra but a lot of other politicians accusing them to be corrupt. But, it’s almost five years of Modi government and till date, nothing has been proved. BJP’s main strategy of coming to power has worked by labelling accusations and corrupting the minds of voters against Congress. Also, BJP promised that they would disclose the names of black money holders who have kept money abroad. However, till date, nothing has been exposed and all promises have gone flat. Thirdly, BJP supported the Anna Hazare movement of India against Corruption and accused about 16 politicians with files flashed on media addressing them as the corrupt politicians. Also, they accused some politicians and their NGOs involvement in corruption but files were opened to probe those cases. These were all election gimmicks to grab power by fooling the people. Our media and social media have the tendency of going overboard when any of these charges are labelled against anybody. I am not advocating Robert Vadra, but first, we should understand the nature of the charges against him.
All of Robert Vadra’s cases are of land dealings and that too of buying at a low price and reselling on higher price when those lands turned out to be hot properties. All these lands were purchased in Congress-led state governments with the connivance of the state officials. He was told beforehand that some state project or some highway will pass nearby from these lands and he bought those lands and when the project was announced, prices of areas nearby those projects jumped up and he made the killings by selling them on a higher price. You can charge how he was privy to this type of government information but this is it. In India, most of the contracts and information on government projects are passed on to relatives and family members of the ruling party people and government officials. It is a set norm that when any party comes to power in any state, supporters of that party benefit tremendously by these doling outs and dealings. Even when BJP came to power, the land grabbing cases by their ministers surfaced but BJP was clever enough to cover them.
Robert Vadra is not a fool to buy and sell any land without having properly registered papers or “bainama”. He would have covered all his dealings with proper paperwork. Maybe this is the reason that so far no agencies could touch him or BJP could not succeed in putting him behind the bars. Other than land dealings, his name has not cropped up in any government contract or any scam of UPA2. If any contract was given to him and found improper, those officials who awarded him the contract will be caught, not him. Bribery giving charges are nearly impossible to prove in courts, if not caught red-handed. What do you think? Why hasn’t BJP done anything till now? It must have perused and gone through every paper on this case but they did not find anything to catch him. To catch and put Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law behind the bars would have been a very good opportunity for BJP.
BJP has made this issue an election issue but if Vadra is proven innocent, Congress will get a strong chance to revert to power. BJP is very much aware that before elections, Vadra’s cases will not be proved in the courts but electorally they will play with this plot. The whole drama is to entertain the BJP supporters and followers, nothing else. If Vadra is guilty, he would have been behind the bar by now. Why did they wait for so long? Last time this happened in 2014. Next time it might happen in 2024.
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