launching a blistering attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said free speech as a fundamental right does not mean “right to speak only falsehood”. While, the BJP stoutly rejected demand for Jaitley’s resignation by the AAP and the Congress for alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and described charges against him as “blasphemous and preposterous campaign bordering on political hysteria”.
Strongly rebutting the charges against him, Jaitley said a Member of Parliament has been writing to various governmental bodies with regard to Delhi’s cricket affairs and the previous UPA Government seized upon the opportunity and referred complaints to Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). “The SFIO, under the UPA regime, investigated and could not find a shred of evidence against me,” he claimed.
“Free speech is unquestionably a pre-eminent fundamental right, but does free speech include the right to speak only falsehoodIJ Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seems to believe in untruth and defamation, delivered in a language that borders on hysteria,” Jaitley added.
Writing in his Facebook blog entitled “Falsehood as free speech”, the Finance Minister also attacked West Bengal and Bihar Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar for supporting Kejriwal, saying “they need to redeem themselves” by publicly distancing from the Delhi Chief Minister’s vocabulary.
He said by referring to some facts of 2014 and 2015, Kejriwal cannot drag him in the Delhi cricket body case as he left cricket administration in 2013.
lashing out the language used by the Delhi Chief Minister against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the CBI raid on an officer in Delhi Secretariat, he said a State or Union Territory (UT) by its “unacceptable conduct” can also be a threat to federalism.
Jaitley said Kejriwal alleged that the search on an officer close to him is a violation to the federal structure of Constitution and has used some “unacceptable adjectives” against the Prime Minister.
“Federalism is not a one-way stream. It is not always that the Union Government challenges the spirit of federalism. A State or a UT, by its unacceptable conduct, can also be a threat to federalism,” he said on his blog.
Saying that “the DDCA case is a part of propaganda technique to deflect attention when you yourself are in the dock”, Jaitley accused Kejriwal of diverting attention after he acted as a shield to cover an officer under investigation.
Asking why Kejriwal should place himself as a shield in front of an official facing investigation, Jaitley said, “It is a part of propaganda technique to deflect attention when you yourself are in the dock.
Finding himself acting as shield to cover an officer under investigation, the Delhi Chief Minister attempted to focus attention on me,” he maintained.
Rallying round the Union Finance Minister, the BJP asserted that it “resolutely stands behind” Arun Jaitley who has an “impeccable” political record and dismissed AAP’s “campaign” against him as “blasphemous and preposterous”.
Mounting a sharp counter-attack on the AAP Government, Union HRD Minister Smiriti Irani described the charges as a “blasphemous and preposterous campaign bordering on political hysteria” created to deflect the public attention from a “corrupt officer” working with Delhi Chief Minister Arvin Kejriwal.
Addressing a Press conference at the BJP headquarters, she also quoted from SFIO probe into DDCA affairs done during the UPA tenure to state that it had given Jaitley a clean chit.
“Today, the BJP resolutely stands behind Arun Jaitley and publicly condemns the malicious intent of the AAP to deflect public attention from a corrupt officer working with Arvind Kejriwal,” Irani said.
The demand of the Congress now that Jaitley should resign exposes its political hypocrisy, she said, wondering if it was doing so to deflect attention from the Gandhi family.
Effusive in her praise for Jaitley, she said he had written his name in “golden letters in history” with his dedication and work and Kejriwal’s attempts to protect a corrupt officer amounted to abdicating the anti-corruption movement from which he had shot to limelight.