VK Singh gets clean chit; now end smear talk
With a Delhi court clearing Union Minister and former Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh’s name in connection with an alleged comparison he had made between Dalits and dogs, his opponents must stop their slander campaign and let the matter rest. A Metropolitan Magistrate dismissed a plea that sought the filing of a First Information Report against the Minister for the remarks he had supposedly made while responding to queries on the Union Government's culpability over the death of two Dalit children recently in Faridabad. The order came after Delhi Police held the Minister had not made any “specific derogatory and humiliating” statement.
Gen Singh has consistently maintained that his remarks were twisted to spread an erroneous impression. To be fair to him, it is a fact that he had not drawn the obnoxious analogy, and this much is evident on a perusal of his complete statement, both in the print media and on television which played out his remarks on video. But opposition parties, encouraged by the hype created by sections of the media, had latched on to two unconnected statements to conclude his guilt. Interestingly, the court's order came on a day when the Congress was protesting outside Parliament against Gen Singh on the issue. Earlier, certain Opposition leaders had gone to the ridiculous extent of objecting to his presence in Parliament, saying he was a blot on the institution.
Such irresponsible behaviour is unbecoming of Members of Parliament. It is amazing that the Congress, led by vice president Rahul Gandhi, should have thought it prudent to exploit a non-issue in a bid to embarrass the Government in and outside Parliament. It appears that the party is busy more in digging out issues that don't have a leg to stand on, merely to push the Government into a corner, than in raising matters of genuine national concern. The last time, the Congress applied more or less similar tactics when it stalled the functioning of Parliament demanding the resignation of Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over their alleged involvement in the lalit Modi saga. This time, though — and thankfully — the principal Opposition did not go the extent of torpedoing Parliament's process, though its short disruption did leave a bad taste in the mouth because the two Houses could not fully discuss the Chennai flood tragedy and its aftermath.
It became obvious from the positions taken by the Congress and certain other parties that they were determined to make political capital out of the alleged remarks. Their concern should be concentrated towards ensuring that the full truth on the incident in which the two Dalit kids were burnt to death, is brought into the public domain. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the matter, and there have been some reports in the media that the fire had spread from within the house and had not been lit from outside. Of course, this is not the final conclusion and we have to hold judgement. Incidentally, reports of atrocities on the Dalit community, especially in Haryana, are not new. They were there when the Congress was in power at the Centre and even in the State. If Mr Gandhi is so pro-active today, it is because Haryana has a BJP Government.