After a long time, genuine tough action at last
The Congress, which has been ridiculing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA Government's efforts to bring industrialist Vijay Mallya to book, needs to first answer this question: What is that one single major step it had taken when it was in power for 10 years and when Mallya merrily accumulated massive loans and continuously defaulted on the payment of salaries to the staff of Kingfisher Airlines, to recover the dues and hold him accountableIJ If the Congress were to offer an honest answer, it would be, ‘nothing'. And yet, today, when the Enforcement Directorate has sought a non-bailable warrant against Mallya, who, from media reports, has located himself in london; the Centre has suspended his passport; and the public sector banks that had been so generous to him in extending poorly-secured loan after loan, have been shaken out of their stupor by a persistent Union Government, the Congress's accusation is that all of this is a whitewash! Senior leaders such as party vice president Rahul Gandhi have gone to town claiming that the Narendra Modi Government had first allowed Mallya to escape' and is now demonstrating a farcical concern to get him back. It is true that the industrialist left the country when the heat was growing on him, but at that point in time he had a valid passport and there was nothing, including any injunction from the courts, which could have legally prevented his departure. Congress leaders have also been forwarding the silly theory that since he was seen conversing with senior BJP leaders in Parliament a day prior to his departure to london — from where he has since been dictating terms — he has been allowed to fly away with the Centre's complicity.
The proof of the pudding lies in its eating. The steps that various Government agencies have taken in the past few weeks have the cumulative effect of tightening the noose around Mallya's neck. Seen alongside the loaner banks' refusal to settle the dues on an amount the high-flying businessman proposed, the developments point to the inevitable: Mallya cannot evade the law for long now. The Congress, which has been in power for long enough periods of time to understand how the law functions, should hold its fire and wait for the legal process to play out.
The Congress has also cleverly linked the Mallya issue with that of the absconding former Indian Premier league supremo lalit Modi to deflect attention from its own failing in the latter case as well. The Congress-led regime in the 10 years of its stay did not even issue a proper alert notice that could legally compel him to return to India or bring him back to India against his wish, although both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation were involved in the cases that lalit Modi is involved in. It is in this Government's tenure that the CBI forwarded documents to Interpol to initiate the process of issuing a red corner notice against the former IPl boss, citing a host of alleged irregularities including money laundering. There is no doubt that the legal processes need to be tightened to deal with high-profile cases where the accused have access to vast resources, which they liberally employ to discover escape routes. lawmakers must work together to plug the loopholes.