The grand old party has been misusing the CBI to keep its flock together for the last ten years. But as elections are not won by the threat of a chargesheet, the party may realise the consequences in the next lok Sabha polls
A parrot caged by its master has limited occasions to break free. But a parrot caged for years often tends to disbelieve the strength of its wings and even if set free, it prefers to get back into the cage at the first signal from his master.
An independent human does not behave like a caged parrot, but an institution, run by him, can be put under rigorous training to do so. And therefore, those who refuse to dance to their master’s tune pay through the nose. Although, the Supreme Court was not off the mark in making a telling observation about the CBI — a caged parrot — everybody who has any knowledge of CBI’s ‘political’ history must be sure the best pedagogue the caged parrot ever got is indeed the Congress.
The grand old party has a long history of misusing institutions for ‘political’ gains, and the CBI has always discharged its duty as a loyal slave. The federal agency works on a two-pronged strategy in cases involving political leaders.
First, it follows its master’s dictated carrot and stick approach. Isn’t it interesting that several regional parties with a long history of struggle on the ground become suspects every time the Delhi sultanate finds itself in crisisIJ
Consider this. When the proposal to allow FDI in multi brand retail came before Parliament for consideration and passing, MPs belonging to the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party from Uttar Pradesh picked up holes in Government’s decision.
They went hammer and tong against the proposal by the Manmohan Singh Government, but all of sudden they withdrew their protests. At the time of the voting against the proposal, they developed cold feet and walked out on grounds that they were not satisfied with the Government’s response to their queries. It was a covert strategy to surrender to save their skin.
The case in the Rajya Sabha, where Government has a wafer thin majority, was even more interesting. The Samajwadi Party walked out and the Bahujan Samaj Party supported the FDI proposal. A party having two positions in two houses of Parliament! It is not pertinent to mention what was the compelling force.
Nearly 10 months to that development, both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have got relief from the CBI in the Disproportionate Assets cases against them. The respite is hard-earned by the two parties who made many such sacrifices since 2004.
Given the buzz about the Congress’ effort to tie up with the BSP in Uttar Pradesh — the State where it is fast losing ground after a splendid performance in 2009 election — the relief to Mayawati may be a good bargain.
But, the bigger danger lies with CBI’s second strategy, which the caged parrot adopts for the arch political rivals of the Congress. To pull something out of a hat and then present it to the world as “clinching evidence” of a crime, which may have never been committed by Congress’ political rivals may have serious ramifications.
The sinister way the CBI has been let loose on BJP leaders from Gujarat in some encounter cases could finally turn out to be the superlative abuse of an investigative agency by the party in power to settle scores with its adversaries. The CBI suspects that a senior Intelligence Bureau official connived with authorities in the Gujarat Government to eliminate Ishrat Jahan — the leT operative for the State Police and an innocent victim for Congress leaders in Delhi.
If CBI’s temptation to establish that masterminds of Gujarat encounters, including Ishrat Jahan case, were occupying the seat of power in Gandhinagar turns out to be a figment of imagination, the apex investigative agency would certainly blot its copybook.
The dirty tricks department operating from 24 Akbar Road (Congress’ headquarters) does pose a serious challenge to the morale of security forces who are already fighting a grave challenge from all quarters with their hands tied.
The recent case of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik, and Andhra Pradesh leader Jaganmohan Reddy are just a few recent illustrations of how the CBI could come handy for the ruling party to hunt down its rivals.
The erstwhile champion of anti-Congressism, Nitish Kumar, has surprised even his close aides by offering to become a comrade in arms for the Congress. After the split between Nitish and the BJP in Bihar, the Congress supported the Nitish Government and the JD(U) reciprocated in providing the much required breather to the Congress in abstaining from a crucial JPC on the 2G spectrum scam that ultimately gave the Congress a clean chit.
Is the pending CBI affidavit on Nitish Kumar a possible reasonIJ
The Jharkhand High Court has asked the CBI to file a counter affidavit by November 22 on a writ seeking to make Kumar an accused in the fodder scam. The kingpin of the 950-crore worth scam had made a statement to the CBI that he paid a sum of Rs1.4 crore to Nitish Kumar during the 1994 election. Now the CBI has to consider if this provides enough ground to make him an accused in the case, which landed lalu Prasad behind bars.
Having successfully established himself in Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s image of a ‘clean’ politician and his future in Bihar now depends on what CBI tells the high court in November. It could be anybody’s guess what Kumar would like to hear from the CBI.
There are all indications that Kumar has given up his anti-Congress stance with the CBI coming into picture. But, his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik has different problem in the eastern State.
The Congress is his main and the only rival in Odisha. So when “sources” in the CBI leaks information that it might expand the ambit of its investigation in the Coalgate and also probe the role of Odisha Chief Minister, Patnaik has every reason to worry. like Gujarat, Odisha is becoming a tough nut for the Congress to crack.
Congress’ arithmetic for 2014 has gone awry for different reasons. It is trying to minimise its eventual loss in States like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Padesh and many States which played a role in formation of UPA-II. Many in the Congress believe that CBI could be a tool to find out new allies and fix those who pose a challenge. In doing so, Congress leaders perhaps tend to overlook that authority to remain in power comes through elections, outcome of which are not decided on the basis of the chargesheet prepared in CBI headquarters but what people decide ultimately.
The world's largest democracy has seen two elections — in 1977 and 1989 — when Governments became so unpopular that their thumping majority was substantially reduced paving the way for the formation of a non-Congress Governments.
Both this elections, particularly the 1977 poll that followed a national emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, have seen people disapproving an authoritarian leader who threw rule book to the wind and tried to crush Opposition to run the Government as personal fiefdom. Her admirers in the Congress need to take a lesson.
(The writer is a Special Correspondent, The Pioneer )