After CBI DIG’s MK Sinha’s shocking revelations in the Supreme Court, the Congress party has launched a full-frontal attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the centre. In a press release on Tuesday, November 20, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi wrote that “a crime & corrupt syndicate is ruling the top echelons of power in the Modi govt”.
“A naïve Modi Govt which is a master in enforcing the ‘Gujarat Model’ to deal with bureaucrats, senior officers and treat them as their puppets, did not realize their deliberate denigration in undermining the authority of CBI- would now reach the doorsteps of the Prime Minister. The turmoil created by a despotic Modi Govt in the CBI when reached the Supreme Court, has now unleashed a ‘Corruption Tsunami’ which has hit the top most powers of the country,” said the press release.
It added that Sinha’s affidavit “points out to a ‘Corrupt Cabal’ being in-charge of premier institutions like – CBI, NSA, ED, RA&W & the PMO”.
In light of the serious allegations against Modi minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary as well as top bureaucrats in the PMO, the party has posed several questions to the BJP government:
- The affidavit mentions that a MoS, received “a few crores of rupees” in the “first fortnight of June 2018” as part of the ‘extortion racket’ being run by certain officers investigating the Moin Qureshi case. Will the MoS show courage of conviction to come out with facts of the matter, instead of just issuing a one line denial?
- What does the PM have to say about a Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in-charge of the PMO, being involved to “settle” a matter for MOS Shri Haribhai Choudhary? Who was the person in the PMO who “fixed things” for Shri Samant Goe lof RA&W, post which CBI officers were transferred in the Midnight Coup? There are only two Ministers in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, one the PM himself and then a Minister of State, in either case this is corruption of the highest degree as its at the doorsteps of the PM himself
- Shri Ajit Doval in his capacity as NSA has not only interfered in matters such as the Rafale negotiations, but has almost derailed the integrity of the investigation in the CBI. Why is NSA, Shri Ajit Doval even involved in this matter? What constitutional or legal authority does he have?
- Why did Shri Doval inform Shri Rakesh Asthana about an FIR against him while news of the same was still not revealed? Under what authority did he allow the Delhi Police to storm the CBI HQ’s? Why did he refuse the CBI Director, Bassi’s request to record phone conversations of certain individuals despite repeated requests for permission of the same?
- Is it true that Shri Doval is a good friend of Shri Dineshwar Prasad, the father of Manoj Kumar (as mentioned in the affidavit) who was the middleman accused in the Moin Qureshi case?
- Why was a RAW officer involved in negotiating a matter in the CBI? As mentioned in the affidavit who did he speak to on the 23rd of October where he claimed that things had been fixed in the PMO, post which several officers were transferred?
- Why is the man tasked with investigating allegations – the CVC, Shri K V Chowdary against CBI Director meeting an accused turned witness (Satish Sana) in the Moin Qureshi case? Why did he then call Asthana after meeting Sana knowing full well that Asthana was being investigated in the same matter? Why did he cancel his trip to Denmark? Was he aware that some explosive events would unfold?
- What was the need for the above officers to contact Satish Sana and ask him to be “helpful” in this? Is it not true that these officers answer to the highest office of the land?
The party also called out PM Modi over his prolonged silence on the entire matter, “Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi & his Government as usual have maintained a ‘Maun Vrat’ on the entire petition. This silence has gone on for too long and we will not stand for it! The protracted silence of the current dispensation is an insult to our democracy which mandates a government to be transparent in its dealings. This silence of the BJP, broken only by outlandish blog posts or Press Conferences by their Union Ministers who are in no way connected to the matter at hand, is an affront to the collective intelligence of the nation. The situation turns even direr as the days go by, with more facts being unearthed every single day, this just seems to be a Pandora’s Box, but much like the proverbial story of Pandora, we believe that the SC will be our hope to fix this mess.”