HAASAN TAKES THE POLITICAL PLUNGE
VETERAN ACTOR LAUNCHES PARTY IN MADURAI
NEW DELHI: The Congress says it will continue mounting pressure on the Narendra Modi government over the ₹11,400-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, stepping up protests across the country in weeks to come.
Party leaders say this is “payback time”, and cite how the BJP stormed to power in 2014 by accusing the Congress of corruption. “While 2G was an imaginary scam, this is a real one where the people have been swindled of their hard-earned money. The BJP government even allowed the person responsible to escape,” said Youth Congress chief Raja Amarinder Singh Brar. “This is definitely payback time.”
The main opposition party has already hit the streets to protest against the fraud, clubbing it with the fleeing of former IPL czar Lalit Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya . It has also directed all its units to organise protests and news conferences across the country over the next one month.
Congress leaders claim the escape of Nirav Modi, the jewellery designer who is the main accused in the fraud, has hit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the charge against the Prime Minister, has made corruption the primary focus of his election speeches in Tripura, Meghalaya and Karnataka. He has also unleashed a string of tweets questioning Narendra Modi’s silence on the Rafale deal and the escape of the three scam-tainted businessmen.
“Who is accountable? This is the question asked by the common people on the streets of this country. Was the chowkidar (watchman) sleeping while people looted and scooted?” questioned Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, referencing Modi’s comment in an election rally in 2013 that he would be a chowkidar and ensure no corruption happened on his watch if he became PM.
Claiming that a “gigantic banking fraud of such a proportion was unheard of”, Surjewala said the responsibility lies “fairly and squarely” at the Prime Minister’s doorstep. “Can the Prime Minister escape responsibility by keeping mum or maintaining a stoic silence on the issue? We are seeing a pattern similar to the Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya and Rafale issues here,” he said.
He added that the Congress would hold PM Narendra Modi accountable both inside and outside Parliament.
The Congress and Left parties have already indicated that they will press for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the alleged banking fraud. The TMC, however, opposed the idea – arguing that a parliamentary probe will only delay the process of exposing the truth.
“JPC is not a solution,” said TMC leader Derek O’Brien.
O’Brien cited eight major JPCs set up since Independence to drive home his point. “Did any of these JPCs yield any concrete results? While some reports are still awaited, others have not been fully implemented,” he said.
Although the Congress is on an overdrive, political experts believe it needs more evidence to maintain a sustained drive against the BJP. “They (the Congress) are just saying the most obvious things. Not enough research has been done to bring out new angles,” said Delhi-based political analyst Bhaskar Rao. NEW DELHI: Within hours of Congress president Rahul Gandhi posting on Twitter his first reaction on the Nirav Modi controversy involving the Punjab National Bank on February 15, frantic calls were made between Union ministers and BJP leaders. The earlier decision to ignore the criticism and stay quiet was changed and it was decided that law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad would respond to the charge first.
The next day, Rahul tweeted again and the BJP responded through HRD minister Prakash Javadekar. On February 17 it was defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s turn. “We have nothing to hide,” said BJP’s media department head Anil Baluni. “It is a UPA scam that we have exposed.”
The BJP is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clean image to take the wind out of the Opposition’s sail. “His reputation is our biggest asset,” Baluni said.
But the public stand may hide the vulnerabilities the party senses in private. The controversy has struck the BJP at a time when it has suffered an electoral loss in Rajasthan and West Bengal, and the Opposition has blamed the government for ignoring the middle class in its last full budget ahead of the next general election.
BJP leaders admit in private that the Nirav Modi-MehulChoksi controversy is denting the image of the party, especially among the middle classes. It stormed to power in 2014 on promise of providing a clean and corruption-free government, after the Manmohan Singh government became unpopular following a string of corruption scandals. Into his fourth year as PM, Narendra Modi has managed to avoid any controversy and the BJP is treading cautiously so as to not to give the opposition an opportunity to create one.
Three BJP MPs admit that the PNB fraud is the first time in the past four years when they are defensive and, also, at pains to deflect the blame to the Congress. None of the three wanted to be identified . “People are asking some uncomfortable questions and we try to answer them. But, it is not easy,” a BJP MP from a western state said. Another BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh said, “The controversy, certainly, is not to our advantage. How will it benefit us?” The third MP from Bihar said, “The Congress has paid for scandals under its term. If this controversy sticks to us, we will be at a disadvantageous position.”
A member of the BJP’s IT cell – which has mostly stolen a march over rivals on running online campaign – admitted countering opposition’s propaganda on Nirav Modi case is a “difficult” job. “Our rivals came up with funny videos, cartoons on the PNB scam, and we countered it with facts and figures. They seemed to have scored over us so far,” he said on condition of anonymity.
The cell’s chief Amit Malviya denies that the BJP is on the back foot. “People know the reality. They know the scam started under UPA and who is to be blamed for it. If the accused shared a cozy relationship with anyone, it is the Congress.”
Indeed, far from being defensive, the party’s strategy will be “offensive”, another BJP office bearer said. Every move from the opposition to paint the BJP black will be countered at the highest level and on all platforms, this person added.