Govt image among Dalits needs to change: Paswan

Terming the Bharat Bandh of April 2 a “natural expression of Dalit anger” in response to a Supreme Court order that allegedly diluted the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Paswan said it turned violent only when other political parties jumped in. He said that the government did what it could do to file a review petition promptly, but suggested that a stronger signal from the top would have helped. “The social justice minister, Thawar Chand Gehlot, said it many times. But..when PM says, it sends one signal; when Amit Shah says it, a certain signal goes.”

Asked what advice he would give to BJP leaders to correct the image, Paswan said: “Work without antagonising anyone. There is lava inside. When it comes out slowly, the volcano doesn’t erupt. But if you suppress it, then it becomes an active volcano.” Older Dalits may have been willing to live with oppression, but said, referring to his son’s generation: “The Chirag Paswan generation is not ready to accept it. People ask why is there a protest on smaller issues? Because the young Dalit want a life of respect.” Paswan emphasised that the NDA government had done more for BR Ambedkar and poor Dalits than all its political rivals. All its welfare schemes -Ujjwala, Jan Dhan, food distribution, health -- would benefit Dalits most, he said, but the problem was publicity. “There should be publicity, better publicity. People occupying higher position in government will have to start telling people openly -- then perception will change automatically.”

At a time when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has quit NDA, and voices of discord are emerging from allies such as the Shiv Sena, Pawan rejected the argument that there was discord brewing within the NDA: “Vajpayee government was a coalition government. The Modi government has an absolute BJP majority government. It got votes in the name of Modi...you have to accept this much.” and has since been questioned at least twice by the CBI.

Deepak Kochhar didn’t respond to calls on his mobile phone and messages sent to him over the weekend.

Investigators say the ownership of many of the companies under probe is with other relatives of Deepak and Chanda Kochhar. For instance, according to documents seen by HT, in 1999, Pacific was owned by Neelam Advani (Chanda Kochhar’s sister-in-law; her brother’s wife) and Virender Kochhar (Chanda’s father-in-law and Deepak’s father), with Advani holding 90.92% and Kochhar the remaining. But as of March 2017, Advani continued to retain her stake while a certain Sharad Mhatre owned 9.08%.

According to documents filed with ROC, Opel is in the real estate business, and the others are either in the renewable power business or are financial intermediaries. None of the companies is exceptionally big; none declares names of clients or customers; and all have investments of a few tens of lakhs in financial instruments. Opel doesn’t seem to have filed any papers with the ROC since 2015. Many of the companies are loss-making.

These are among the firms being investigated by the tax department, which, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity, is looking at all companies and all transactions and “not one company or one deal.”

Chanda Kochhar and her husband have been at the centre of a loan-kickback controversy involving Videocon Group’s promoter Venugopal Dhoot.

The allegation is that Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar were co-investors in Nupower and that the former transferred his ownership to the latter through a complex web of transactions after Videocon received a loan from ICICI Bank.

The bank has said that it was a minority partner in a consortium headed by State Bank of India that extended the loan, and Videocon has said that Dhoot’s investment in Nupower was personal. ICICI Bank’s board has also reposed faith in Chanda Kochhar.

CBI’S preliminary enquiry names Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar, but not Chanda Kochhar. CBI has also issued so-called look-out notices to ensure Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar do not leave India. “The main investigation is in CBI, the other agencies such as Enforcement Directorate, SFIO and the tax department will act on inputs shared by CBI,” said another official involved in the investigation on condition of anonymity.