Waking up after the loot
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally woken up to the fact that a Lokpal needs to be appointed. This was one of the assurances he had given during his 2014 election campaign.
In the last five years the central government showed no interest in this. And not since the SC came down heavily on the government, a Lokpal has been appointed with just three months for the government to end.
The selection committee involving PM Modi, LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatagi and SC Chief Justice Gogoi have selected rtd SC justice Pinaki Chandraghosh as the first Lokpal of the country.
Congress leader of LS Mallikarjun Kharge boycotted the meeting because he was mentioned as only an invitee to the selection committee meeting.
Government should have appointed the Lokpal themselves. It didn’t have to be reminded by the SC for this. PM Modi didn’t show that will power. The authoritarian that he is, he does not like a system such as Lokpal. He had completely eradicated Lokpal even as the CM of Gujarat.
He has had major disagreements with the Lokpal in Gujarat. The Finding Committee was set up last September only because the Supreme Court insisted that it should be done.
The first meeting of this committee happened in February. And the committee finalized the name for the nation’s first Lok Pal. It is the duty of the Lok Pal to put corruption in public life under scanner. It is the duty of the Lok Pal to bring everyone under the radar of LokPal including former PM, current and former union ministers, current and former MPs and senior officers of enterprises under the union government.
Though a Lok Pal was recommended in 1968, no one had shown any interest in setting it up in the last five decades. Modi only offered words to the country despite clinching the power by promising “won’t eat, won’t allow others to either…” meaning he would not engage or encourage corruption in any form.
He kept projecting himself as the Chowkidar. But the scandals regarding Rafale happened during his time. The Hindu paper published a detailed report on the corruption charges in this.
Immediately the government through its AG claimed to the Supreme Court that the records regarding the deal were lost and the whole thing was reduced to a joke. Later they said the records were being copied.
India still ranks the lowest in global corruption index. CBI has been blamed for being partisan and corruption. Rafale deal is smacking of corruption. People are shouting ‘Chowkidar’ has stolen the money. Not just this, a lot of other charges have surrounded the government.
Under such circumstances, Modi government has set up a Lokpal like closing the door after the house is looted, just to show off that they are the integral lot. This is plain joke.
Modi government refuted the need for Lokpal by stating they are most honest ones. He protected those who wanted to escape abroad after looting the country, and compromised the structure of CBI, RBI and UGC.
He didn’t even bring back the black money. He waived off the loans of big corporates to the tune of two lakh crores and protected defaulters.
Though the list of defaulters was given to the PMO by last RBI governor, the govt continued to protect them.
Hence a lot of scandals have been covered up by the government because of the absence of Lokpal. Hopefully the new appointment would breathe some life into brazen system of this country.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
