PRESS RELEASES
April
27, 2005
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Press statement of NDA leaders The issue of tainted ministers was raised by us immediately after the present UPA government took office and the Prime Minister included in his Cabinet persons who were already accused of grave criminal and corruption charges. All these charges fell in the category of moral turpitude. The gravest of the charges were against Shri Shibu Soren and Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. Subsequent events forced the Prime Minister to secure the resignation of Shri Shibu Soren from the Cabinet. The Prime Minister took this step perhaps because the UPA government was not critically dependent on the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. However, as far as Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and his four other party colleagues are concerned, the Prime Minister has obdurately stonewalled all pleas for their dismissal from the Council of Ministers only and only because his government is critically dependent on the support of the RJD. The Prime Minister is guilty of practising the worst kind of political opportunism in retaining these ministers, brushing aside all moral principles, scruples and democratic propriety. The matter does not rest there. Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav has been allowed to freely misuse his authority in government and his political clout to subvert the legal and democratic process so that he could get off the hook. The critical observations of the Supreme Court with regard to the attempts that are being made to influence the CBI in the ongoing cases after the UPA government came to power including the critical observations of the Supreme Court yesterday on the manner in which the income-tax cases against him and his wife have been dealt with are all proof of the sinister influence being exerted by the government to bail-out Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. Two days ago, a court in Ranchi ordered the framing of charges against Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav under various sections of the IPC including Section 420 and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Perhaps never before in the history of this country has a person accused of such serious corruption charges been given the responsibility of heading a ministry in the Government of India, much less an important and sensitive ministry like the Railways with its own budget. The fodder scam is not an isolated act of misappropriation of public money but a glaring case of systematic loot of public treasury under the direct patronage of the state administration headed by Shri Lalu Prasad as the then Chief Minister. The Patna High Court while referring the matter to the CBI in the year 1996 came to the conclusion "that the state government was admittedly in know of the excess drawals yet no remedial action whatsoever was taken". The Supreme Court while upholding the direction to refer the investigation to the CBI further held that "expeditious follow up action need be taken so that no evidence may be lost". This reinforces the obligation of the present UPA govt. to ensure free and fair investigation and trial of all the accused including Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. This is in serious jeopardy today because of the influence he wields in the government. There are examples galore in all governments which have held office at the center, of ministers resigning from their posts if accused of corruption. In the Jain Hawala case our own leaders went a step further in spite of a palpable frame up. Shri L K Advani resigned not only from the position of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, but from the Lok Sabha itself. Shri Madan Lal Khurana, who was the Chief Minister of Delhi at that time, resigned from his post as soon as the CBI approached the government to sanction filing of charge sheet against him. Shri Yashwant Sinha resigned as Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and from the membership of the Assembly itself. Shri Advani refused to even contest the Lok Sabha elections until he was fully cleared of the charges. This is the standard which was set by us. Compared to the present day norms of the UPA government what happened nine years ago might appear to belong to another era. The two governments led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 1998 and 2004 maintained these highest standards of probity. Shri Buta Singh was asked to resign from the Cabinet when charges were framed against him. Shri Muthaiya similarly resigned from the Cabinet when charges were framed against him. Shri Harin Pathak also resigned from the Council of Ministers when charges were framed against him. Shri Gingee Ramchandran and Shri Dilip Singh Judev resigned from the Government as soon as a shadow was allegedly cast upon them. The Ayodhya cases are often used to justify what the present government is doing. What needs to be highlighted is the fact that these cases relate to a movement and have nothing to do with corruption. The polity of the country has always treated criminal cases arising out of such movements in different category altogether. There is, therefore, absolutely no justification for comparing these cases with the cases against Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. The UPA government is guilty of setting new and absolutely unacceptable norms of political conduct in our parliamentary democracy. It is guilty of brazenly trying to defend the indefensible. It is guilty of distorting facts. It is guilty of making logic stand on its head. It is guilty of gagging the voice of the opposition. When the NDA was in power, both Shrimati Sonia Gandhi as the then Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Dr. Manmohan Singh as the then Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha were not only given the opportunity to raise issues whenever they wanted, even during Question Hour, but were also listened to in pin-drop silence by the then ruling side. For the last one year, it has become the accepted norm of the Treasury Benches, ably assisted by the Left parties, to disturb the Leaders of Opposition in both Houses whenever they get up to raise any issue. Other members of the NDA have been prevented from speaking in both Houses of Parliament, even after they have been permitted to do so by the presiding officers, whenever they have tried to raise issues which are not palatable to the Treasury Benches. Ever since its inception the UPA government has adopted a vindictive, confrontationist and hostile attitude towards the NDA opposition. The manner in which the governors appointed by the NDA government were removed, the manner in which the NDA convenor and the former Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes is being targetted and maligned, the manner in which the second affidavit has been filed to contradict the truth in the first affidavit, the manner in which cases against members of the ruling party are being withdrawn or manipulated and cases against members of the NDA are being reopened, the manner in which the BJP government in Goa was destabilized and the manner in which an UPA government was sought to be installed in Jharkhand, the manner in which names of schemes and airports are being changed, the manner in which a veritable witch-hunt has been unleashed against the former NDA ministers are all proof of the undemocratic and petty-minded approach of this government towards the main opposition reminiscent of the Emergency days. The privileges, rights and dignity of the opposition have been consistently trampled upon by the ruling coalition. Parliamentary decency, norms and standards have been thrown to the winds. The government's message is loud and clear - the opposition is not needed. This state of affairs is not acceptable to the NDA. It is in anger and anguish, therefore, that we have been compelled to take the principled decision of boycotting Parliament for the whole of this week. The NDA will meet again on Monday morning to review the situation. ------------------ |
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