There was a lot of hue and cry when Congress increased OBC quota in premier institutes such as AIIMS. The basic reason is that you are compromising on the quality of the doctors that will treat the patients that is "aam aadmi" in congress terminology.But why dont politicians care about the quality of doctors being affected? For the simple reason that they dont take treatment from them!! Why did the doctor was called from another institute to perform surgery on PM? Dont the govt trust the quality of doctors in AIIMS?
Food for thought!!
Read the full article
Congress is all set to pass a bill that will censor free flow of news on websites over the net. Barely four months after dropping its proposal to force tv channels to show only "authorized" feed during security emergencies, the govt is now seeking to sensor news portals and other websites, that too even at normal times.
So next time if quottrochi flees away with our money, or sajjan kumar or jagdish tytler and allowed to go scott free, you and i have no way to know it. The govt shall decide what we can know and what not.
With most of the news channels already towing the congress line (many of them get large revenues from advertisements from the central govt), this new bill will make the flow of information almost impossible.What more we cannot even get info on net. We all know how unpopular congress is over internet because there is a free flow of info here.
On 1 hand Govt "boasts" of passing RTI act..........and on other hand it is planning to introduce such laws! Congress have already modified history and remove traces of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh etc so that people have the impression that it was only "gandhi" and "nehru" who got us freedom! Now what do they plan to do by Gagging every citizen??
There is a famous saying "Chor ki dadhi mein tinka". The Honest shall not fear anything while the culprit is always busy in hiding things. If the govt is so clear why does it want to take away our constitutional right of "Freedom Of Speech" that too in normal time!!
Chances are that this blog and many others like this maybe close very soon because it seems Speaking TRUTH in India would be considered as a crime from now on!
Amost all people are tired of both BJP and the congress. Everyone wants the alternative to them which is good. Few people and parties have the courage to stand up to them and even then they dont stand a chance to win because of these reasons-1.) Apathy of educated people towards voting- Educated people doesnt care about voting and poor and illiterate dont know the advantage of these parties.
2.) Gross flouting of norms by influential parties- Influential parties openly flout the EC norms and there is no surprise that they are let away easily!
3.) Media biasness- Media is not really interested in advocating the case of these parties and people as it doesnt generate much TRP but truth cant be suppressed. Check the below article-
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Accusing both BJP and Congress candidates for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency of violating electoral laws, the Youth For Equality (YFE) on Friday lodged a written complaint with the Election Commission of India (EC) calling for rejection of their candidatures.
YFE president, Kaushal Kant Mishra alleged that Congress candidate Ajay Maken and BJP’s Vijay Goel had put hoardings and advertisements in gross violation of the election code of conduct.
Accusing both the candidates of spending money beyond the stipulated expenditure of 25 lakhs, YFE leader asked the Election Commission to look into the evidences submitted by them and take appropriate action.
To support their argument, YFE leaders also submitted a Compact Disc containing pictures of hoardings and advertisements put up by both candidates across New Delhi constituency.
YFE has demanded that both candidates must account for the money spent on the large number of hoardings and asked the Election Commission to cancel their candidature if they have spent beyond the limit.
Mishra called for removal of the hoardings in twenty four hours in case the candidates claimed that they were not responsible for putting up these advertisements.
YFE claimed that both Congress and BJP were misusing official position to further the political agenda. “On every lamp post and street light and public convenience, the faces of Vijay Goel and Ajay Maken are conspicuous by their presence”, said YFE spokesperson, Jiten Jain.
The Election Commission was also asked to get those private hoardings removed, where the agreement copies have not been submitted with the Returning Officer. Either these hoardings have been put up by the candidates themselves or their sponsors, which is against the law, claimed YFE.
YFE spokesperson Jiten Jain alleged hoardings and posters put up by Maken and Goel did not carry the name of publisher and the serial numbers, which was also against EC rules.
He also wanted to know, who was funding the promotional package of Congress candidate Ajay Maken, comprising a diary and a calendar, which is being distributed to each and every household by a courier agency.
The youth organisation also alleged that while no action was being taken against the political parties for violating poll laws, YFE activists were being stopped from distributing even pamphlets.
Citing an instance, president Kaushal Kant Mishra, said that one of their worker was roughed up at the Karol Bagh Metro station, while he was giving handbills to commuters.
Calling for action against those violating poll code, YFE activists said that they will sit in front of the Election Commission office till some action was initiated on their complaint.
Chandigarh: Bittu and Danny, the two young Lok Sabha candidates handpicked by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to contest the forthcoming elections, have become an embarrassment to the party in Punjab.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and the party's candidate in the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, has never been to college. Bittu is facing the Akali Dal's Diljeet Singh Cheema, who has an MBBS degree and has been a practising doctor for more than 10 years.
A political novice, Bittu's only qualification is his proximity to Rahul Gandhi, and this does not seem to be helping him. Though his candidature was preferred over many senior Congress leaders, he has become an embarrassment to the party as the Akalis, as part of their election ploy, have decided to "start a literacy movement in the constituency".
Cheema said the movement, called 'Jago Bittu school chalo', would target school dropouts. He said his party proposed to make his Congress rival a model for the movement, adding that it was surprising that Rahul Gandhi had picked a school dropout as the new youth icon in the constituency.
He said he would appeal to his voters to tell Bittu to first "complete his school and college education, instead of going to Parliament".
The second Congress candidate handpicked by Rahul is Sukhvinder Singh Danny, who is contesting from the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat. The son of a former Punjab cabinet minister Sardool Singh, Danny is making things awkward for party workers after his selection on compassionate grounds as a police inspector was cancelled for producing the "wrong certificate".
Danny faces Akali Dal nominee Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, who earlier represented the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat. In her campaign, she has often highlighted how her rival earlier "chose to join the police through fraudulent means". She said it was surprising that the Congress was trying to send "such elements to Parliament".
Also see
Congress has always projected itself as a youth party that "empowers" the youth. Many may believe that congress has rightly done that also. Thinking about youth leaders of congress the names that comes to mind are Rahul and Priyanka gandhi, Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Naveen jindal, Priya dutt and Sachin pilot.
All looks good but now lets look at the "political" qualification and experience of ground realities of these politicians-
1.) Rahul and priyanka Gandhi- Children of Sonia gandhi
2.) Milind deora- Son of murli deora (congress minister)
3.) Jyotiraditya scindia- Son of Madhav Rao scindia (Congress minister)
4.) Naveen jindal- Son of O.P. Jindal (congress minister)
5.) Sachin pilot- Son of Rajesh pilot (Again congress minister)
6.) Priya dutt- Daughter of Sunil dutt ( Congress minister)
7.) 2 youth candidates hanpicked by Rahul gandhi for Lok sabha 2009- Check the criteria for selection here.
So if the criteria for calling itself a youth party is just chosing children of former ministers then I believe every political party in India have ministers which have children that can be easily inducted in political parties! But Isnt it better to chose deserving candidates rather then "youth" with no idea on how things work. Other parties have youth candidates which have risen from the grounds but they go unnoticed because though deserving they dont have any political godfather for publicity.
Children of Ministers- Youth party or Monarchy?
Never noticed this fact until there was a poll on CNN-BN. The Question was " Is BJP ahead of Congress in DIRECT states"
Direct states are those states where there is direct competition between BJP and Congress and no 3rd party is strong there. These are Delhi, Rajasthan, M.P., gujarat, Chattisgarh and 1-2 other states.
A whopping 92% people voted that YES BJP is ahead in direct states! The discussion then shifted as to why congress faires so poorly in DIRECT states. The reason that came out was that congress doesnt project any leaders while BJP alwayz project their leaders. With the exception of Sheila Dixit in Delhi congress doesnt project a leader in any direct state whereas BJP has chosen leaders for each state- Modi for gujarar, Raman singh for Chattisgarh etc.
It can be clearly seen that people are voting for clean and efficient leaders and 1 state whereas congress has fielded Dixit as CM (delhi) it has won easily.
But then why dont congress project leaders?? Why??
The ans not given by me but by the experts and anchor was due to a possible fear that they may become too strong and could hurt P.M. aspirations of the Gandhi family!
Congress is more or less run like a Monarchy. Jawaharlal Nehru, then Indra gandhi, then her son Sanjya gandhi, then Rajiv gandhi, now manmohan singh (mask for Sonia gandhi) and Rahul gandhi is being projected as the future P.M. whereas there are many well deserving and experienced and good leaders already. Most notable is Pranab mujherjee.
Even in today's situation people can very well see all leaders of BJP has risen from ranks and their are many prominent leaders like Modi, Chauhan, Sushma, Jaitley etc. Whereas congress doesnt seem to have a leader so strong that he can be made P.M. because they never project anyone except Rahul gandhi who hasnt done anything till now and in the recent past his statements are benifitting BJP more than Congress!!
So people better decide IS INDIA A DEMOCRACY or MONARCHY?
Below is an awsome video made by a concerned and well informed citizen exposing NDTV and their biasness towards a particular political party. Some biased reporters and channels bring bad name to whole of journalism world. Watch the video to know the truth.
Watching news on T.V. and keeping myself informed about world happenings is 1 of my hobbies. I had always shuffled across various news channels and would watch the 1 which had the interesting news on. I never suspected any channel of biasness until I came across few topics on Internet. 1 article led to another and after reading few of them I realised how some news channels are making people fool and are working with vested interests.
Some of the highlights of those articles which made me realise the facts were-
1.) Overhyped Varun gandhi's speech and absolutely no news about Vaiko's speech. ( If you don't know what Vaiko said just do a little google search ;) )
2.) Issuing a legal notice to a blogger who disclosed their true colours on his blog. (this was done by ndtv)
3.) Sensitive info given to terrorist by showing LIVE TELECAST during 26/11 and Kargil and claiming it as FREEDOM OF SPEECH (Again done by ndtv) and issuing legal notice to others when they exercised their right.
There are many points which cannot be mentioned in a single post.
The impact it has had is that it has created an environment where people only know half the truth and believe whatever is shown. When I talk with my friends who dont have much access to internet I am surprised to hear their thoughts and reasoning because they have access to only half info and are clueless about articles that surface on Blogs and Forums which tell the reality!!
Below is the link to a very nice blog post. The blogger has mentioned how he was evident follower of news channels and how some of them fooled him until he realized the truth. I recommend every person to read it once to be aware and stay away from this dangerous phenomena known as "Media Bias".
Read the full article
Read the full article
Also see-
The issue of Black money stashed abroad has made headlines in the past few days. BJP is blaming the congress for inaction while the congress is washing its hand off and saying that they are doing everything possible to get the money back.
But what has the govt really done? Is it just a poll issue? Are politicians involved? Is something fishy?
Know from the expert. Below is link to interview of leading charted accountant of India who is involved and has overseen this issue since 1986!!
Much doubts should be cleared after reading the interview.
Read the interview
Below is link to an article that shows that Rahul Gandhi ( The allegedly most eligible person to be PM ) and his mother is guilty of the offence of perjury under Sections 179 and 191 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and punishable under Section 193 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They are also guilty of offences under Section 125A of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) 1951.
In addition he is also guilty of tendering false evidence under Section 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which reads as follows:
‘False Statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence/whoever, in any declaration made or subscribed by him which declaration any Court of Justice or any Public Servant or other person is bound or authorized by Law to receive as evidence of any fact, makes any Statement which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, touching any point/material to the object for which the declaration is made or used shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave false evidence’.
It is quite obvious that the congress friendly media didnt raise a voice about it and our "strong" judicial system decided to ignore the incident.
But all Indians should be aware of what the truth is and decide what leaders they want for India.
Read the full article
Read the full article
New Delhi (PTI): Former CBI Director Joginder Singh on Monday claimed that the agency had proof that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi had allegedly received USD 7.32 million as kickbacks in Rs 64 crore Bofors scam.
"There are documents with the CBI showing that Quattrocchi received USD 7.32 million. The documents have been given by the Swiss authorities themselves," the former CBI Director, who brought the documents from Switzerland, told PTI here.
He claimed that the documents were with the government and the CBI and also part of records in Delhi High Court.
Mr. Singh, who had gone to Switzerland in 1997 and brought nearly 500 pages of documents released by Swiss banks, said "when I took over, I found that the the CBI had a room full of documents relating to Bofors case but no one had touched them."
Mr. Singh said after bringing back the documents he had sent a report to the government in three months.
Asked why the government did not do anything, he said, "It is up to the government to accept it or not. I don't regret because I did my job."
Asked if the decision of dropping the name of Quattrocchi from the Interpol's Red Corner notice was wrong, he said "the government has all the rights...the CBI is not an independent agency. It has to carry out whatever the government says. You may not agree with it but there is option than to carry out whatever they say."
The youth and upper middle class today is not interested in voting. The reason they give is that " All candidates and parties are alike and they all are corrupt". Many wish Section 49-o to come into existence so that they can chose "none of the above" option.Thinking that all candidates are corrupt is often a case of ignorance. In mumbai a leading surgeon and an investement banker (both women) stood this time but most probably they will lose this time as the "educated and urban middle class" which should have been their vote bank didn't come out to vote because of two reasons-
1.) They didn't know about them
2.) They didn't have the will to vote
So for people who think that they will not vote this time because there is no suitable candidate (in chd) take a look at this website http://www.ajaygoyal.in/ of Candidate Ajay goyal.
He is an independent candidate and does not belong to any party. Other details, manifesto, qualification etc all can be found at the website. So if you think BJP and Congress doesnt deserve your vote atleast dont let it go waste and vote for some deserving candidate.
We all know that it is very unlikely that he will win this time but instead of not voting people should vote for the right candidate.
What will it do?? How does it matter??
If the voting %age is high the political parties will come to know that Urban middle class and youth is a vote bank and they vote for clean politicians so they will field candidates accordingly. More and more good people will come to politics knowing that good and aware people will vote for them.
Remember at the end of day A politician is as good as people who vote for him. If you want illiterate, poor, corrupt, thieves, criminals etc to vote for the good candidate while you enjoy your election holiday and sleep THAT IS JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So atleast vote someone to show that educated middle class is also a vote bank that cant be manipulated.
DISCLAIMER:- I am not associated with the candidate nor I am campaigning for him. I came to know about this candidate so made a post to tell people about less known candidates in Chd. If anyone know any other good candidate they can mail me and I will add them too.
Jai Hind
The Internet these days is flooded with articles about SECTION 49-o. People are sending and recieving emails and social networking websites like Orkut and Facebook are flooded with topics on Section 49-o. The HOAX mail claim that under section 49-o we can choose the option of not voting anyone and if the no. of persons voting for none of the above exceed the other voting percentage all candidates will be disqualified and Re-Polling would be held with new candidates. Unfortunately many people didn't thought of verifying this and spread the rumour forward which created lots of confusion.
So what is the truth??
The truth is Section 49-o exist and its purpose as per paragraph given on Indian govt. website is-
49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.
Implementation- The real inclusion of article 49-0 in the rule book is to prevent election fraud, so that other people don’t caste their vote using your identity. The Election Commission didn’t bother extending it further specifying what would happen in case the number of “none” votes exceeded those of the other candidates.
So what is the myth?
The myth is that there is re-polling. The truth is that THERE IS NO RE-POLLING. The result will remain the same, the person who gets the highest number of votes wins. Which also means that even if the majority of the nation feels that amongst the candidates standing none of them fits the bill and none would do justice to the nation as the next PM, theres no rule (as of now) which will ensure re-polling.
So now you know the truth and the next time when someone tells you about section 49-o you know what you have to say!
Spread Awareness.
Jai Hind
Mrs Antonia Maino (aka Sonia) Gandhi has finally broken her silence on the Indian slush money abroad. She told her party workers in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". The delayed response of the first family of the Congress party, troubled by the issue from the word go, is understandable. But, the Swiss money has already become an electoral issue. That is what has finally forced the family to speak so that the party is not any further seen as being in denial and cynical about the Indian slush funds abroad. It is the family's silence, and the party's denial, that turned the issue into an election agenda. Shorn of the allegations normal in election time, all that L K Advani had said on March 29 was this: 'Mr Prime Minister, vigorously take up the issue of Swiss type secret banking and tax havens in the G20 meeting of April 2'. Had the PM told Advani that that was precisely what he was intending to do, that would have been the end of the BJP effort to make an issue of it. A Congress party, unburdened by its first family's anxieties, would have done precisely that, particularly when elections are round the corner. But neither the PM nor the party officials would dare do that. Why? Read on for the underlying drives.
The first family has other, perhaps bigger, reasons to worry, apart from about the Bofors slush money. Two more stunning exposures — but not as well-known as the Bofors scam — make the first family a target for investigation on slush money. Now on to the heart of the story which has three limbs.
First: $2.2 billions in Rajiv's secret accounts, says Swiss magazine
The shocking exposure came from Switzerland itself. The most popular magazine of Switzerland, Schweizer Illustrierte, [dated November 11, 1991] did an expose of 14 politicians of developing nations who, it said, had stashed their bribes in Swiss banks. The title of the expose in German read “Fluchgelder — Die Schweizer Konten der Dictatoren”. In English it meant, “Curse of money — The Swiss bank accounts of the Dictators”. Rajiv Gandhi figured in the expose as one with slush funds in secret accounts. Schweizer Illustrierte is not some rag. It is the Number One Swiss magazine and sells some 2,10,000 copies. Its readership is 9,18,000 — some 15 per cent of Swiss adults. The magazine had mentioned specific amounts in secret Swiss accounts of different leaders with their pictures alongside.
The report under the picture of Rajiv Gandhi, translated into English, read: "2.5 billion francs on the Indian secret accounts in Switzerland" of "Rajiv Gandhi, Indian". Today the amount of 2.5 billion Swiss Francs equals 2.2 billion US Dollars. But as Rajiv was no more by then, it must become the family inheritance. The other leaders captured by the magazine were: Suharto of Indonesia (25.5 billion), Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (22.5 billion), Mobutu of Zaire (6 billion), Shah Pehlvi of Iran (5.7 billion), Saddam Hussein of Iraq (800 million), and Nicolas Ceausescu of Romania (500 million). The figures of slush money mentioned were in milliarden (meaning ‘billions’) units of Swiss Francs. Had Rajiv been alive then, the expose would have caused a political tsunami in India.
The box item above shows the pictures and the amounts of the leaders as appearing in the magazine.
More than the slush money charge it is the family's silence about it, which is baffling. The number one magazine in Switzerland had made the damning charge that Rajiv Gandhi had left behind slush funds of $2.2 billion and yet the family has kept mum for 18 years now. How could any honest person tolerate such a serious charge? Well, one could say that the family might not have challenged it because it was published in far away Switzerland. But Dr Subramanian Swamy had included the Schweizer Illustrierte expose in his write-up “Do You know your Sonia?” in his party, the Janata Party, website, seven years ago, in 2002. It is still on the Party's website. Photocopies of the expose in the Swiss magazine are shown at pages 51 to 53 of Dr Swamy's write-up; also an e-mail from the magazine addressed to Dr Swamy on February 22, 2002 at page 50. The e-mail confirms what the magazine had reported.
The e-mail reads:
“Dear sir,
We refer to your e-mail of April 4, regarding an article in our magazine Schweizer Illustrierte of November 11, 1991. In this article — Fluchgelder - Die Schweizer Konten der Dictatoren — is Rajiv Gandhi named with tot 2.5 Milliarden CHF on secret accounts. If you want the magazine please indicate the exact address.
Yours faithfully,
Ringer Ltd.
Margot Todisco”.
The fax and telephone numbers of Margot Todisco are also given in the mail. The e-mail is in box alongside here. Yet no one from the Congress or from the family has sued Dr Swamy till date, nor challenged him. The Swiss expose also prominently figured in the advertisement that some NRIs had put out in the New York Times to protest against Sonia Gandhi when she visited the US in the year 2007. The Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) filed a defamation case against the ad, expressly "not to defend itself, but Sonia Gandhi". The New York Supreme Court dismissed the case holding that only Sonia Gandhi, not the INOC, had the locus to sue. But she would not dare sue. Thus, neither in Switzerland where Schweizer Illustrierte exposed Rajiv's secret account with billions 18 years ago in 1991, nor in India where Dr Swamy had put it on his party's website seven years ago in 2002, or in the US where the NRIs had boldly advertised the expose two years ago in 2007, would the Gandhi family challenge the expose.
In criminal law the conduct of the accused is an important piece of evidence. What does the family's conduct show here excepting that it has something to hide.
Second: family benefited from KGB, says book
The second expose, Rajiv Gandhi figuring again, is that the first family of the Congress accepted political payoffs from the Russian spy outfit, the KGB. In a highly acclaimed book The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia-Past, Present, and Future by Yevgenia Albats, a journalist on Moscow News and Izvestia, the author writes: “A letter signed by Victor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as the KGB head in 1982, noted: the USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of the Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi (of India). R Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for the benefits accruing to the prime minister's family from the commercial dealings of the firm he controls in co-operation with the Soviet Foreign trade organisations. R Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R Gandhi.” (p223) The author also cites the KGB letter and file reference. In Dr Swamy's write-up on Sonia, KGB’s letter in Russian is attached at page 45 and its English translation at pages 43 and 44.
The letter says that Rajiv Gandhi himself has admitted that “benefits” accrued to “the prime minister’s family” from commercial dealings through Russian co-operation. All major newspapers, The Hindu and Times of India included, had carried the expose on KGB payments. The book State within a State on KGB was published in 1994.
Yet, no one from the Gandhi family has challenged it for 15 years now. Dr Swamy had included it in his expose on Sonia on his party's website since 2002. Yet the family has not challenged him or sued him for seven years. It was again made part of the NRI advertisement in New York Times in 2007 when Sonia Gandhi visited the US.
Even then only a proxy case was filed to defend Sonia Gandhi's reputation which was promptly saying only Sonia could defend her honour, which she would not.
Third: Bofors slush payoff to ‘Q’
Ottavio Quottrocchi, the star actor in the Bofors scam, is indistinguishable from Sonia’s family. His association with the family is as old as Sonia’s.
Even Sonia Gandhi cannot dispute that Q got the first instalment of $7.3 million out of the total bribe of $36.5 million (Three per cent of the contract value of $1.2 billion) due to his front company for swinging the gun deal for Bofors. The slush money of $7.3 million was traced to Q’s account by the CBI which got it frozen some 20 years ago. But when the law was closing in on Q in early 1990s, the Congress government stealthily allowed him to escape from India. He turned fugitive, but his slush money had continued to remain frozen.
Sten Lindstorm, the Swedish police official who investigated the Bofors case for 18 years, wrote an article in 2004, saying that Sonia should be interrogated in the Bofors case, particularly on her family's relations with Q, on who introduced Q to Bofors and why did Bofors pay him for deal with India. This article had appeared in several media in India. Subsequently, the CBI, obviously under pressure, quietly allowed Q to smuggle away his slush money from the frozen account.
The UPA was in power then, with Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the National Advisory Council and also of the UPA. Could this happen unless she had wanted it? She owes an answer to the nation. But, far from answering any question, she asked the media, as early as in 1999, to show evidence against Q, when the most clinching evidence, the loot caught in Q's frozen account, had fixed him conclusively.
Yet, she defended him even after the Swiss court once, the Delhi High court twice and the Supreme Court finally held him part of the Bofor's fraud. And now, in the final days of its rule, her government has shamelessly let Q off the hook by removing his name from global red alert. Because of the red alert he was always in danger of being caught and sent to India. Now that's off. This move to free Q seems to be linked to the slush money issue rising in crescendo in this election. It seems to be in the larger interests of the family — she has to protect 'Q', if he has to protect the family. Otherwise just before elections no government will take the unpopular decision of freeing Q from India's legal net abroad.
QED: It does not need a seer to say that the first family of the Congress party is a suspect; a target for probe.
Who will probe its billions? Rahul Gandhi has told an election rally in Hyderabad, “elect us, we will investigate”.
If that happens, the suspects will probe themselves!
About the author:
S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.
Recently the issue of Black Money stashed abroad has come up in news. The issue is not as recent as it may sound. It was raised by L.K. Advani more than a year ago when he sent a letter to the Finance minister of India. It was raised almost 5 years earlier by Baba Ramdev in his shivirs across India.
Many may not know what the real issue is and who is responsible. Some may think that this is just a poll tactic as NDA didn't do anything when it was in power. Lets answer both the questions-
The issue is about the billions of dollars that are illegally stashed by Indians in banks abroad which provide banking secrecy and the reluctance of Indian govt. to do any effort to bring back the money. NDA didn't do anything when it was in power because the global position has changed a lot during the past 1 year.
It all started when German govt bribed a swiss bank official and got the list of persons who have stashed money illegally. The german govt in a goodwill gesture said that they will give the list to all countries who approach them. But shockingly Indian govt showed no interest in it. Then in the recent G20 meet there was strong discussion on getting back illegal money to fight global recession and to pressurize countries which act as TAX HAVENS. So there are 2 conclusions-
1.) Congress blaming NDA of inaction is ridiculous as the global policies has changed only in past 1 year and now is the chance to get the money back.
2.) Its not just a poll issue as it was raised as early as 1 year before. Congress is just trying to get away by terming it as poll issue.
Also see-
All must have heard about
BOFORS scandal in news recently or over the past few years. Some may not have any clue what is it all about while others may be thinking that BJP is flocking a dead horse and trying to gain votes by falsely levelling acquisitions.
I request all the people to read the following few paragraphs which will clear all the doubts like "what BOFORS scandal is" and "how congress is involved in it". It will just take 5 min to read the article. Lets spend atleast "5 min" for the nation.
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The Quattrocchi case is an embarrassment for the Government of India... The court says we do not have a strong case”. It is not Antonia Maino (aka Sonia) Gandhi defending her Italian friend. It is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as if she had appointed him as the advocate to plead for Q. “It’s not a good reflection on the Indian legal system,” says the PM moved by compassion for Q, “that we harass people while the world says we have no case.” Singh, who was with the South Commission on a comfortable salary and perks when the Bofors scam rocked the country, seems totally unaware of the facts of the Bofors scam. Here is a short trailer of the scam.
The Bofors scam — pay-off for India’s gun purchase deal with Sweden — broke out in 1987. A third of the Indians living today were not yet born then; and a fourth of the Indians living then are no more alive today. So some history needs to be recalled here. First, the Bofors payoff was exposed by the media and the Rajiv government went all out to suppress the exposure. Including the payoff of $36.5 million to Q, the Bofors deal contemplated three streams of payoff totalling $250 million. Persistent investigations by the media and the CBI brought out the involvement of Q in the gun deal.
The closeness of Q and his wife Maria to Sonia family was always well known.
The Sonia and Maria families spent their weekends and annual holidays together.
They left one’s children in the custody of the other when going out of station. So intense was their relationship. The media found that some $7.3 million from Bofors AB had found its way into Q’s secret bank accounts. Facts began to tumble out testifying that it was fee to Q for swinging the $1.2 billion gun deal for the Swedish gun maker.
Here is how Q got the deal for Bofors.
The Rajiv Gandhi government could not decide for a long time what gun to buy — the British, Austrian or Swedish. The two brokers engaged by Bofors could not expedite the deal. Suddenly, in the second half of 1985, AE Services (AES), a shell company, entered the deal with this offer to Bofors: “Look. If we get you the deal by March 31, 1986, give us a fee of three per cent. If not, don’t pay.” Bofors accepted the offer and signed up with the AES shell on October 15, 1985. Unless Bofors knew that the man behind AES had had the clout to get it done from the Rajiv government, it would never have signed with a shell company.
And AES shell did get the Rajiv government to sign the contract with Bofors on March 22, 1986 — seven days ahead of the target date of March 31, 1986. Within six months, AES got the first tranche of its fee of $7.3 million. Proof emerged slowly that this money finally went to Q, showing he was the man behind the shell.
■ Bofors remitted on September 3, 1986, $7.3 million into AES account number 18051-53 in Nordfinanz Bank, Zurich.
This equalled 20 per cent of the three per cent bribe of $36.5 millions due to AES.
■ Two weeks later (on September 16, 1986) AES delivered $7 million into account number 254.561.60W in the same bank in the name of Colbar Investments — a company controlled by Q and Maria.
■ In April 1987, the Swedish Radio broke the news of bribes in Bofors deal with India. Later, in June 1988, the media published authoritative documents seized by the Swedish police which established the payoff. By now, Bofors scam had become a huge national issue.
■ Forthwith Q and Maria hurriedly shifted their loot, grown with interest, from Geneva to Channel Islands, to New York to Austria. First, on July 25, 1988 $7.9 million moved from Colbar to account number 488.320.60X of Wetelsen Overseas SA, in UBS, Geneva. Next, on May 21, 1990, $9.2 million moved from Wetelson to account number 123983 of IIDCL, Ansbacher, St Peter Port, Guernsey (Channel Islands). Later, on June 5, 1990, $2.4 million channelled into code-named account ‘Robusta’ in Banque Karfinco SA from Swiss Bank Corp, New York. Afterwards, on June 12, 1990, $5.3 million was transferred to code-named accounts ‘Arabica’, ‘Robusta’ and ‘Luxor’ in Austria from Swiss Bank accounts in Geneva.
■ Within six days of the Swiss government giving these details to India in 1993, Q slipped out of India and turned a fugitive, thanks to the Narasimha Rao government helping him to run away.
■ Later, in June 2003, Interpol found that Q and Maria had two accounts, bearing numbers 5A5151516L and 5A5151516M in the London branch of the Swiss bank BSI AG with Euros three million and $1 million.
They were frozen on CBI’s request.
British courts later repeatedly turned down Quattrocchi’s several appeals to de-freeze the accounts.
■ But, on December 22, 2005, the Congressled UPA government U-turned. H R Bharadwaj, the law minister, got the additional solicitor general of India, B Dutta, to go to London to do the dirty job of releasing the amounts.
Can anyone say now that Q is innocent and he just received some charity of $7.3 million from Bofors? Yet the Sonia-led government allowed Q to smuggle the bribe from the frozen accounts. All that the CBI asks of Q is this: Come to India and answer these questions — why Bofors paid him the money; did it relate to the gun deal; what is his relation with Sonia family, AE Services, Colbar Investments and the coded and numbered bank accounts through which the payoff has finally reached him.
Why not Sonia Gandhi just ask him to appear before the court and prove his innocence? Why does she, on the contrary, abet his refusal to present himself before courts in India? It is clear that she will not ask him. Why? Here is the answer: unless Sonia protects Q here, he will not protect her outside. The stakes seem to be too high.
QED: Manmohan Singh today does what Sonia wants like Narasimha Rao did then what she wanted. Yet, there is a difference between how the two obliged her. Rao felt shy to do what she wanted. So he did it stealthily. Singh does what she wants openly and shamelessly. Even, a Sonia family retainer like H R Bharadwaj feels shy to own up the shameless withdrawal of the Red Corner Notice on Q; but the PM owns it proudly. Singh is shameless about what Rao used to feel shy. Why? Unlike Rao, Singh is not an elected prime minister but a nominated one; he is not chosen by democratic process, but selected by the dynasty; he is not backed by the people, but backed by the family. So the shift from shyness to shamelessness, from Rao to Singh.
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About the author:
S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.
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Black money stashed abroad and proof against congress
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