The controversy surrounding National Herald case came to limelight when the Delhi High Court instructed Sonia, Rahul Gandhi along with Congress loyalists Oscar Fernandes and Motilal Vora to face the prosecution.
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Without any reference to Congress, which has held protests in both Houses of Parliament over the National Herald case, Modi said democracy can not be restricted to elections and governments alone and that one of the two main dangers before it is “Mantantra” (functioning as per one’s whims and fancies) with the other being “Dhantantra” (money power). There is no government role so why stall the Parliament then.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in a Facebook post that went up late on Thursday, has sought to delineate why he thinks the Congress is misguided in stalling proceedings in Parliament. He said because the BJP wants certain criminal cases against one of their ministers to be withdrawn. On Monday this week, the high court refused to stay the summons, and asked all of the accused to appear for a hearing on December 19. They can either challenge the order in the Supreme Court or appear before the trial court and contest the case on merits. The Congress, which is the single largest party in the Upper House, has found support from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati on the issue.
“They have acquired properties worth huge amounts without spending anything”. They have used tax exempted income for a non-exempted goal. They have transferred the income of a political party to another company.
“Action has so far not been taken”. And yet, what do they do when the Enforcement Directorate closed the case in August this year – they replace the ED Director and reopen the case.
Jaitley said the National Herald case was filed by private person and the government is not a party in this case and yet fingers were being raised at them.
“It took them nearly a week to understand that there is no relief that they can get by blocking Parliament, by blaming government and by sacrificing public interest”.
“By disrupting democracy, the financial web created by the Congress leaders can not be undone”, he wrote.
In the morning, at an event hosted by the Dainik Jagran media group, the prime minister said people were only talking about whether Parliament would pass the GST bill.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long-awaited national goods and services tax (GST) is expected to spur investments and boost economic output by simplifying a thicket of local levies. “The government has not interfered in it”, he said.
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“What I have proposed to them is that Chidambaram had signed a proposal accepting that the disputes be addressed by the GST Council of the states and if it is not addressed even there, the Council itself will prepare a redressal mechanism”, he said. Singh had made the remarks on Wednesday.
