Arvind Kejriwal’s stunning attack on the phenomenal wealth accumulated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law has achieved what prolonged investigations into the Bofors payoff saga could not, viz., establish that the dynasty has made money by non-transparent means. The salvo also showed that the Gandhi family needs to keep a good part of its money under personal control because of the controversy regarding the Bofors kickbacks, the falling out with key associates like Ottavio Quattrochi and Walter Vinci, and renewed interest in foreign offshore accounts by many governments, including India.
So while we may never get to know the truth about alleged KGB payoffs and an alleged Rajiv Gandhi Swiss bank account (since managed by Sonia Gandhi), it is undeniable that both Congress and the Gandhi family will find it difficult to recover from Arvind Kejriwal’s second political initiative. As is known, he made his political debut by attacking the electricity bills scam in the capital, taking the wind out of the sails of the opposition BJP that had been tardy on the issue.
Both interventions have dramatically changed the political landscape of India. Surely there must be a method behind the madness of seriously deflating the two major national parties at a time when most people believe fresh elections cannot be postponed indefinitely. Some answers are obvious.
One, Kejriwal, who has cannily kept senior advocate Prashant Bhushan by his side, and/or their unseen backers, believe the time has come to give the Gandhi family a political farewell as Sonia Gandhi has exhausted her ability to woo voters and help the Congress win at least enough seats to lead a coalition at the Centre. Congress is faring badly in state after state and can no longer maintain its national dominance. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Vadra has been able to make a mark – Rahul failing abysmally in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh elections, and Priyanka failing to protect even the family pocket boroughs in the UP polls.
Above all, the obsessive secretiveness and arrogance of The Family, coupled with an inability to bat for themselves in tough times, makes them a liability. Some time ago, Union minister Salman Khurshid indicated as much when he said Rahul Gandhi was playing a ‘cameo’ role in the party.
Clearly, the time has come to look for new leaders. Kejriwal’s political gambit can be seen as an attempt to help the Congress shed the dead wood.
Currently, there is a vacuum in Indian politics; none of the major ideological formations is in good health, and the quest to invent new political entities has begun. It is too soon to say how far Kejriwal’s still unnamed party will go electorally, but he has seized the moment and established his personality on the political firmament.
Coming to actual allegations against Robert Vadra, whose wife Priyanka initially joined his business before withdrawing for unknown reasons (just as Sonia Gandhi once joined the business activities of Sanjay Gandhi when his sole USP was that he was son of sitting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi), it is going to be impossible to explain how companies with a total share capital of Rs. 50 lakhs could purchase at least 31 properties worth over Rs. 300 crores in just three years from 2007 to 2010. More pertinently, none of Vadra’s firms had any income from any business activity, except as interest derived from interest-free loans from DLF. Today, the properties are allegedly worth over Rs. 500 crores.
There is simply no reasonable explanation why the real estate giant DLF put up Rs. 65 crores as seed money for these acquisitions, and then helped Robert Vadra buy undervalued properties in its own commercial ventures. Congress cannot deny the facts as Kejriwal has used his income tax background to get the details from the Registrar of Companies.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also on the mat, and will have to explain why he gave the DLF 350 acres of land for its Magnolia project in Gurgaon, where Vadra conveniently picked up 7 apartments. DLF will have to explain all benefits received from Congress governments in Haryana and Delhi.
Since Vadra registered 6 new companies in 2012, his business acumen was in full bloom till Kejriwal put the spokes in his wheels. There is a case for an independent investigation into Vadra’s accounts, firms, etc.
All this has made matters worse for Congress, which was already on the back foot deflecting questions about the frequent foreign trips of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the last 8 years. The Prime Minister’s Office made matters worse by declaring that the government had not paid for Ms. Gandhi’s medical treatment in India or abroad. In fact, a government agency paid for only one foreign trip by Ms. Gandhi – to receive an award from the Belgian Government.
This raises grave questions of public morality. As an MP and as de facto supremo of the ruling UPA, on whose hospitality did Sonia Gandhi travel abroad? And how does the Government explain the cost incurred on her SPG security if the trips are secret from the nation?
UPA’s days are numbered. It is only a matter of time before all skeletons spill out of the cupboard.
10 October 2012, NitiCentral.com
http://www.niticentral.com/2012/10/not-just-yet-another-scandal.html