Pranab’s tainted Resume!

Let’s not get distracted with the competitive ambitions of PM aspirants. Let’s not the pure ego of Lee and Hesh rag us much. Let’s not attach too much importance to what Abu Jundal is singing inside the custody. Let’s focus on the Big News- Mr. Pranab Mukherjee’s ride from North Block to Raisina Hill. Am neither interested in entering into a discussion with Mr. Punj as to Should a failed FM be made the President? nor is willing support the candidature of Mr. Jethmalani, whose grievance is- his friend Pranab concealed the names given by Germans and French. Simply, my problem here is: Am a little worried as Mr. Mukerjee’s questionable integrity might sully the ‘sanctity’ of the post, which the Hon’ble Supreme Court in P.J. Thomas case attached too much import to.

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
Photo Courtesy: Ennapadam Panchajanya

The importance of this write up is- its Urgency, both in intervention and in fact finding. My close buddy might argue clamorously, but Art 361 will not heed to her Understanding of law and will keep averring “Nothing Doing”. Hence all dust needs to be cleared of and all dirt needs to be absolved before his much Awaited Walk. 
Following are some of the charges against him:

Navy War Room Leak 

Mr. Mukherjee is no relative of Wing Commander S L Surve nor is he the custodian of the 'Directorate of Naval Operation' but his interview to CNN-IBN’s Karan Thapar in 2006 dragged him into the controversy. Handing over the investigation to the CBI on Feb 18, 2006 did lessened public angst but didn’t immune the Defence Minister from further questions. 

·        Why no criminal investigation was carried out against Abhishek Verma, Ravi Shankaran and Kulbhushan Prashar?

·         Why the three commanders- Vijendra Rana, Vinod Kumar Jha and Captain Kashyap Kumar, who were sacked under the “Pleasure Doctrine”, were not Court Martialed?

·         The Outlook magazine pointed out that the delayed response by the Defence Ministry gave Shankaran enough time and opportunity to escape. Therefore question arises why Pranab wanted to shield those who collectively and individually compromised the security of the country by smuggling out “classified naval information”?

·        When CBI in its report to the court clearly states that the information was relating to “National Security” and includes ‘Standard Operating Procedure of PECHORA’ and ‘Highly Sensitive information as to Directorate of Naval Operation’, why Mr. Mukherjee didn’t want an investigation and avoided it saying they were of “commercial” nature? (See para 24 and 26 of the CBI Report).

Scorpene Deal

Don’t give a goggle-eyed expression now. Yes! It is Scorpene- One of India’s largest scandal. On October 2005, Mr. Mukherjee signed an arm purchase contract with Thales, a French company. The allegation is- 4% commission is received by a few middlemen on behalf of the decision makers. To make it easy, the kickbacks are over Rs 500 cr in INR. On Feb 22, 2006, Mr. Mukherjee told the Parliament that the deal had no middlemen. But the email exchanged between Abhishek Verma and Jean Paul Perrier on July 13, 2005 proves otherwise. Pranab defended saying it was 'forge', however, the telephonic conversation with Ravi Shankaran clearly corroborates the allegation.      

Rice Export Scam

Again a Rs. 2,500 cr scam! Compromising India’s food security, non basmati rice was exported to Ghana and other 20 countries at cheaper rate on the grounds of Humanity. But this gesture turned out to be a dubious one. The question here is: Why Amira Food (India) Ltd.? Why wasn’t it a government-to-government deal? Why didn’t govt use the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)? Exporters were facilitated to bypass the ban and capitalize on the rising international market prices (i.e. $670/ton). Mr. John Evans Atta’s government launched an inquiry into this and wrote a ‘Letter of Request for Assistance’ in relation to a criminal investigation conducted by the Attorney-General Deptt, the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and the Criminal Investigations Deptt. (CID) of the Ghana Police Service. A seven page letter is received by India from the Attorney General’s Deptt (dated August 13, 2009), requesting under the ‘Harare Scheme’ to investigate into the role of then External Affairs Minister of India along with others.{See: Page 4 of the Letter. Reference No.-AGD/PD*2/5A/01/09 (the exact number becomes difficult to identify as they were hand written)}. But unfortunately no concrete step was taken and an eye wash was done in the form of an internal enquiry by the Commerce Ministry. India’s Commercial Humanity. Huh?

Apart from this, there are other allegations also. For instance, Pranab pressurized SEBI to go easy on Reliance, Sahara, Bank of Rajasthan and MCX-SX. The letter of Dr. K.M.Abraham, to the PMO narrates the instances of Calculated Assault on the regulatory framework. (See: para 7, 11, 14 and 15 of the letter dated June 1, 2011. Ref. No.-  SEBI/KMA/2011/17495) However, we will not discuss this here, as the SEBI Chairman Mr. U.K.Sinha has denied the allegations. But it needs to be investigated. Secondly, the former journalist Anuj Dhar claims that Mr. Mukherjee was behind the ‘cover up’ on Netaji’s air crash and goes to the extent of saying that he is “India’s foremost proponent of the Bose died in Taiwan” theory. Nonetheless, we will wait for his book- “India’s Biggest Cover-Up” to come up.

I have no objection when a tainted Man continues his law practice but certainly I don’t want a Man having colored past to be my President. Therefore we demand an independent investigation into all these allegations against Mr. Mukherjee, before he can claim his Presidential Immunity. Let’s not belittle our Highest Office! Let’s not allow a Man with tainted resume! Let’s ensure our Excellency is not excellent in Corruption!