The investigating and prosecuting agencies of the central government have every right to pursue cases against the BJP leaders, Mr Lal Krishna Advani and Mr Narendra Modi or leaders of other parties in the opposition, but they should also with equal determination pursue cases against leaders of parties that support the Queen Bee of the UPA coalition, the Congress party.
The CBI has been burning midnight oil and straining every nerve to expedite prosecution of Mr Advani in the case relating to the Babri mosque demolition, which it should because the country would be interested in knowing whether the BJP veteran had (a) given a very provocative speech that caused the mob to rush to demolish the domes, (b) done nothing to call back the mob, (c) done nothing to stop them even on being told that they were demolishing the domes, (d) partaken sweets and engaged in congratulate handshake with other BJP and VHP leaders by way of celebration when the first dome fell, and so on.
Similarly, the country would be interested in knowing, through fair and unprejudiced prosecution and through independent decision of the judiciary, whether Mr Narendra Modi did actually provoke, sanction and deliberately allow mob savagery against Muslims in parts of Gujarat. Yet, the country would also be interested in knowing whether the RJD leader, Mr Lalu Prasad, looted the state treasury of Bihar in conspiracy with fellow politicians and government officers.
The reason for his ‘lifelong’ loyalty is not any love for the Congress. The Congress long left him in Bihar and has been avoiding him like plague at Assembly or parliamentary elections, because he has turned into an elephantine liability. During his last visit to Bihar, Mr Rahul Gandhi went to the extent of saying that "Alliance with the RJD was a grave mistake." And Mr Lalu Prasad the irrepressible swallows insult after insult from Congress because he needs Ms Sonia Gandhi’s support for manipulating the cases of fodder scam chasing him like devils. And Ms Sonia Gandhi obliges. Because although she does not need Mr Lalu Prasad for numbers she would rather have him on her side – because in coalitions, you never know when a constituent could bolt and you might have to buy support outside the coalition.
And so it happens that the UPA makes the CBI – the same CBI that is chasing Mr Advani and chases all poor fellows who do not have MPs whose support Ms Sonia needs – join the lawyer of Mr Lalu Prasad in the Supreme Court to say that only the Centre had the right to direct the CBI to file an appeal, not a state. Look at the open proof of the CBI the tiger being turned into pulp: It was the CBI that had chargesheeted Mr Lalu Prasad and his wife Ms Rabri Devi for amassing property disproportionate to their known sources of income. And in a stunning decision, the special CBI judge, Mr Muni Lal Paswan the couple acquitted the couple on December 18, 2006.
The normal course for the CBI would have been to challenge the acquittal in the Patna High Court. But Mr Lalu Prasad ‘managed’ the UPA and the UPA ‘managed’ the CBI; so the CBI did not file any plea in the High Court. The Bihar government challenged the acquittal in the Patna High Court, which ruled on September 20, 2007 that the Bihar government’s appeal was maintainable. Mr Lalu Prasad filed a petition challenging the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court, saying the Bihar government had no right to direct the CBI to file an appeal. And the CBI counsel, Mr A Mariarputham parroted Mr Lalu Prasad’s cousel, Mr Ram Jethmalani in the court: "The Centre alone has the authority to decide whether CBI should file an appeal or not." So, the country knows, you Congressmen, that the ‘objectivity’ of the investigating and prosecuting agencies depends on the object of the case!
