K V SEETHARAMAIAH
Two wrongs cannot make one right. AAP leader Atishi needs to understand this. Addressing a press conference over the show cause notice issued to her by the Election Commission (EC) in response to a complaint from the BJP, instead of responding to the show cause notice issued to her, she has chosen to question the EC casting aspersion on it that it has become a subsidiary unit of BJP. Same allegations were made by different parties against ED, CBI and IT. She has questioned the EC as to why it has not issued notice to the ED for arresting Kejriwal when the model code of conduct is in force. Constitution has not given liberty to anybody to abstain from attending to the investigative agencies when called upon to appear even when model code of conduct is in force. Summonses were issued to Kejriwal when the model code of conduct had not come into force. He evaded ED. If he had attended to the summonses earlier, he could have been arrested before the model code of conduct came into force and he could have been unshackled from ED also if there had been any merit. Model code of conduct will not prohibit any office from functioning. Undertaking new developmental works by the government after the election date is announced has been prohibited on the ground that it may influence the voters to vote for a particular party. ED has not been barred from discharging its legitimate duties during the period the model code of conduct is in existence. Atishi has shed crocodile tears at the ‘freezing’ of bank accounts of Congress party. She is not unaware that the Income Tax Department had only recovered the amount due to it by the Congress party. Account was not frozen. Now the Congress party owes a little over Rs. 3500 crore to the Income Tax Department towards income tax and the penalties for violation of the provisions of the Income Tax rules. The IT has given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that it would not take coercive action against Congress to recover the dues until the election is over. She has glossed over the Income Tax dues of Congress party with the sole aim of blaming the NDA government at centre and to create a bad impression among the voters. Atishi has charged the BJP with misusing the CBI, ED and Income Tax Department. Were these departments not in existence before the NDA came to power? Were these departments dysfunctional when the non-NDA government was in power? If these departments had functioned during the time the non-NDA government was in power, how can the discharge of their duties then can be viewed as ‘use’ and the functioning of the department during the NDA regime can be viewed a ‘misuse’? Avoidance of wrongdoings can keep the investigative agencies away. Misuse of power and position by the people at the helm prompts the authorities concerned to make use of investigative agencies against them. If the investigative agencies fail to produce concrete evidence against the deponents, the courts pull them up. Not all the cases investigated by the investigative agencies have succeeded in the past like not all the cases have fallen flat in courts. Success and failure both are part of the life of investigative agencies like they happen in the case of individuals. Atishi has been spending more time in accusing the EC of not paying heed to the suggestion of interim change of directors of the Income Tax Department, CBI and ED until the elections. EC has taken and will take suo motu action if there is need for change of officers. Can EC dance to the tune set by the political parties opposed to the present dispensation in the investigative agencies? If every political party can keep its house in order, the role of EC or any other investigative agencies would be minimal. Anyone who indulges in wrongdoings for personal and political gains must risk the investigation by agencies concerned. There are many honest and sincere politicians who have never faced any enquiry by any agency even in their political career of over 50 years. Greedy persons must face the music.
