Day Long Student Youth Vigil Against Corruption, Corporate loot and Cover Up!
Unfolding in front of our eyes is a sordid drama of blatant corruption, corporate plunder, and cover up, with the Prime Minister of the country presiding over the whole affair. In the coal scam and attempted cover-up through manipulation of CBI, the PMO is directly implicated.
First, the 2G scam allowed corporations to plunder our airways for a pittance. The sky was opened up for loot.
Then the coal scam did the same for the precious mineral resources: our earth was available for loot. And it was none but the PM himself, as the Coal Minister, who directly ensured that public natural resource of coal blocks are not just privatised, but these are privatised to ensure selective allocations to preferred corporates.
Now, the UPA Govt hasn’t stopped at denying the scam. It is actively trying to ‘fix’ the probe! It has been caught in the act, ‘editing’ the CBI’s status report submitted to the apex court. Now, the Supreme Court has delivered a scathing indictment of the role of the Govt and the CBI.The Supreme Court has called the CBI a “caged parrot speaking in master’s voice”, and has found that the “heart of the report had been tampered with”. The CBI’s own affidavit proves that the Government lied to the Court when it assured that the report had not been amended.
We know now that the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar himself met with the CBI officers and influenced the amendments in the report. But Ashwani Kumar was not the only one.
Joint Secretaries of the PMO and the Coal Ministry (the very same institutions directly being probed for their role in the coal scam!) reportedly took away the report from the CBI’s office for a night and brought it back the next day, demanding strategic deletions and amendments. Who was the draft status report of the CBI shown to on the night of March 6th? Who, if not the Prime Minister?!
It is because the needle of suspicion points to the PM, that the PM was so keen on shielding Ashwani Kumar. Today, if Ashwani Kumar must lose his job as Law Minister, why should not Manmohan Singh lose his job as Prime Minister?!
Rail Scam: Yet Another Instance of Business-Politics Nexus in Corruption
Another instance of blatant corruption directly implicating the UPA Government came to light with the CBI’s arrest of the nephew of the Union Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, on charges of taking a Rs 90 lakh bribe from a member of the Railway Board, allegedly to secure a new post within the Railway Board. The Railway Board is a very powerful body, directly answerable to the Rail Minister. This is not an isolated instance of bribery: rather it is an indicator of yet another instance of the murky nexus between business and politics, since the Rail Minister and his family have manifold business interests that have flourished in tandem with his tenure as a Union Minister. The Rail Ministry’s nephew apparently operated from the Minister’s own official residence; thereby the Minister cannot plead ignorance. The entire scam calls for a thorough investigation.
BJP Punished for Corruption in Karnataka;
Congress-UPA Cannot Escape People’s Punishment Either
The Congress party is trying to hide behind the Karnataka results, claiming that Karnataka proves that Congress’ electoral fortunes won’t be affected by the spate of scams ad cover ups. The opposite is true. Karnataka proves that people are waiting to punish governments for corruption: in Karnataka, the BJP paid the price of defeat for its Government which presided over the worst corporate plunder and loot of land and minerals, the worst instance of which is of course the Bellary Mining Scam. Karnataka exposes the BJP’s bluff of being an alternative to the corrupt Congress, and it is also a stern reminder that the corrupt UPA Govt will undoubtedly be taught a lesson by the people, as the BJP was taught a lesson n Karnataka.
No More ‘Caged Parrot’ CBI
We urgently need to replace the ‘caged parrot’ – we neither need cage nor parrot! We need a CBI that is structurally free of political manipulation and control – without any delay!
On May 12, students and youth will hold a Day-Long Vigil at Jantar Mantar from 10 am onwards-demanding that the PM covering up Coal Scam, manipulating CBI, and leading his pack of corrupt Ministers must quit!
We appeal to you to join the Vigil on Sunday 12 May at Jantar Mantar from 10 am in large numbers and intensify the struggle against Government’s blatant attempts to cover up corruption and corporate plunder!
Sandeep Singh, President, AISA (9868033425)
Sucheta De, Secy., AISA (9868383692)
Ravi Rai, General Secy., RYA (9868661628)
Aslam, RYA, (9990748079)
