An ardent observer, analyst and critic of politics and current happenings. Truly believes in human equality, poor and peasants have first right on resources, and rule of law essential in a democracy.
Here are my reflections and collections. Follow me on Twitter @nharshakumar
IL&FS Financial Services MD & CEO Ramesh Bawa along with four independent directors and a non-executive director quit on Sept 21, 2018 just hours after the parent IL&FS informed lenders that it would be unable to make payments on ₹250 crore of debt falling due. On Sept 30, 2018, rating agency ICRA had downgraded IL&FS citing factors like liquidity pressure and high debt levels - to BB from AA+. The central government on Oct 1, 2018 dissolved the 15-member board of IL&FS in a move to revamp investor confidence scalded by the firm’s defaults and fears of a credit freeze. The board was replaced with a new six-member panel headed by Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Uday Kotak. The board of IL&FS has unanimously appointed Hemant Bhargava, Managing Director, LIC and nominee on the board of the company as Non Executive Chairman with immediate effect. The newly-appointed board is expected to chalk out a resolution plan and submit its first take within 15 days.
The troubles at IL&FS had been intensifying since July, when the company's founder Ravi Parthasarathy has resigned as the Non-Executive Chairman of IL&FS, which he served for over 30 years, citing health reasons. Parthasarathy, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad joined the IL&FS in 1987 as President & Chief Executive Officer and was appointed as Managing Director in 1989. He was later designated Executive Chairman of the company.
IL&FS also failed to repay corporate deposits subscribed by the Small Industries and Development Bank of India (SIDBI). It only repaid ₹50 crore out of 250 crore.
Some group companies have started defaulting on repayment of commercial paper and other instruments to the tune of ₹300-400 crore.
IL&FS Group has shown a loss of ₹2,670 crore for the year 2017-18 in consolidated balance sheet. The leverage is about 13 times as the borrowing of about ₹91,000 crore is on on the base of equity capital and reserves of about ₹6,950 crore. IL&FS is burdened with a consolidated debt of around ₹91,000 crore, of which ₹55,000 crore is housed in the special purpose vehicles created to build infrastructure ranging from roads to power companies.
Among the public sector banks, Bank of India has the highest exposure of Rs 2,388 crore. The company also owes Rs 1,841 crore to Yes Bank, the maximum among private lenders.
IL&FS has deep business ties with the roads ministry and its agencies such as National Highway Authority of India. States and the centre, including their agencies, owe as much as ₹16,000 crore in receivables to ILF&S. The company claimed in its recent letter to its employees stated that "had the concession authorities released our monies", IL&FS would not be in the current situation.
IL&FS was due to repay ₹1,066 crore of its debt by October and around ₹1,953 crore between September 26 and September 30. The company needs an immediate capital infusion of ₹3,000 crore and is planning a ₹4,500-crore rights issue.
LIC and ORIX Corporation are the largest shareholders in IL&FS with their stakeholding at 25.34 % and 23.54%, respectively. Other prominent shareholders include ADIA (12.56%), HDFC (9.02%), CBI (7.67%) and SBI (6.42%).
Its woes are shared by other infrastructure funding institutions in India that have been unable to cope with projects that have got stuck and become unviable. IL&FS needs nearly ₹15,000 crore in financial support to avert a collapse and could only be saved if lenders agreed to take a big haircut.
IL&FS had compromised on corporate governance and risk management norms. The risk management committee of IL&FS did not meet between 2015 and 2018, except once in July 2015. IL&FS has not been able to take up any new infrastructure projects after 2015.
The fact that the company continued to pay dividends and huge managerial payouts regardless of looming liquidity crisis shows that the management had lost total credibility. The company paid dividend of ₹65.70 crore in 2017-18. The company posted a standalone profit of ₹584 crore in 2017-18. Average managerial remuneration increase was 66% in 2017-18 and the average salary increase of other employees during the year was 4.44%. Last year Ravi Parthasarathy, the Chairman, got a 144% jump in remunerations to ₹26.3 crore, Hari Sankaran, Vice-chairman and MD, got a 3.86% hike to ₹7.7 crore and Arun K Saha, Joint MD & CEO, 10.43% hike.
The financial mismanagement of the IL&FS is apparent from its rapid debt built up and misrepresentation of true state of financial fragility, which is being reflected in unprecedented rating downgrade from highly rated to a default category.
The report also warned about repercussions due to lack of authentic information in the market about the financial status of 169 unlisted group companies of IL&FS.
The group will sell its corporate headquarters in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to raise funds to stave off repayment challenges and switches to an asset light strategy. The sale of the corporate headquarters is expected to fetch Rs 1,300-1,500 crore. IL&FS is also planning to sell some 25 projects, which will reduce its debt by Rs 30,000 crore.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs got a lookout notice issued for former directors Ravi Parthasarathy and Ramesh Bawa, and serving directors Hari Sankaran, Karunakaran Ramachand. However, Ravi Parthasarathy is in London at the moment for medical treatment and there is no clarity about when he will return. All others are said to be in India.
Board directors can’t be absolved of their obligations by resigning abruptly. That wouldn’t absolve them of any wrongdoing. The government on Mon Oct 1, 2018 ordered an investigation by SFIO into IL&FS and its subsidiaries after they failed to make repayments on time, damaging investor confidence and sparking fears of defaults by other NBFCs that roiled the markets.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) kicked off its probe into financial irregularities at IL&FS by questioning the top management, searching the group’s offices and gathering information from its servers. The agency will also question the ousted directors and former chief Ravi Parthasarathy.
Apart from the board members sacked on Oct 1, 2018, the agency will also question those who resigned recently amid defaults and rating downgrades. For instance, Ramesh C Bawa quit as chief executive and managing director of IL&FS Financial Services on September 21, the day it defaulted on an IDBI letter of credit that came due.
Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (on behalf of the Government of Gujarat) and IL&FS are jointly developing Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) project since 2006 when Modi was CM of Gujarat. IL&FS is an 50:50 investor and co-developer in the project. About 866 acres of real estate is to be developed for commercial, residential etc to provide one million direct & indirect jobs in Financial, IT & BPO segments. After 12 years and as on Jan 1, 2018, the GIFT city has 2 million sq.ft. operational and 3 million sq.ft. under development out of has 62 million sq. ft. in its master plan. GIFT has attracted about $1.5 billion in investments. About 150 companies have started operations employing just 8,000 people. The city hopes to employ a million one day.
"It is completely baseless to say that ₹70,000 crore worth of project (GIFT City) has been handed-over to IL&FS. In all the phases of GIFT City development, only ₹10,000 cr is projected to be spent on entire infrastructure development," says the Gujarat government.
The Congress on Sept 30, 2018 stepped up its attack on PM Modi, with party President Rahul Gandhi alleging that public savings (funds from SBI and LIC) was being used to bail-out the debt-ridden IL&FS group.
The Congress has raised the issue and warned of "an impending 'Lehman Brothers-type' economic crisis facing the country". The IL&FS crisis has also dented equity investors confidence in the entire NBFC space. Congress party has called for a forensic audit of the group over the disbursement of ₹42,000 crore in the last four years.
The central government's swift action to seize control of IL&FS, within hours of payments default, and ordering investigation is more typical of China's command-and-control economy than a free-wheeling democracy like India, stunned investors by surprise. It indicates that Govt, FM, PM etc are aware of the situation for the past several months but actions were announced in a dramatist manner. The restoration of confidence of the money, debt and capital markets, the banks and financial institutions in the credibility and financial solvency of the IL&FS Group is of utmost importance for the financial stability of the nation. Modi & Jaitley have few options since the economy was already grappling with surging fuel prices and a plunging currency and widening fiscal gap. Any company going bust due to mismanagement, reckless spending, non transparent operations, financial frauds, political corruption etc and Govt attempting to recapitalize with a hope to turn around is generally futile. Very rarely, say 1 or 2 in 100 will succeed. The classic examples are Air India, BSNL which went from bad to worse to worst. The best way is to wind up these companies, liquidate its assets and pay up prorata due amounts to creditors even if it entails loss of credibility. That would at least send clear message that government will never bailout any company at the expense of public interest. Lenders are hopeful of recovery with 10-15% haircut, but when it really happens it could be as high as 25-30%. Govt must ensure that who ever has committed process violations must be prosecuted and punished, but in India the statistics show dismal 6% conviction rate. The new board members suffer legacy issues and none has any experience in infra space to handle the crises and instill market confidence.
The Congress-UPA has just won 26.7% of popular vote people's mandate while BJP-NDA has won 22.16% only. Congress became the most voted party in this elections with a vote share that was 5% more than BJP. While UPA won 145 seats (gain of 31 seats), NDA won only 138 seats(loss of 44 seats). Although it is not a clear victory for Congress-UPA, it is a clear defeat for BJP-NDA. Here are the core reasons for the BJP-NDA's defeat.
NDA projected the election as the battle between Vajapayee and Sonia, and Sonia won and Vajapayee lost.
NDA fell because of their own weight, own sins and Vajpayee's visionless leadership.
Old men are supposed to lose their marbles and AB Vajpayee seems to have lost the same.
Media singing songs of Vajpayee's greatness harmed NDA.
The media created a hype that Vajpayee is the greatest Indian leader, who could do no wrong and people didn't find any substance in that.
NDA created an illusion that Vajpayee is the greatest PM, but people of India saw this old man, who never said a word or gave any opinion on any issue and remained silent through out his prime ministership and never took any crucial decision or reigned any of his colleague or Parivar people.
People saw Vajpayee was old, forgetful and incompetent to solve India's problems while in Sonia Gandhi they saw a fresh face with purpose.
The middle-class lost their hard-earned money in the UTI scandal.
Large rural population's welfare has been over looked.
Unemployment and anti-poor stance.
Over-indulgence on trivial Hindutva issue.
NDA reduced interest rates and impacted the voters honest savings.
The Tehelka reporters who exposed corruption were harassed.
Concentrating to impress world nations and criminal negligence of the people's problems.
Inaction on Gujarat CM Modi for not catching either Godhra train massacre culprits or Gujarat communal riots culprits that killed 2000 Muslims.
After the horrendous massacre, Muslims were expecting that the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi will be put to trial, but instead he was awarded 127/182 seats (2/3rd majority) in mid term polls immediately after the riots with a gain of 10 seats.
Gross miscalculation of NDA and their misreading of the 'pulse ' of the people.
Impressive orations, debates and arguments like in court rooms than performance.
BJP went overboard with the “India Shining” campaign which offended the rural & urban poor. Sonia Gandhi used the opportunity to mock at this campaign by pointing out India’s poverty.
Anti-incumbancy factor.
NDA allies too fared very badly - TDP(5/42) in AP & AIADMK(0/39) in Tamilnadu suffered humiliating defeats.
BJP criticised congress and Sukhram. Congress expelled Sukhram and in the next election Sukhram becomes an ally of BJP. BJP ought to be more ethical.
Never in the history India witnessed such a low level malicious campaign by the ruling party.
BJP belived that insulting people is Hindu dharma, that's the price they have paid for. That's one of the main aspects in BJP debacle.
BJPs failure to control Modi and his uncultured tirade against Sonia Gandhi.
The consistent "Sonia Bashing" by BJP and it's top leaders, the larger than real life images and speeches by the so called second rung leaders of BJP ... Mahajan, Jaitley etc. and Rabble-rousing by Katyar, Modi, Uma bharati etc. have all had negative effects.
Over-usage of the tasteless word "pseudo-secularism". It was flogged to death. Watching the arrogant BJP men debating on TV in the last two years.
Corruption as exposed by Tehelka, Petrol-pump, coffin-gate by George Fernandes, etc. had its effect.
Towards the end of this campaign, the BJP even openly begged Muslims for votes, thereby upsetting lakhs of its conventional supporters.
It has become fashion to interpret defeats with figures and statistics. It is very easy to come up with statistics and 'spin' the results any way you want but the reality is that the voting population preferred the Congress and their allies much more to the BJP and its allies. If anyone feels that it was not a mandate for Congress since they did not get majority of votes, it is just a joke. It might have been local issues that have brought the Congress to power and the people had no clue that they were sending Vajpayee packing who never deserved such a drubbing. Indian mentality will not allow appreciate a sacrifice and we always attribute some ulterior motive to every one. Even Mahatma Gandhi had serious critics at his time. No one wants to acknowledge Sonia Gandhi's sacrifice. If Sonia Gandhi wanted to become prime minister, nobody could have stopped her even if it was for one month and go down in history. If any one tries to find out for reasons why BJP should have won in 2004, he would have been amused with none. Vajpayee's inaction against Modi-Gujarat riots and ignoring poor and peasants are the primary causes for NDA's debacle in 2004. Today in 2018 similar situations are prevailing that is causing jitters among BJP, Modi & co., who are clueless how to come overcome this mess they created for themselves.
After completion of polling in Karnataka, Petrol and Diesel prices were increased relentlessly every day during past 30 days. In the last fortnight Petrol price at Hyderabad was hiked from Rs.79.37 to Rs. 83.13 (an increase of 4.7% in 15 days). Today oil companies have announced reduction of petrol by Rs.0.60 today and quickly corrected it to Rs.0.01 (1 Paise) citing clerical error is a cruel joke on consumers. While reduction was announced by Oil companies routinely, the correction announcement is suspected to be at the behest of government for unknown reasons. With large scale usage computers and other technologies, citing clerical error is unacceptable non sense. If it is true, that clerk and his superior officers should have got suspension orders right away but no such thing has happened. While oil prices fell by 70% between 2014-17, both central and state governments merrily increased excise duty and VAT and ensured that consumer got the benefit of 15% only while 85% of low price benefit was grabbed by them. Now in 2018, while oil prices have gone up from $30 to $84 per barrel, neither centre nor state(s) are prepared to reduce their taxes and provide relief to consumer. They are insensitive to the inflationary effects their action and inaction. Ironically, leakages suggested that government is mulling excise duty cut on petrol & diesel and wants states also to cut their VAT and consumers were expecting some big relief, for which Modi & Jaitley were never known for.
Every $10 price variation in crude oil price, simply means for India as GDP 1% and loss/gain of 1 million jobs lost/added, without doing anything.
While UPA II under Manmohan Singh suffered above $100 per barrel oil price, Modi was gifted by God with $50 per barrel oil price regime. The difference simply means 5% GDP growth and 5 million jobs added without doing anything by central government.
Modi retained 85% of lower oil rices to government by increasing excise duty while passing on benefit to consumer - limited to just 15%. This amounts to nearly Rs.7-8 lakh crores additional money with central government and no one knows where it has gone?
Modi and FM Jaitley also changed series for GDP growth calculations which has added another 2% totaling to 7% advantage.
Average GDP growth rate during the period of UPA Government (2004 to 2014) has been 7.7% despite two global slowdowns in this period.
It was 6.9% GDP growth rate, when Modi became PM in 2014. Year-on-year GDP growth was increasing when Manmohan Singh assumed office in 2004, but was falling after Modi took to the helm. Modi inherited a sluggish economy stricken by policy paralysis and corruption.
FM Arun Jaitley, inherited a situation where there was little room left to increase public expenditure. Growth has slowed down but consumption hasn’t gone down, while demand is still there in the market the same was fulfilled by imports.
The Demonetisation and the GST rollout have caused major disruption, effecting GDP numbers.
The impact on GDP growth rate with variations in economic activity is never simple. Despite high oil prices, corruption, policy paralysis etc - UPA's economic performance was exuberant where as aided with low oil prices, Modi's reckless fiscal reforms boomeranged and almost destroyed economy. However Modi & Jaitley squandering away the huge savings due to low oil price regime, not solving any of the ailing sectors, their inaction leading to huge pile up of NPAs and banks pushed to brink of collapse etc are unpardonable. Neither Modi nor Jaitley has any depth of knowledge of economics nor have any good people to assist them and most of the time seemed helpless. Definitely we don't need helpless leaders!
Amidst reports of a cash crunch from different parts of the country, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was “tackling the issue quickly” to overcome a “temporary shortage” caused by a sudden spurt in demand. But the truth is that almost all ATM's in the country didn't go dry overnight. In most places ATM's were short of cash since 3 months. And RBI claims that its vaults had stock of over Rs. 2 lakh crores of currency. Only our Lutyen's Nero's deliberately ignored as a step towards less cash society.
Cash is coined liberty, fundamental right of citizens. Cash is a form of wealth and citizen's right to hold their wealth in any form can't be constrained.
As long as people are poor and less educated and governments are irresponsible, inefficient and blatantly corrupt in public spending, efforts for cashless transactions or higher tax realizations will be thwarted by its citizens.
While the shortage of currency is about Rs. 70,000 crores as estimated by SBI, RBI vaults stocked over Rs. 2 lakh crores of currency to meet any contingency. But deliberately, this was not put to use and people were subjected to hardships during past 3 months. Who is responsible for this mess?
While 130% cash withdrawals compared to cash deposits for any bank is normal, last few months banks experienced more 200% cash withdrawals. This could be attributed to crop harvesting season, marriages, elections in some states etc. which are well known.
But the most prominent reason is that people are exhibiting loss of trust in Banks due to high NPAs, centre's draft FRDI bill with 'bail in' clause and centre's reluctance in not increasing deposit insurance amount from Rs. 1 lakh per depositor (fixed in 1990's) to proposed Rs.10 lakhs per depositor.
FM Jaitley has attributed the situation to a "sudden and unusual increase" of cash in "some areas". Which areas? Poll-bound areas? Why? Nobody is answering that and nobody is clearing the air on what could have caused the "unusual increase".
One reason could be that since all the ATMs have not been recalibrated to dispense the new Rs.200 and Rs.50 notes, while at the same time Rs 2,000 notes are being phased out (speculation only), cash is finding it difficult to make its way to the people.
Modi & Jaitley must understand that the government is duty bound to provide as much cash as people want and the government and the RBI cannot arbitrarily control the supply of cash to pursue their ulterior motives. People hoarding cash only reflects their loss of faith in government, RBI and Banking system. If they can't provide even printed fiat currency, Modi, Jaitley and Urjit Patel are unfit in their positions and must be ejected out.
Prime minister Narendra Modi has applauded India’s latest budget delivered by his finance minister Arun Jaitley, but the parallel chorus is fading out by the day. It was Utrjit Patel, RBI governor last week, this time it’s Modi’s former advisors, Arvind Panagariya, who was also deputy chairman of the Niti Aayog until August 2017. The RBI's monetary policy committee listed out reasons why inflation could stay well above the RBI target of 4% throughout the next financial year. RBI expects a rise in food and vegetable prices, crude oil prices and cost of health and personal care. Three other factors that will likely fuel inflation emanate from Jaitley’s budget.
Proposal to raise minimum support price (MSP) for farm products
Hike in custom duties for various products including industrial inputs
Wider-than-expected fiscal deficit
All this assuming that the south-west monsoon will be normal this year. The future of investments is as bleak as it was before.For Modi government, these nonchalant jabs from the RBI governor it is yet another sign that its populist budget may not help push the growth pedal.
Substantial liberalisation under PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India became the first democracy to achieve 8% plus growth for nine years beginning in 2003-04. The top industrial tariff rate fell from 355% in 1990-91 to 10% in 2007-08 and imports and as proportion of the GDP expanded to 30% and exports to 24% by 2011-12. Sadly, a new generation of bureaucrats seems to have now replaced its more enlightened predecessor. It is on course to erect the wall of protection all over again.
Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it ... George Santayana
Much is said about liberalisation and globalisation which benefited only one half of the world population while leaving other half in distress. What is visible is the constant economic growth that had eradicated extreme poverty and at the same time helped rich to become extreme rich, albeit unjustly. The casualty is environment, over extraction of non replenishable natural resources and workers with stagnant wages in developed nations. Today, US has accumulated trade debt of $20 trillion, up from $1 trillion during 1980's and has no clue or any forward looking plans to repay that debt and trade gap of $100 trillion is likely in next few decades and is saddled with huge industrial work force with stagnated wages. On other hand, China armed with huge trade plus faces deterioration of social values, degradation of landscape & environment and over exploited 150 million labour force with no human rights for over 30 years. Economics are complex and any change usually has unintended consequences. Over dependence on either exports or imports, for prosperity, is detrimental to any nation. The prudence lies in living within means and/or maintaining manageable trade gap at all times. Economic growth is never a true indicator of progress, development and wellness of any nation.
The Fifteenth Finance Commission’s Terms of Reference (ToR) have evoked a sharp response from southern states. The ToR mandates the Commission to use 2011 population for tax sharing and devolution of resources instead of 1971 population as was the practice in the past. The ToR seemingly fair to use the current population data has far reaching implications.
Between 1971 and 2011, except Telangana, population shares of four southern states in total declined from 22.01% to 18.16%. Thus, other things remaining the same, use of 2011. population for sharing resources means a decline in the flow of resources to these states.
Population share has also declined in Assam, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal. Thus, use of 2011 population would also affect economically less prosperous states like Assam, Odisha and West Bengal.
Between 1971 and 2011, while the population in south India went up 85%, the BIMARU states in north India (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) went up by 144%.
In the past, tax-sharing formula was a combination of factors reflecting equity, need and efficiency. Population being a neutral indicator of need has been used by all 14 finance commissions.
The 14th Finance Commission gave 17.5% weightage to 1971 population in the tax-sharing formula, it also gave 10% weightage to 2011 population to reflect demographic change.
The fundamental question is ToR asking FC to assess fiscal needs of states for tax sharing and grants is nothing but binding the Commission’s work to a particular reference population is arbitrary and unfair to all the stakeholders including the Commission.
In reality the Southern states are more productive and contributes largesse to exchequer and are ruled by non-BJP parties apart from lower population growth. Where as Northern states contributes much less to exchequer and have higher population growth and are ruled by BJP. Hence 15th FC ToR effectively transfers more funds from performing - non BJP ruled - Southern states to non performing - BJP ruled - Northern states. This is not only atrocious and audacious but also condemnable on the part of PM & FM in framing discriminatory ToR for 15th FC.
The 15th FC ToR also penalises those states with efficient administration in terms of population growth and higher productivity and incentivises ineffieffient, non performing states with higher population growth. This is ridiculous.
Since decline in population in 10 states is real and its adverse impact on resource transfers is real, designing an appropriate grant mechanism to reward these performing states is the responsibility of the Union Government.
The only way is to scrap all the ToR and allow FC to frame its own rules for allocation of resources. The incentive or rewarding performing states should be done through a grant mechanism instead of tax sharing.
See the hopeless reasoning given by FM, Jaitley arguing like an fee paid advocate of northern states without even mentioning the grievance of Southern states who stand to lose their rightful share of resources for reason of good performance. He doesn't even mention the anomaly of northern states getting Rs.1.60 for every Re.1.00 contributed by them to national exchequer whereas southern states getting Rs.0.64 for every Re.1.00 contributed by them to national exchequer just by center changing population reference from 1971 to 2011 in ToR without any authorization from anyone.
Ever since independence Southern states (with 24.35% LS seats only) suffered discrimination in the hands dominant Northern states only by virtue of population and 3/4th LS Seats. The present BJP regime headed by Modi with Arun Jaitley as FM are even more blatant discriminators, especially with entire South held by Non-BJP parties. This is no good for unity and integrity of India. Strong national parties like Congress and BJP have already done enough harm to South during past 70 years of Independence. Weak centre can perform better, judiciously even at the expense of rapid unsustainable growth. Then only even LS can function meaningfully and institutions exercise their autonomy. Strong centre with absolute majority for a national party tends to subvert constitution, undermine rule of law, rule whimsically and autocratically making institutions irrelevant. It is time to dump these national parties and let states be ruled by regional parties and form coalition of like minded parties with common minimum program at the centre. Then only North-South discrimination will end and rule of the law will prevail.
Both Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary handed over their resignation letters to Modi on Mar 8, 2018. Reacting to the TDP’s decision, two of the BJP ministers in the AP government, have also handed in their resignations a day earlier.
The ‘uneasy’ ties between the BJP and the TDP hurtled to the edge with both partners hardening their stances on the issue of SCS. FM Arun Jaitley’s statement on Mar 7, 2018, when he categorically ruled out SCS, with added sarcasm and awkward body language, had precipitated matters. In essence BJP has pushed TDP out of Modi's NDA ministry.
Modi reportedly made a call to Chandrababu Naidu in the evening. The TDP chief had spoken his mind on how the Centre had reneged on its promise, his 29 visits to the national Capital and finally, the PM not taking attending to his call on Mar 7, 2018. Naidu also told Modi that the people of AP were seething over FM Arun Jaitley's insulting comments. Naidu had asked Modi to do something for AP "since he had the authority".
Naidu declined Modi's suggestion to come over to Delhi for discussions maintaining that the irreversible process has started and there is nothing for him to discuss. It is for Modi to honor all promises made in parliament and implement provisions of AP Re-organisation Act quickly since 4 years had already elapsed. Failing which TDP may exit from NDA too, very soon.
Naidu said that Jaitley's statement was insulting to the TDP. Naidu slammed the FM for saying "sentiments will not decide the quantum of funds". Naidu's decision was appreciated and supported by all non-BJP parties.
One national party has deceived AP and other national party has cheated AP. It’s for the nation to understand which is one and two, YS Chowdary said. The beauty of democracy, he further said, was to bring unanimity and make everyone happy and this was the BJP's responsibility.
Between 2015-17, while Naidu made 29 trips to Delhi, during 2018 he was not even granted appointment by Modi indicating deterioration of ties. "This is the first step. We will go ahead with other actions later," PTI quoted Naidu.
"We are committed to giving monetary equivalent to SCS to Andhra Pradesh ..." is the sentence repeatedly said by FM Jaitley and other BJP leaders, during the past 4 years, but in reality very little help was extended to AP. They adapted all kinds of delaying tactics especially for Polavaram project and capital Amaravati.
The Congress said "The parochial autocratic alliance led by Narendra Modi could never accept a divergence of opinions or plurality and the splintering of the NDA that you are seeing now is a reflection of that philosophy of the PM and the BJP. And it does not start or end here." They said TDP is the oldest ally of the NDA as Naidu used to be the convener of the NDA, and Naidu showed the courage of his conviction to call a spade a spade in speaking out when Modi was the CM of Gujarat.
“You cannot run away from your responsibility by attacking us. The Congress party was completely routed from AP for hurting the sentiments of the people. If you continue to hurt our sentiments by denying SCS, which is our right, you will have to meet the same fate” Naidu said.
Prior to resignations announcement, TDP leaders said the BJP had pushed them to a position where taking a “tough stand” was the only option left. Naidu said he will take a call on whether or not to remain in the NDA before the second leg of the budget session ends.
FM Arun Jaitley citing 14th Finance Commissions recommendations coming in the way of granting SCS to AP is totally false and misleading. Even its former chairman YV Reddy clarified this matter. There is no body which comes in the way of working of Parliament and Central Government within the frame work of constitution. Modi is the real culprit and villain. All others are just parrots.
Most central ministers are sympathetic towards the problems of AP ever since AP Re-organisation in 2014, it was Modi who was adamant in not extending necessary help to AP. All the ministers are just speaking his mind while he is maintaining silence. Modi has no respect for statutes, institutions & people and his propensity is to bend constitution, acts and rules to suit what ever he wants to do without following any kind of democratic process. His style has chilling similarity with Italy's fascist dictator Mussolini and his actions are with spectacles without any substance. While Modi is adamant by nature and has 16 year old grievances against Naidu, nothing will happen since BJP's LS numbers are comfortable. TDP exiting NDA is a certainty and that is good for AP too. But with all major parties ditching NDA, BJP saddled with all round failures of Modi will have uphill task in 2019 elections with Rahul Gandhi's graph rising day by day and UPA scams losing its charm. BJP ending up in opposition benches is not ruled out. If Rahul Gandhi becomes PM in 2019, the credit goes to Modi for achieving this impossible feat in 5 years which Sonia Gandhi couldn't do in her 10 year UPA regime. The present crisis provides an opportunity to Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to resign and declare his solidarity with the people of his home state of AP. He has already been sidelined by Modi when nominated to VP's post last year. Having reached dead end of his political career, Venkaiah Naidu must rise above politics and become a "hero of a cause" emulating Kakani Venkataratnam in 1973.
Jayadev Galla's speech in Lok Sabha on Feb 7, 2018
Jayadev Galla's speech - Translation into Telugu
Jayadev Galla's powerful speech in English in American accent, mincing no words in Lok Sabha on Feb 7, 2018 regarding Centre's neglect in Budget 2018-19 allocations shocked BJP and its bosses. Imagine pin drop silence in Lok Sabha.
We trusted you and waited for 5 budgets. This budget is the final chance for fulfilling your promises to AP.
I may be new to politics but I do understand trust.
Your allies are feeling neglected, betrayed and humiliated as of the 5 crore people of AP.
This budget has no mention of AP Reorganisation Act commitments.
Some of your party leaders might have convinced you that BJP can grow in AP by breaking the promises and weakening TDP.
Congress too was convinced as well in 2014 of a ill advised strategy and paid a very dear price. From being the strongest state Congress went to zero in AP where it is likely to stay for a very long time. Congress thought by betraying people of AP it will win in Telangana with a secret deal with TRS and win in AP with a secret deal with YSRCP. People of AP are no fools and Congress was wiped out in AP.
Please don't be of the opinion that the BJP will fare any better if it by treads the wrong path.
YSRCP is praising the budget, cozying up the central government, shifting the blame from BJP to TDP. People of AP are no fools, they know YSRCP supports who ever is in centre in order to keep their leader out of jail.
If you think that YSRCP would make a better alliance partner for BJP in AP it would be a serious lapse of judgement and morality. What is the message you have sent to the country by supporting the party whose founder and president is the poster boy of corruption in India.
AP CM visited New Delhi 29 times met PM, Ministers and submitted report after report and it is shameful for the government to say that they are still waiting for information and/or examining the situation.
There are 19 items as AP Reorganisation Act alone yet to be fulfilled.
In Sep 2016 FM 'Special Financial Package' was announces that stated that they will support AP to the hilt. But nothing has been done so far.
Not mentioning special package requirements of AP in this budget is injustice and deceiving people of AP.
Different packages for several other states were announced from time to time and we all know their fate. Hence AP CM asked for legislative backing for AP special package in lieu of Special Category Status which was agreed in Sep 2016 but not done till date.
Packages given to back ward districts in MP & Orissa received Rs.6,000 crores where as Rayalaseema & Uttarandhra received Rs.1,050 crores till date. We want the package, not a pittance.
Five main items are ...
(1) Polavaram revised proposal for Rs.54,000 crores (Land acquisition and R&R 30,000 crores), as per 2014-15 estimates, is pending with GOI.
(2) Railway zone at Visakhapatnam that requires consultations with neighboring states. This should have been done earlier. Why are we hearing this after 4 years? Are they not delaying tactics?
(3) No mention about Vijayawada & Visakhapatnam Metro in the budget which provides Rs.17,000 crores for Bengaluru metro, because of Karnataka state elections soon.
(4) New capital Amaravati requirement is Rs.1,20,000 lakh crores. Rs.42,935 crores required for essential infrastructure like Secretariat, Assembly, Council, Rajbhavan, High court etc. During last 3 years only Rs. 1,500 crores was provided. Demand at least Rs.10,000 crores annually for next five years.
(5) Institutions of national importance. Pittance so far. With paltry allocations every year will take 10-30 years for completion. AIMS estimate Rs.1,680 crores. So far not a single penny. May be because elections are not coming up in AP.
Budget 2018-19 allocation for central corporations in AP is Rs.1,814 crores. Much less than the movie 'Baahubali' collections!
If people of AP has given zero seats to Congress for passing AP Reorganisation Act, imagine what they would think about BJP for not fulfilling minimum requirements of this Act. We demand an explanation. Failing which, we have no option than considering you acting in bad faith and certainly have to reconsider why are we in this relationship. This is your last chance to fulfill your promises and maintain your alliance dharma which we maintained patiently so far. It gives us no joy telling you all this. It is now or never. But we still have belief and trust in FM & PM. Let me remind you again that people of AP are no fools.
You can fool all the people some of the time,
and some of the people all the time,
but you cannot fool all the people all the time .... Abraham Lincoln
With this paltry budget allocations BJP's vote share in AP will definitely nosedive from the present 6-8% to close to zero and may not win any seats in elections. BJP MP K. Haribabu, BJP MLA & Minister Kamineni Srinivas and BJP MLA Vishnukumar Raju, sensing this danger, are rumoured to considering joining TDP for contesting next elections. If this happens, BJP gets buried under ground in AP for next 20 years, worse than Congress.
The fact that, ahead of Budget 2018, market regulator SEBI and stock exchanges have taken precautions by asking brokers to collect higher margins from those with sizeable positions in futures and options i.e. foreign institutions, wealthy investors and proprietary desks anticipating a significant run-up in the equity market indicates that Modi, Jaitley & Co are fully aware of distressed economic condition and their worst budget 2018, and that their talking bluffs on the floor of the house will not go down well on stock market operators. Expectedly, Sensex lost 1000+ points on Budget Day and aided with global negative indicators lost another 1000+ points on the following day. Investors saw their wealth erosion of nearly Rs.10 lakh crores. Ironically, Budget 2018 (a 'Dhoka' Budget) satisfies none and every segment stands aggrieved.
Moody's recent conditional upgrade of India to 'baa2' may very well get reversed to 'baa3' which is only a notch above 'junk' category. Today, every economic indicator is worse than that of 2014 (when Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh's Congress led UPA was voted out and Modi's BJP led NDA was voted in) and Modi & Jaitley owe an explanation to the nation where the '3 year low oil bonanza money 2015-2018' of over Rs. 6 lakh crores was squandered away, while our PSU banks are starved of recapitalization funds arising out of mounting NPA's.?
P.Chidambaram, former FM analyses that the Budget overstates income, understates expenditure the realistic deficit could be 4.15% of GDP and if National Health Protection Scheme for Rs.5 lakhs health insurance for poor takes off with an estimated expenditure of between Rs.10,000 crores and Rs.1,00,000 crores leaves a very big hole in the budget with run away inflation. If crude oil prices goes up, there will be serious trouble. Riding on economic distress and unpopularity, Modi's BJP suffered electoral reverses. Extrapolating Gujarat election results (swing of 9%) and Rajasthan bye poll losses (swing of 18%), Modi's BJP may not get even 240/542 LS seats in 2019 general election. Modi's charisma is waning and Rahul Gandhi's popularity rising, sends jitters to Modi and BJP. If NDA allies walk out of alliance, which is quite likely, Modi & BJP will have to sit in opposition benches.
What Sonia Gandhi could't achieve in 10 years, Modi is likely to do it in just 5 years!
It is not development of India but making Rahul Gandhi as Prime minister!
Today, after winning successive elections since 2014 except Bihar, Delhi and Punjab [BJP & allies rule expanded to 19 of 29 states; Congress rule restricted to just 5 states] the invincible Prime Minister Modi is scared of only one man by the name Rahul Gandhi, whom he & his trolls once described as 'pappu' and a 'reluctant politician'. During the past six months Rahul Gandhi smashed all these and gave a spirited and stunning fight in Gujarat election making Modi and his BJP machine sweat like never before. Here are some points proving his mettle:
Rahul Gandhi said on demonetisation "Initially the government spoke about black-money, then moved to counterfeit currency and then again to a cashless society campaign. The prime minister took this so-called bold decision single-handedly. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard." He also said "Dr Jaitley, the economy is in the ICU because of notes ban and GST. Aap kehtey hai aap kissi sey kum nahi/ magar aapki dava mein dum nahi."
Rahul Gandhi said on GST roll out "A reform that holds great potential is being rushed through in a half-baked way with a self-promotional spectacle. GST is being executed by an incompetent and insensitive government without planning, foresight and institutional readiness. India deserves a GST roll out that does not put crores of its ordinary citizens, small businesses & traders through tremendous pain & anxiety. Their GST is 'Gabbar Singh Tax'. Small shopkeepers are finished. Lakhs of youths have been unemployed. But they are still not ready to listen. Congress GST is 'Genuine Simple Tax'. Modiji’s GST is 'Gabbar Singh Tax'."
Rahul Gandhi hammers on 'unemployment' issue repeatedly. On his superb trip to USA he said, "I think the central reason why Mr. Modi arose is the question of jobs in India. There’s a large part of our populations that simply do not have jobs and cannot see a future. But, certainly our prime minister is not doing enough in creating jobs. 30,000 new youngsters are joining the job market every single day and yet the government is only creating 500 jobs a day. My main issue with Mr Modiji is that he diverts that issue and points the finger somewhere else instead of listening." Though the ruling government floated a plethora of schemes like ‘Make in India’, ‘Startup India’ and ‘Digital India’, all of these initiatives proved to be duds.
Speaking on women rights back in 2014 Rahul Gandhi said, "We talk a lot about becoming a superpower in the world but till the women of our country do not feel comfortable and secured, our country cannot become a superpower. And to tell you the truth, we don’t want such a superpower status, where women are not empowered. One thing I have learnt is if you empower women, they can do anything. One important battle we have to win is the women’s reservation Bill in Parliament. We’re not going to let go of it." The BJP had promised during their pre-election rallies that the women’s reservation bill would be passed as soon as they got into power. Despite three and a half years of Modi rule, the bill has not come up in the Lok Sabha so far.
Rahul Gandhi while speaking on intolerance had previously said, "Truth and Power are not the same thing. Truth is what stands up to power. Today, there is no doubt that the emperor is completely naked but there is no one with any courage to point it out. When the British came to India, people handed over freedom to them. It was never taken away from us. This could very well happen now. Both the RSS and Mr Modi want to create a country where people live in utmost fear surrendering their voice so that they can rule unhindered. Mr Modi, after locking his cabinet colleagues in a room announced demonetization which wiped off lakhs of jobs. Many media houses have been depicting this as a work of genius even while admitting in private that it was an act of insanity. Most of them have lost their voice." At his recently concluded USA trip, he again said, "What happened to the tolerance that prevailed in India? What happened to the harmony? For thousands of years, India has had a reputation of peace and harmony. This is being challenged. Our most powerful asset is that 1.3 billion people lived happily, non-violently, peacefully. This is something that as Congress people, every single one of us has to defend."
On agrarian crisis Rahul Gandhi said in a rally in Maharashtra, "Everyone knows that a farmer needs the support of the nation and the State Government. If you ask any farmer, how much money comes from their farm, then every farmer will tell you – if the MSP is not increased, if there are no rains and no compensation or bonus is given, then they won’t be able to work, and this is the truth behind today’s India." Criticising the ruling NDA Government, Rahul said in Gujarat "the suit boot government doesn’t do anything for the farmers." Speaking earlier this year to the bereft farmers from Tamil Nadu, he said,” The farmers have been sitting here for so long. But neither the government nor the Prime Minister is listening to them. The people and farmers of Tamil Nadu deserve to be heard by the Prime Minister who is disrespecting them by not initiating any dialogue. Over the last three years, debt worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore held by 50 industrialists have been written off. Why the same is not being done in case of the farmers? Why are their debts not being waived? It is the Prime Minister’s responsibility to do so.”
Rahul Gandhi has made the 'failed development model of BJP' as the body and soul of his Gujarat campaign. Modi had come to power based on the stellar work he had apparently done in Gujarat which he promised would be juxtaposed to other states as well. But Rahul Gandhi ripped that narrative to pieces saying, "Gujarat model of development can be called toffee model or ‘gubbara’ (balloon) model, which is nothing but loot of public money to benefit big people like Tata and Adani. Modi had given away 45,000 acres belonging to poor farmers and the size of Bihar’s Purnea district to a single person (Adani) at a rate of rupees one per sq metre which is equivalent to the price of a toffee. He gave away the entire stretch of land at a paltry sum of Rs.300 crores. Modi had also provided Rs.10,000 crore loan to Tata Motors for its Nano car project at 0.1% interest, while the common man get loan from banks at 12% interest. For every Nano car, the Gujarat government is providing Rs.40,000 assistance. The total budget of the Gujarat government on education, health and other welfare is less than Rs.10,000 crore." Speaking later he added, "Vikas has gone crazy? India’s economy has been destroyed. But everyone is quiet because they are afraid to speak against Narendra Modiji. These are not my words. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has written this in a newspaper article today. Poverty reduction in Gujarat was highlighted as a huge success but reports have since shown that it has been slower than most of the other states. There has been undoubted progress in electrification and infrastructure development but that has mostly played in the hands of the corporate sector with little to no improvement for the masses! If Gujarat model was dissected, an entire thesis could well be written on it with both pros and cons. We would just stop short of calling it a bigger success than it was.
We worked for 10 years to bring peace in Kashmir. Speaking in USA on the violence in the valley, Rahul Gandhi said, "PDP was instrumental in bringing youngsters in politics, but the day Modi made alliance with PDP, he destroyed them (PDP). He (Modi) massively opened up space for the terrorists in Kashmir, and you saw the increase in violence.Violence against anybody is wrong. Hatred, anger and violence can destroy us, the politics of polarisation is dangerous. These incidents are making millions feel that they have no future in their country. I lost my father, my grandmother to violence, if I don’t understand violence then who will?"
FRDI is Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill (FRDI), 2017. The purpose of Section 52 in FRDI Bill 'bail-in' is to absorb the losses incurred, or reasonably expected to be incurred, by the covered service provider and to provide a measure of capital for it so as to enable it to carry on business for a reasonable period and maintain market confidence in it.
Under FRDI Act, any stressed bank can freeze deposits indefinitely or refuse deposit repayment or pay part amount in full discharge of deposit unilaterally or issue securities in lieu or do in what ever fashion in the best interests of running bank's business without hindrance. In Cyprus, depositors lost almost 50% of their savings when a “bail-in” was implemented.
At present, each depositor of banks is protected up to a limit of Rs. 1 lakh by the guarantee of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). The amount insured by DICGC per depositor in a respective bank has been Rs. 1 lakh, since 1993. The bill repeals the DICGC Act, 1961, and subsumes its functions into the resolution corporation. Conservatively this limit would have been at least Rs. 5 lakhs, if not Rs.10 lakhs, which was not enhanced during past 24 years.
Bank deposits are popular in rural areas because of a lack of alternate opportunities like mutual funds or stock markets. Further, given the small size of savings of the majority of citizens, the deposit schemes of banks seem an attractive option. Most retired employees keep their life time savings in deposits and live on the deposit interest paid to them on month-on-month basis. In an emerging country like India, where financial instruments are scarce and alternatives like financial markets aren’t developed, a bail-in as a resolution mechanism should be avoided.
The depositor whose money is given as loan to the borrower is likely to lose his share of deposit in case of a “bail-in”, whereas the borrower who availed himself of the loan is likely to get off scot-free. The “bail-in” concept is a double whammy.
The 'bail in' is an evil scheme to 'bail out' the owners (Govt of India in case of PSU banks) with depositors money (of middle and lower classes) without their consent for their incompetence and mischief in managing their banks prudently.
When the government recapitalises a bank, it uses taxpayers money. It can be argued that using resources contributed by taxpayers who are not related to stressed banks is unfair. This bail-in resolution mechanism uses depositors’ money, who are not owners of the bank, and is also unfair.
There is already a resolution mechanism for all financial service providers, which is available with the RBI. We also have an insolvency and bankruptcy code. We have National Company Law Tribunal. Where is the need for a new resolution mechanism? The Bill is fundamentally flawed because it has been blindly copied and pasted from the Western model, whereas the situation in India is totally different.
At present the bank deposits are over Rs 110 lakh crores. 67% of depositors holds 8.6% of deposits less than Rs. 1 lakh. 33% of depositors hold deposits over Rs. 1 lakh. The term depositors of above Rs 15 lakh is only 1.3%, who holds 55% in terms of amount of the total term deposits. And government wants to lay its hands on this money to cover their failures in managing banking system.
No one trusts the government when it says 'trust me'. Why should any one trust the government with imminent hair cutting of their deposits? Why worry depositors when the government intends to protect them? Why have the bail-in clause at all if the government will stand behind bank depositors? Modi & Jaitley must explain.
In order to cover up the failures, the centre wants the common depositors
to forego their life-savings ... Mamata Banerjee
If government was concerned about welfare of depositors, it would have simply increased DICGC per depositor from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakhs or Rs.10 lakhs and wound up failed banks as per prevailing laws of the land. The FRDI is aimed at passing on the losses of banks to gullible depositors with haircut and running their inefficient banks detrimental to public interest. Like demonetization, GST roll out etc this FRDI is evil intentioned and is bound to fail. Government is by the people, of the people and for the people. Any scheme of things aiming at looting common man's money will be shot down by people. Common sense tells us that recapitalisation must be done by owners themselves not others. In case of PSU banks, central government is the owner and recapitalisation must be done through central government budget only. Any other way is not only wrong and immoral but will also fail.
In the infamous 2G SCAM case 2011, that catapulted Modi & BJP into power in 2014 dislodging the corruption tainted UPA government of Manmohan Singh, the CBI Court Judge OP Saini delivered judgement on Dec 21, 2017 acquitting all the accused persons and companies criticising the prosecution for pursuing the case in a disinterested and diffident manner and observed that prosecution has failed to prove any of the charges beyond reasonable doubt. He also held that there was no criminality or conspiracy in spectrum allotment and said some people created a "scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels". It was seven years ago when CAG report on the 2G scam giving the then UPA government jitters, which ultimately led to its downfall. CAG had stated that licenses had been issued to ineligible applicants who had deliberately suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information, submitted fictitious documents and used fraudulent means for getting licenses and thereby access to spectrum. The licence holders had sold these stakes to the Indian/foreign companies at high premium within a short time. The premium earned by these new companies was estimated to be the true value of the spectrum. In a free and fair bidding process, these profits should have gone to the government. CAG in its report had never stressed on presumptive loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crores that was based on the 3G price discovered in 2010.
Special judge OP Saini came down heavily on the CBI, charging the agency with shoddiness and approaching the case in fits and starts. He had absolutely no hesitation in holding that the prosecution miserably failed to prove any charge against any of the accused, made in its well choreographed charge sheet.
Special judge remarked that everybody was going by public perception created by rumour, gossip and speculation. However, public perception has no place in judicial proceedings.
Though the Supreme Court had cancelled 122 licences allocated declaring them illegal, a special CBI court today said "a huge scam was seen by everyone where there was none."
The judge laments the role of "prominent public-spirited persons" who went on and on about wrongdoing but had no evidence to submit. Apparently this means that nobody had any good or first-hand evidence in his possession".
Dismissing the allegations, the judge said that for “the last about seven years on all working days, summer vacation included, I religiously sat in the open Court from 10 am to 5 pm, awaiting someone with some legally admissible evidence in his possession, but all in vain. Not a single soul turned up.”
The biggest beneficiary of the alleged 2G scam is Mr. Narendra Modi as he became the Prime Minister and lots of people believed the allegations. Today, the former CAG Vinod Rai is one of the strong advisors of the Modi government, posted on various boards and organisations and has been rewarded for what he has done.
What is illegal from administrative law point of view may not necessarily be an offence from a criminal court’s perspective.
The Supreme Court declared in 2012 that the allocation of 2G spectrum by UPA government was illegal and an arbitrary exercise of power and cancelled all 122 telecom licences allotted. This hurt India’s competitiveness & saddled banks with Rs. 4 lakh crore of debt resulting from licence cancellations & auctions.
It was a policy decision taken by the then administration, and policy decisions do not have to be always right and there is room for error and improvement. The SC judgement of cancellation was always hasty, wrong and unjustified, and caused huge losses, damaged reputations and caused economic crises. You can be sure that this will be added ground for proceeding against India in the BIT Arbitrations. The lesson is what the SC told us many years ago, that courts should be slow to interfere in economic and policy decisions, said Ramji Srinivasan, senior advocate, Supreme Court.
The CAG's use of the word ‘presumptive loss’ has left a question mark on the CAG’s credibility which is an act of ethical wrong doing on a gigantic scale. The former CAG, Vinod Rai's twisted logic produced a figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crores notional loss to the exchequer has not played by the book. He subjected the polity to great convulsions resulting in huge and unquantifiable losses in terms of businesses and investment withheld. Many more reputations and myths would come unravelling.
It is said that the folklore about corruption is bigger than the actual incidence of corruption. Could this be true of the 2G ‘scam’ as well?
The Indian economy is yet to recover not just from the SC's hasty cancellation of 122 licenses, but also from the public hysteria and moral panic that marked the period. It is that which created policy paralysis and the investment crisis that continues to this day and not any supposed corruption.
Industry analysts said the apex court’s 2010 ruling had led to massive job losses, closure of several businesses and value destruction of assets worth thousands of crores. The 2G spectrum scam brought the entire industry to its knees. Now the court says no one is responsible for it. Its a bizarre situation and gives the affected operators an opportunity to seek compensation.
Former PM Minister Manmohan Singh said 'a massive propaganda was unleashed against my government over the 2G spectrum allocation. The judgment speaks for itself.'
Arun Jaitley said the special CBI court’s acquittal of all accused in the 2G scam should not be treated as a “badge of honour.” If this is not, then 'what is badge of honour.'
Reminding BJP that it had pegged its campaign against the UPA government on the 2G scam, the Congress demanded an apology for ruining careers, companies and blocking investments to the country. PM Modi, FM Jaitley and other BJP leaders must apologise to the country. BJP stands exposed today before the country.
A war of words has broken out between the UPA and the NDA leaders over the verdict and its political ramifications which will only intensify till 2019. Suddenly, the sinners are looking less than sinners and the saints no longer come across so saintly.
The CBI and ED will appeal against the special court’s judgment acquitting all the accused in the 2G scam case. But without tangible evidence what is the use of appeal?
The 2012 SC judgment was on the question of procedural irregularity and of civil liability. The trial court judgments in the CBI and ED cases were concerned with charges of criminal and corruption charges and prosecution cannot use the 2012 SC judgment as evidence of criminality in an appeal in a higher court.
The scale and scope of the scam claimed by the innumerate dramatis personae of that period on news television was always imaginary. Lakhs of crores were not misappropriated. Instead there was the sort of misuse of process that was common before the UPA, common during the UPA, and continues to be common now, even under a supposedly clean government. Of course there are no large-scale scams of the scale that was claimed for 2G under Narendra Modi! Because, it turns out, there weren't under Manmohan Singh either. At a stroke, the sole and solitary claim that Modi had to his running a better government than Manmohan stands extinguished.
History will not be kind to these forces of disinformation, who with willful ignorance or malice created a perception of an epochal, history-breaking, record-setting scam. Who will be held accountable for the public perception created by rumour, gossip and speculation? Somebody must.
This shows that how battles won in Supreme Court are often lost in courts below, said senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan.
Politically, Congress will not only emerge stronger but also assertive and aggressive in the run up to 2019 elections tearing into Modi's blunders and lies. Modi is now realizing value of his allies for continuing in as PM.
On any issue public decides first, court decides last.
Corruption is omnipresent in India. Nothing moves without it. The root cause is the mind boggling political spending, greedy businesses and irresponsible bureaucracy apart from indifferent public. No saints left in India. Everybody is corrupt in one sense or other. But scams are different. While corruption is slow poison, scams are akin to cyanide. Today BJP is most cash rich party and its spending in recent UP and Gujarat elections is unprecedented. All that money is neither accounted nor from contributions. The perception of 2G Scam is clearly visible, the failure of prosecution by CBI & ED (directly works under PM Modi & FM Jaitley) is easily palpable. The consequences of 2G Scam for the nation is humongous for which Congress and BJP and their leaderships are accountable. Price is being paid by people of India similar to or even worse than Bofor's scandal of mid eighties. Politics by Modi & co. for dislodging this case is not ruled out. Some of the acquitted are Modi's friends and Modi making unscheduled visit to ailing DMK leader Karunanidhi points needle of suspicion towards Modi too. Modi seems to be interested in only winning election after election and saffronisation of India and any other thing is just a lip service. In recent Gujarat elections BJP suffered erosion of over 10% votes and same thing is bound to happen in 2018 state elections and 2019 general elections. Without strong allies, Modi continuing as PM beyond 2019 is ruled out. This is visible from Modi's sudden change in attitude towards friends like Shiv Sena, TDP, TRS, BJD, DMK etc. Development and reforms are bound to slow down or even take back seat.
In in the intervening period several lives were jailed and harassed, families suffered, companies incurred losses or even wound up, investors lost money, employees lost their jobs. Who is responsible for the mess?
