oppn parties Action Against Opposition Politicians: Only Fast-Track Cases And Convictions Will Justify The Government's Stand

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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Action Against Opposition Politicians: Only Fast-Track Cases And Convictions Will Justify The Government's Stand

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The government is using its agencies like the IT department, the ED and the CBI to go after politicians and politically-exposed persons in a big way. The travails of former finance minister P Chidambaram at the hands of such agencies are well documented. The latest in the line of fire is DK Shivakumar, the chief troubleshooter of the Congress in Karnataka. He has been arrested by the ED under PMLA for alleged money laundering. As usual, Shivakumar has alleged that he is being targeted and the BJP government is indulging in political vendetta.

There can be no denying that the law must take its own course, always and at all times. If an inquiry is made by any of the agencies and if persons arrested during the course of the inquiry take the names of influential persons or even if documents recovered from them point to the involvement of such influential persons, the agencies are not at fault in questioning such persons. But the question that arises is why is the government targeting only opposition politicians? The whole country knows that politicians across the spectrum indulge in financial wrongdoing. Then how is it possible that the investigating agencies are not coming across the names of politicians from the BJP and other parties in the NDA?

Even if we agree with the fact that though the Congress is now protesting the action on its leaders, it had also misused all government agencies in the past, the problem is that it is very difficult to get convictions in such cases. Apart from Sukhram, Lalu Yadav and Jayalalitha, the names of other top politicians do not easily come to mind for conviction in cases of corruption and financial misdeeds. Hence, the government must tread very carefully. No point will be served in picking up politicians and lodging fancy cases against them unless such cases can be proved in court. But the way the agencies are going, one thinks that they will draw a blank. It will then become apparent that, as the opposition is alleging, the main intention was to shred reputations and stage the whole drama for television audiences. If the government and its agencies have the proof, they must move fast and start getting convictions to justify their action.