oppn parties The Politics Of Blackmail

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
The Politics Of Blackmail

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-29 00:11:24

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

It is strange and disgusting how politicians are fighting a game of blackmail in full public view. When the Enforcement Directorate (ED) calls Varsha Raut, wife of Shiv Sena strongman Sanjay Raut, for questioning in the PMC Bank fraud case, Sanjay Raut roars back that he has a file that contains 121 names from the BJP. He will give this file to the ED and it will take years for them to investigate the cases.

Why is this matter being raised when Varsha Raut is under the scanner? If Sanjay Raut had the good of the nation at heart, he should have given the file to the ED for investigation as soon as it landed on his lap. But wasn't he waiting for an opportune moment (like a summons to him or him wife in an alleged corruption case) before using the blackmail tactics? What does this make him then?

Of course the corruption charges against BJP leaders, if any, should be investigated with the same zeal as the ones against opposition leaders. But will Varsha Raut's culpability or criminality stand reduced or justified just because her husband has a file of such BJP leaders? Or is Sanjay Raut telling us that Varsha Raut has done nothing wrong as BJP leaders have also done the same?

The public is getting disgusted with politicians trading corruption charges and showing a strange attitude when charged with corruption. Instead of saying that they respect the law and will cooperate with the agencies to let the law take its course, politicians often try to pass off such investigations as political vendetta, try to put as many stumbling blocks in the way as they can and use blackmailing tactics to try and make the government back off. If all else fails, they join the ruling party to get the matter die a slow death.

There is no doubt that all political parties are using government agencies to crush opponents when they are in power, be it at the Central or state level. This is something that must be prevented. As all parties raise a hue and cry when out of power but do little to rectify the situation when in power, one feels that the courts must step in and ensure that agencies like the CBI, ED, SFIO, the police in respective states and other departments are not used to settle scores by the ruling dispensations. 

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