India to downgrade ties with Italy, won’t send ambassador

The orders of the Supreme Court will be complied with by all government agencies

Against the backdrop of airports across India being put on alert to prevent Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini from leaving the country, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said the orders of the Supreme Court will be complied with by all government agencies.

Besides downgrading its diplomatic ties with Italy, the government has also asked its ambassador-designate to that country Basant Kumar Gupta, who was scheduled to leave for Rome on Friday, not to proceed. The government, which is reviewing the entire gamut of bilateral ties, has decided to withhold the posting of Gupta, who was expected to take charge by end of next week. The downgrading of ties could affect bilateral economic and social relations between the two nations.

‘The Supreme Court order will be complied with by all government agencies,’ Khurshid told reporters outside Parliament House on Friday in response to questions on the issue. He said the matter will come up before the apex court again on Monday and ‘we will know then exactly what is the next step that should be taken.

Meanwhile, the decision to alert the airports was taken by the Union Home Ministry a day after the apex court restrained the Italian Ambassador from leaving India without its permission.

The court had taken exception to Italian government’s refusal to send back two marines charged with the killing of two Indian fishermen. The two marines were allowed by the court to go to Italy to cast their votes in the elections there after the Italian Ambassador had given an assurance to send them back.

India continues to press for extradition of American who masterminded terrorist attack in Mumbai

India said that it would continue to press for the extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley, sentenced by a US court to 35 years in prison for his role in the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008, and would have sought more punishment had he been tried here, France Press said.

A day after the Chicago court ruling, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said: “Had we tried him we would have sought much more.”

“We are a little disappointed as we wanted that he should have been brought here and tried as the real loss has been of India. It would have been appropriate if he would have been tried here,” Khurshid told reports in Delhi.

The American citizen of Pakistani origin David Headley was found guilty for his links with terrorists and masterminding the attack in Mumbai that killed 166 people. He pleaded guilty and co-operated with the US to avoid the death penalty and extradition to India.

American officials excluded the possibility of imposing death penalty and extradition to India despite appeals made by New Delhi.

Arvind Kejriwal, supporters detained near PM residence

India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal, who was to lead a group of 300-odd physically challenged people to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh‘s residence, was detained by the police near the 7, Racecourse Road, in the capital on Friday.

Apparently, the police rounded up Kejriwal and his supporters after warning them to clear the road.

While Kejriwal had said he wanted to submit a letter to the prime minister that contained the details of his allegations against union law minister Salman Khurshid, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to meet him, saying he had prior appointments.

However, reacting to their being stalled by the security, Kejriwal said, “It is utter shame that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should seek a security cover comprising thousands of securitymen to keep a bunch of physically challenged people at bay. This is not democracy.”

Kejriwal, who has demanded the resignation of Union law minister Salman Khurshid over the siphoning of funds of a charitable NGO that his wife Louise runs, is now staging a sit-in at the spot where he was stopped by the securitymen. “Earlier, we were seeking the PM for a time when he could meet us, but now we will wait till the time the PM speaks to the people of this country.”

Refusing to budge, Kejriwal said, “This is not democracy. The government is supposed to serve us and not lord over us.”

Demanding that a police complaint be filed immediately against Salman Khurshid and his wife, Kejriwal said, “Salman Khurshid should be removed from the cabinet till proven innocent. Both of them are influential people, they can tamper with evidence and pressure witnesses. They should be arrested immediately.”

“Let’s make this place another Tahrir Square (the focus of anti-regime protests in Egypt last year). People should take leave (from work) and join the protest. Now it’s a fight to the finish. The prime minister will have to meet us and accept our demands. Khurshid has to resign. He should be arrested,” he said.

Khurshid is planning to sue social activist-turned-politician Kejriwal for his allegations.

India’s Never Ending Quota Politics

With the upcoming Assembly Elections, the vote bank politics is seen coming to the fore once again. Congress has been on terms to offer a Muslim quota (4.5 percent Sub-quota) within the 27 percent reservation for OBCs in central government jobs in the five election-bound states, particularly UP. All the political parties seem to have positioned themselves to reap electoral dividends.

On Tuesday the Election Commission (EC) issued a show-cause notice to Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid and his wife, Louise Khurshid, the Congress candidate from Farrukhabad in UP. The show cause notice was served as the law minister was campaigning for Louise and promised a 9 percent sub-quota for backward Muslims if Congress got voted to power in Uttar Pradesh. Khurshid retaliated to this by saying that he was merely repeating a pledge in his party’s election manifesto for the 2009 general election. He also said that his statement was not a poll violation of any sorts.
SP Chief Mulayam Singh who had initially refused to back the sub-quota apparently fearing the backlash from OBCs, later said that he would back 18 percent quota for Muslims. But it was noted that this would not be possible as experts said the quota cannot exceed 50 percent of the total OBC Muslim population and hence is currently 9 percent.

The BJP who has nothing to lose is seeking to use the quota politics to create a drift among OBC voters in the state who are inclined to support the SP and the Congress.

The potential of the quota promise with a view to sway Muslim opinion has forced Mulayam and other political leaders to promise a higher quantum of quota for Muslims. Looking for an opportunity to re-embrace a portion of OBC votes, BJP fielded one of the most prominent backward leaders in its fold, Uma Bharati, in order to launch an offensive against Congress quota promise. In a press conference Uma was quoted saying “Congress party’s decision to give 9% reservation to the minority community is a purely politically move, which has been announced in view of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh”, as reported by ZeeNews.com.

Uma also added that “Congress’ divisive policies were responsible for the partition of the country some 60 years back and the ruling party (BSP) is once again trying to divide the country on the basis of religion. This is a bad politics that Congress is indulging in for increasing its vote banks.” Based on this the EC on Wednesday put the implementation of the new quota regime on a virtual hold till the process of elections in these states is completed (till March 9).

Meanwhile the BSP, the SP and the Congress are noted to have increased the number of Muslim candidates for the assembly elections. The BSP and the SP have named 75-80 candidates, while Congress leaders said the party will field Muslim candidates in around 70 constituencies in the final list, as reported by livemint.com.

Why Chidu is Silent?

He has been in the shadow of doubt ever since the 2G spectrum scam broke out, which was repeatedly denied by all and sundry around him, a probe against whom the Centre and CBI opposed. Now a firestorm of controversy is set off by his cabinet colleague Pranab Mukherjee as a recently released note ‘seen by’ him says that the 2G resource could have auctioned in 2008 if the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had “stuck to his stand”.

Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram are often rumored to be the powerful rivals in the Congress party and their rivalry has once again come out in public when the formers’ ministry issued a letter to the PMO in 2008 alleging that Chidambaram had a chance to prevent the illegal spectrum allotment by Raja. The two powerhouses of the Congress party are often seen vying for the top post in the party by the next general elections in 2014. However, the UPA government that is reeling under a series of corruption scandals, is now at a difficult juncture desperately hunting for damage control options.

The allegation says that Chidambaram had a chance to intervene into the spectrum allocation to bring in more revenue to the government. The airwaves were allegedly sold at a very lesser price than their real value resulting in a loss of around 176,379 crores to government exchequer.

The note apparently sent at the approval of Pranab Mukherjee came to light as Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy presented it before the Supreme Court to prove a direct involvement of Chidambaram in the spectrum pricing. It was originally accessed by the RTI activist Vivek Garg from the the Prime Minister’s Office. The letter was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry and sent to the PM’s office on March 25. It reportedly quotes Chidambaram, after a meeting with A Raja, as saying, “He was for now not seeking to revisit the current regimes for entry fee or revenue share” of spectrum. A strong critic of the Congress party, Swamy has been fighting the legal battle for a CBI probe into the Home Minister‘s role in the 2G scam.

Even after this serious allegation and the following hullabaloo, the Congress party decided to firmly back Chidambaram and said there is not rift within the party over the 2G scam. The Union Law minister Salman Khurshid strongly spoke in support of him saying, “We have no reason to put a question mark on Mr Chidambaram’s conduct. We stand by him.” He rubbished the media buzz about the possible differences between the key ministers and said, “We cannot comment on the paper till court takes it into account. It is just one sided presentation of documents.”

The main opposition BJP was quick to react and demanded the Home Minister’s resignation over the letter. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, “It was very clear from day one that Chidambaram agreed to A. Raja‘s formula for 2G spectrum allocation. If he had stuck to his position that spectrum should not be allocated at 2001 prices the scam would not have taken place.” CPI National Secretary D. Raja said “Chidambaram’s position, morally speaking, is increasingly becoming untenable. His role as the then finance minister needs to be examined and questioned.”

Related articles

• 2G Note by the Finance Ministry – Original Document. (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
• 2G CBI questions Supreme Court on Chidambaram. (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
• The Hindu : News / National : 2G: CPI(M) demands CBI probe against Chidambaram (dtsreddy.wordpress.com)