As Lok Sabha gets back on its feet, govt’s gloves are off

The combined might of the government’s two most articulate members – Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj – crushed the Congress’s prolonged agitation on LalitGate in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was barely able to hold his own in his assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not “have the guts” to face the House as a combative Arun Jaitley described him as an “expert without knowledge” during the acrimonious debate.

The PM did not participate in the debate during an adjournment motion moved by the Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, a fact noted by many speakers in the Opposition who asserted that he should have been present to express confidence in the External Affairs Minister.

Swaraj defended her decision to facilitate release of travel documents to former IPL chief Lalit Modi while Jaitley carefully insulated the government’s course of action on corruption cases against the former even as he dismissed the demand for Swaraj’s resignation.

Swaraj had the floor soon after Kharge opened the debate asserting she should resign on the question of propriety. “You have accepted that you helped. Your admission is proof...Therefore, we demand your resignation. Your help shows your relationship with him (Lalit Modi) is deep. Your relationship is economic. What you did was a favour and this is our charge against you,” Kharge said.

A furious Swaraj trained her guns on the Gandhis, bringing up Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrochchi and Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide, the company allegedly responsible for one of the world’s worst industrial disasters in Bhopal in 1984. She accused former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of helping Warren Anderson flee India as a “quid pro quo” to secure the release of his childhood friend Mohammed Yunus’s son Adil Shahryar who was serving a 30-years sentence in a US jail.

Bringing up Rahul Gandhi’s mysterious two-month “break”, the Minister said: “Since you like holidaying so much, I suggest that the next time you take a break, you read up on your family history.

Read about all the dark deeds of your family members and ask ‘mamma, how much money did we make in the Quattrochchi case? Why did we let Warren Anderson go?’ You will learn all about quid pro quo then.” Amid slogan shouting from the Congress MPs, Swaraj then attacked former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, accusing him of conflict of interest when his wife, Nalini Chidambaram appeared as a counsel for the Income Tax department in 2004 when he was Finance Minister and again for an accused in the Sharada scam. On allegations that she helped Lali Modi obtain travel documents in the UK because her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri have been providing legal counsel to him, Swaraj said: “I did nothing clandestine. Not a single penny was paid to my daughter for this case. My husband did not appear for Lalit Modi in his the travel documents case and my daughter was the ninth junior counsel.”

Swaraj’s charged response was applauded by her party MPs and veteran LK Advani who was seen thumping her back.

Rahul Gandhi fought back, once again underlining that Swaraj’s help to Lalit Modi was “commercial” rather than “humanitarian”, as she claimed.

“Yesterday, Sushma ji held my hand and said beta (son), why are you upset with me? What did I do?’. I said I respect you and looked you in the eye. I said I am speaking the truth. You looked down,” Gandhi said. He then targeted the PM for not attending the debate. “What happened to the claim that you will bring black money back and give ₹15 lakh to every Indian? Now, the symbol of black money – Mr Lalit Modi – is being helped by your Minister. What happened to the claim of na kahoonga na khaane doonga (I won’t indulge in corruption nor will allow anyone else to do it). The fact is that you do not have the guts to face this House,” Gandhi said.

The Finance Minister took Gandhi on, asserting that he had no logical arguments to back the demand for the Foreign Minister’s resignation. “I was expecting that after such a prolonged agitation, he will come up with some new facts. But he could not rise above slogans. The trouble with Rahul Gandhi is that he is an expert without any knowledge,” said Jaitley.

In his statement, the Finance Minister underlined the fact that the BJP has been following Lalit Modi’s case with far more diligence than the UPA. He explained how, since 2009 when the issue about FEMA violations against IPL was raised, the Congress-led UPA was not able to make any effective charge against Lalit Modi. He described the difference between a red, blue and light blue coloured notice and how the UPA had erred in issuing a mere light blue colour notice against Lalit Modi in Jaipur and Jodhpur airports whereas he had already fled to England.

The charges under FEMA were not found adequate for his deportation by the UK authorities and in fact, it is after the BJP assumed power that effective proceedings against Lalit Modi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) have been initiated and a non-bailable warrant of arrest has been issued against him.

“They (the Congress) have been making a mountain of a molehill that does not exist. So far as the issue with regard to Sushma ji ’s daughter appearing as the ninth junior counsel in a case is concerned, I would like to point out that some of us have to work for our living unlike the first family in the Congress. I reject the demand for Sushma ji ’s resignation,” said Jaitley.