Madam
Speaker, I must confess to you that it is with a
tinge of sadness that I am addressing this august House.
Our country is faced with enormous challenges. The Middle East, West
Asia and North Africa are in flames. We have six million citizens of our
country based in these countries. We should be worrying about the
future of those citizens of ours. Seventy per cent of our oil supplies come
from the Middle East. If the conflict in the area gathers momentum, there
will be a serious question mark about our quest for energy security.
I thought that100
this august House would use this opportunity to reflect, not in a spirit of
partisan upmanship, but as people charged120 with the responsibility of governing this country to
work out a viable strategy as to how we can deal with these
emerging events. Instead, we have chosen to be exercised by what some embassy
official writes about us. I must warn the House that this is a dangerous
path. Tomorrow, if another official of a foreign embassy takes it into his head
to create a feeling of strife and distress among the political parties in
our country, all that he200
has to do is to plant a diplomatic message, and also ensure that somehow it
leaks. I think the nation and this august Parliament should
reflect as to what we are doing to our country. It is not in a240 spirit of any partisan upmanship that I am
saying this, but as someone who is worried about the aftermath of this
development on the future management of our country. With these words,
I come back to the main subject. Let me say that I am no match with Shrimati
Sushma Swaraj when it comes to her oratorial skills.
Madam
Speaker,300 this is not the
first time that I have been faced in my parliamentary career with
an opposition onslaught of the type that you have been witnessing of
late. I had to go through that fate as the Finance Minister and as the Prime
Minister. The main opposition party, right from the year 2004, adopted the
attitude that we were360
a usurper. All that I can say to Shri Advani is that the people of India
have voted us into power in a free and fair election. Madam Speaker, as the hon. Members will
recall, several Members had raised allegations400 based on the reports in a newspaper
about the purported cables from the US Embassy in New Delhi to their
authorities in Washington. In response to the request from the Leader of
the Opposition, I had made a Statement on this subject in this
august House on March 18, 2011. Madam, I reiterate that it is not
possible for the Government of India to confirm the veracity
of the contents of such communications. If they exist, they480 would be communications
from the US diplomats stationed in New Delhi to their Government in
Washington. This is not open500
to us to inquire from either of the two regarding the communications they
exchanged amongst themselves. In my Statement of 18th March,
2011, I had also stated that many of the persons referred to in these
communications have strongly denied their veracity. Madam, in my Statement,
I had also referred to the issue raised regarding the offence of
bribery. Apart from rejecting the allegations, I had also drawn the
attention of this august House to the fact that the allegations were
investigated by a committee constituted by the Fourteenth Lok Sabha and the
Committee had concluded that there600
was insufficient evidence to draw a conclusion of bribery.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition has questioned the veracity of this
Statement and I would spend some time to convince her and the
Members of the opposition that the inference that I have drawn is not
incorrect. Madam, in this context, I refer to what the then Speaker Shri
Somnath Chatterjee stated in this august House on 16th
December, 2008 while introducing the Report of the Committee. Madam, what I had
stated is exactly what Shri Somnath Chatterjee stated while introducing this
Report and, therefore, I urge the hon. Members700
not to doubt my credentials in this regard. Madam, the same thing
emerges when we study the Report of the720
Committee in totality. It is no use quoting sections which suit one’s
convenience or which support one’s argument. Madam, the matter was referred to
the Delhi Police for investigation. Further investigation is in
progress. Madam Speaker, । leave it to the good sense of this
august House to decide for itself whether the Report of the Committee, in
any way, substantiates the wild allegations levelled by some hon.
Members of the Opposition. Madam, I would like to make it clear, once800 again, that none from the Congress Party
or the Government indulged in any such unlawful act during
the Trust Vote in 2008. We have not been involved in any such
transactions and we have not authorized anyone to840 indulge in such transactions.
Sir,
I must congratulate the Home Minister for the excellent beginning
that he has made and for the speed that he has acquired to restore
the Fundamental Rights to the citizens and to appoint Commissions of
Enquiry to go into the excesses of the earlier rule as well as
the shocking scandals that had characterised last900 years of the previous regime. However,
in all humility, I must confess that it is not enough. The
Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution should be withdrawn immediately, the
Fundamental Rights will have to be fully restored and the role and power
of the judiciary must be restored immediately. Then, the necessary correction
in the attitude of the police cannot be960
achieved if, at this moment, we do not differentiate between
those officers and men who acted on instructions and those who went out
of their way to trouble and harass people during the earlier rule. If we do not
differentiate1000 between
these people and do not give to the guilty exemplary punishment that
would serve as deterrent and corrective, we would not be able to reorganise
the Police Department.1029
