11
ARBITRARINESS
On 13 October 2004, the public sector Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd decided to tap the capital market in 2005 just like the NTPC.
On 15 October 2004, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, - while talking to students at Bangalore- said that there was nothing impossible in life and that everyone must have at least one right quality. He told the students that the world was a dangerous one. Apparently, he was justifying the letter dated 10-10-2004 . While the word “impossible” was directed to this writer, the right quality, apparently, was directed to those who did not possess those qualities.
“The New Indian Express” on 16 October 2004 reported that the Cabinet Secretary, Mr. B. K. Chaturvedi was disturbed by the actions of the CBI, and that he wanted to protect the officers, who - in his opinion- worked in an upright manner. This he said was to prevent the slowing down of the decision making process.
On 16 October 2004 , Ratan N. Tata said that he was “frustrated” about his inability to do enough for the uplift of the poor in the country. He disclosed that his ambition was to work for the rural poor. He said that his life was about making profit because he had a responsibility towards stakeholders. Apparently, it was the explanation for the money collected by the TCS.
The paper reported that Mr. M.P. Pinto who retired in 2003 as shipping secretary and five others were arrested in August 2004 for corruption and that Mr. Chaturvedi felt that the question of amending the Anti Corruption Act was one of the options before him.
The paper, further, said that Mr. P. Shankar, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, was of the view that an independent panel must be set up to examine the need to prosecute senior serving bureaucrats. Apparently, the CVC wanted to prosecute someone but the CVC wanted to do it through the aid of some others.
The New Indian Express in an editorial on 15 October 2004 said that the act of offloading the shares of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the lines of the NTPC had eminent sense.
On the same day, indirectly ridiculing this writer, a Mr. Jaithirth Rao in the center age article said, “Au contraire, there is every reason to believe that the aforementioned categories of secretaries as well as directors, joint directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, section officers, superintendents, upper division clerks and lower division clerks can easily win the Nobel Prize for ignorance of economics, the only contenders being leftist economists (an oxymoron- how can you be a leftist and an economist ?) from the JNU.
On 17 October 2004, six militant people and three soldiers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Hindu” in its editorial on 19 October 2004 commended the sale of 865,830,000 shares of the NTPC and induced the Government to divest the shares of other PSUs retaining majority stake.
On 19 October 2004 , the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force shot dead forest brigand “Veerappan” and three of his associates. The DD declared that such “elements” would be killed!
After the above event, the present writer started calling the media as media brigands for some time.
The Government on 20 October 2004 hiked the FDI cap for domestic airlines from 40 to 49 percent
On 21 October 2004 , the Union Government requested the Government of Assam to accept the offer of talks by the NDFB militants. The Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil, went to the extent of saying that the Centre would accept the blame for any failure of talks. This showed that there was a sea change in the attitude of the Government towards the militant people.
Surprisingly, on the next day, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, invited the Naga rebels to New Delhi for talks and the latter accepted the invitation.
At that time, the talks were going on in Bangkok between the Cenre’s interlocutors Mr. K.Padmanabaiah, and General Secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), Mr. T. Muivah. In a joint statement issued at the end of the two-day talks, the Naga side said that the invitation of the Prime Minister to the Naga leaders showed that the Centre was committed to finding an early and mutually satisfactory solution to the issue. The Naga leaders believed that the invitation would give further impetus to the peace talks.
Obviously, the letter No.41 sent on 10- 10- 2004 had a marvelous effect on the Government. It activated the Government to take concrete steps to solve the vexing problems in the North-East. In this connection, it must be noted that the truce between the NSCN and the Centre was agreed in 1997 and the talks had been going on since then. The leaders of Naga rebels had been living in Thailand and The Hague.
The Union Government on 25 October 2004 decided to maintain ‘total secrecy’ regarding the people who were providing information to central agencies probing corruption charges. This decision, presumably, was taken to give legal cover to conceal these letters.
Jnanpith winner Mrs. Indira Goswami, on 25 October 2004 requested Dr. Manmohan Singh to hear the question of sovereignty in his talks with the banned ULFA.
Mr. Arun Jaitly, former Commerce Minister in the NDA Government, sharing a dais with Mr. Kamal Nath, Commerce Minister, said that the Left parties were dictating the economic policy of the Government and it was giving wrong message to the foreign investors.
In an obvious reference to this writer, Mr. Jaitly said, “Even if one blinks then nothing moves”.
In his reply, Mr. Kamal Nath said that there was no compromise on the route started in 1991 and the UPA Government was committed to reforms. This statement confirmed the worst fears of this writer that the Commerce Minister was playing a role similar to the one Mr. Arun Jaitly had been playing during the NDA rule.
On 28 October 2004 , the letter No.42 was sent to His Excellency the President of India. The letter requested the Government not to use the mandate of the people against the mandate of the Constitution.
Further, the letter requested the Government to consider the question of apportioning the foreign exchange in the ratio 25:75 between the Centre and the States. Besides, the letter said that people should not be prevented from doing anything, which does no harm to others. The letter follows.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam,Vellicode,Mulagumoodu 629167
To
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why there must be constitutionalism in India.
1. A written constitution limits the powers and functions of the various organs of the State as opposed to arbitrary, authoritarian or totalitarian rule of industrialists or expropriators. Adopting the Constitution, Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 26 November 1949 said, “If the people who are elected are capable men of character and integrity, they would be able to make the best even of a defective Constitution”.
2. The Preamble was fully discussed, duly enacted and adopted by the Constituent Assembly. It is said that the words used in the Preamble are some of the noblest. It is the key to the Constitution (Berubari case). The Preamble “epitomized” the principle on which the Government was to function. The Preamble was very “soul of the Constitution-eternal and unalterable” (Golak Nath v. State of Punjab
3. Democracy in the Preamble meant rule by people. Here, it is said that ballot substitutes bullet. In essence, it substitutes armed conflicts by discussion and persuasion. Therefore, one must win not by the force of armed forces but by the force of conviction. The word democracy in the Constitution is reinforced by the word Republic meaning that people are the supreme and that there is no privileged class. In a “Republic” it is said that a “Government exists for a limited period or during good behaviour”.
4. The Preamble promises to secure ‘JUSTICE, Social, Economic and Political”. The goal of economic operation should not be to promote accumulation of wealth in less than ten hands. This boils down to the question of equitable distribution of “seats and assets”. This would save the political system from cracking because “the Prime Minister cannot be glorious, or secure if his people are poor, contemptible, or weak”. The BALCO and Petrol Pump judgments of the Supreme Court are pernicious and exploitative judgments that attacked its own Constitutional Benches, Constitution, President and the people. They are “like commanding a man to kill himself”.
5. The words Liberty Liberty China USA USA
6. Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India, was broadminded enough to rescind several decisions of the Cabinet and the CCD based on these letters. However, ignoring the letters, the NDA Government took some arbitrary decisions. Thus, the decisions taken: 1.to sell the PSUs to private parties, 2.to reserve 5% of bank funds to brokers, 3.to finance individuals and companies to buy PSUs, 4.to release foreign exchange against public funds to buy assets and companies abroad, 5.to allow mutual funds to play with foreign exchange that too in the order of US$ one billion, 6.to permit private individuals to distribute petrol pumps and 7.to throw away the shares of the PSUs on the roads of Mumbai were against equality. It must be noted that the above privileges are not granted even to State Governments that take care of millions of people. Thus, less than ten industrialists - leading to economic deprivation and expropriation - daily remove foreign exchange in millions of dollars. A Constitution Bench (AIR 1981 SC487) declared, “Whenever there is arbitrariness in state action whether it be of the legislative or of the executive or of an ‘authority’ under article 12, article 14 immediately springs into action and strikes down such state action”. Obviously, all the above decisions are unconstitutional in nature.
7. The new Government must have annulled all the above arbitrary decisions within 24 hours of assuming office just for equality, fraternity and friendship and above all for unity and integrity of the Nation. However, as if these are not sufficient, Dr. Manmohan Singh -quite arbitrarily - asked the LIC to release Re.9000 crore into the stock market. Then he asked the banks and the LIC to finance chosen people to buy the shares of the TCS at the rate of over Re.800/- per share, the net asset value or the face value of which was Re.1/-! Apparently, he did it under a contractual obligation to enable an industrialist to take public money abroad. Therefore, the letter Nos 19 and 20 dated 5-6-2003 and 8-7-2003 respectively are more applicable to the present Prime Minister of India than to his predecessor. If, however, the above decisions had been taken by the Union Cabinet after due discussion, all right thinking people would think that the Government used the mandate of the people against the mandate of the Constitution.
8. The militant people do not know anything other than their own land. Yet, they act like cannibals. We, in turn kill them ruthlessly. Did the British kill so many Indians in the 50 years preceding independence? Would such cannibalism and counter cannibalism continue if the foreign exchange reserve earned by various states were shared between the states and the Union Government in the ratio, say 75:25? Now, State Governments-unlike the mutual funds- have no foreign exchange reserve of their won to exhibit their competitiveness and industry and for the unity of the Nation. It is said that men can expect liberty from even the absolute Government, (Hobbes calls it Leviathan) “to buy and sell and otherwise contract with one another to choose their own diet and their own trade of life”. No wonder, there would be a twenty-fold increase in the number of export houses and businessmen provided the buying and selling are delegated to the State Government. If it is not feasible of compliance, less than ten industrialists will continue to accumulate wealth in Re thousand of crore by granting petrol pumps/manipulating the stock exchanges/banks and plunder foreign exchange daily in millions of dollars undermining the Constitution to the detriment of 1000 million people.
9. It is heartening to note the Home Minister, immediately after the letter No.41 dated10-10-2004 went to the extent of saying that the Government would accept the blame for any failure in the talks with the militant people. This must be a turning point. However, 41 letters lead to the realization that the killings are nothing but expropriatocide- killing one’s own people for exploitation and expropriation. Therefore, it would be a good sign if expropriation of the people that undermine unity, ceases before any meaningful talks.
10. This is letter No.42. The desire for writing the letters might have originated in the mind of the universe. Otherwise, why did the universe supply knowledge and badly needed reference materials so lavishly and extravagantly? The universe might be conspiring to conceal these letters to enable this common man to achieve his destiny. However, the reluctance of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to publish these letters in all newspapers is the proof of the absence of equality and constitutionalism in India
Vellicode Yours faithfully
(V.SABARIMUTHU)
On the next day, Mr. P.Chithambaram, Finance Minister, addressing a function at Mumbai Stock Exchange, said that each bank must become a powerhouse by itself and the public sector banks would be allowed to buy private banks. He said that a bill to remove the 10% cap on voting rights of shareholders of banks would be reintroduced in the Parliament with the consent of the Left parties. He cautioned the brokers that if they damage the market, they damage themselves and the economy. He wanted them to keep this in mind. When he was asked whether the shares of the Public Sector Banks would be sold as in the case of the NTPC, he said that there was not much headroom available for such sale.
Mr.Manisankar Iyer, Petroleum Minister, met Dr. Manmohan Singh on 30 October 2004- as per newspaper reports- in connection with petrol price hike. After the meeting, he said that he was sidelined in the Cabinet. He added that he had “comprehensively” lost the battle” and he did not figure in the “consciousness” of his own Government.
The CVC on 31 October 2004 at Chennai said that ensuring more transparency and simplicity in Government procedures could check corruption. He said that according to Transparency International (TI) Perception Index, India
Later - in 2010 and 2011 –some audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), particularly that related 2G spectrum allocation and the KG basin of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) did reveal certain acts of corruption and manipulation.
A ten-member team of the Apunba Lup, an apex body of 32 organizations involved in the prolonged agitation against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) met Dr. Manmohan Singh on November 1, 2004 at New Delhi. He readily agreed to review and if necessary replace the AFSPA. He then asked the delegation to meet the Home Minister on the next day. H0e added that he believed that the meeting would add a new chapter to the history of Manipur.
In this connection, it must be noted that their earlier meeting with the Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil, in Impal ended in disaster as they decided to intensify their movement against the Act by taking the agitation to all parts of Manipur.
Dr. Abdul Kalam paid a visit to Pondicharry on 1 November 2004 to address the Assembly in connection with the Golden Jubilee of its independence. Addressing the Assembly, he said that Pondicharry must be converted into another Singapore
Talking to students, Dr. Kalam pledged to abolish corruption to see a strong India. For this he said that that there would be about 25 crore families in India
The VSNL on 1 November 2004 informed its decision to buy Tyco Global Network (TGN), one of the world’s most advanced and extensive submarine cable system, for $130 million (600 crore) subject to the approval of the Government of the US, India and other countries. The statement said that the acquisition was funded through internal accruals. The statement added that the Tata Group had formed a special purpose vehicle for that purpose. Conversion of the money collected through public issues into private assets abroad could be discerned. If all the foreign exchange were available, the industrialists in India would buy the entire world!
On 2 November 2004 , protesting against the decision of Mr. Naveen Patnaik Governmet of Orissa to grant permission to Sterlite Industries to establish an alumina plant at Lanjigarh, the opposition Congress Members of the Assembly charged towards the Chief Minister. In the ensuing scuffle, the leg of the Chief Minister came under his own desk and he was injured.
The Centre on 2 November 2004 said that it was not against talking to anyone in Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir
The focus of the conference of the State Chief Secretaries that held on 2 November 2004 was evolving of a model code of good governance, protection of civil servants for their bonafide decisions and freedom of information for transparency. The theme obviously indicated that the investigating officers were taking some feeble actions against the officers.
Further, the Minister for Personnel Mr. Suresh Paqchauri, in a statement said, “The Government has a sincere concern for ensuring responsive, accountable, transparent, decentralized, corruption-free and citizen friendly administration at all levels. There is increasing anxiety about apathy, irresponsive and lack of accountability in administration. People’s faith in the administration and timely delivery of services has eroded….Further, the Government wanted to give due share to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in public services by filling the backlog of vacancies”.
Dr. Manmohan Singh on 3 November 2004 said that reservation would not be imposed on the private sector. The Prime Minister enjoyed the support of the media in this matter.
On 4 November 2004 , a few newspapers reported that Mr. Suscil Kumar Shinde, the newly appointed Governor of Andra Pradesh would be the next Presidential candidate of the Congress Party. This indicated that the industrialists were disgusted with Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
On 5 November 2004, a five judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice N.Santosh Hegde held that a Governor of a State could independently accord sanction for prosecution of a Minister in prevention of corruption cases “without the aid and advice” of the Council of Ministers. The Court observed that “if on facts and circumstances of a case, the Governor cannot act on his own discretion; there would be a complete breakdown of rule of law inasmuch as it would then be open for Governments to refuse sanction in spite of overwhelming material showing that prima facie case is made out”. The Bench included Justice S.N.Variava, Justice B.P.Singh, Justice H.K.Sema and Justice S.B.Sinha. This judgment was the repercussion of 42 letters of this writer. This judgement could be construed as the reward for the 42 letters.
Again on 5 November 2004, another five judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice N.Santosh Hegde held that micro classification of Scheduled Castes into subgroups and fixing different percentage of reservation for them within the overall Scheduled Caste quota was unconstitutional. The other judges were Justice S.N.Variava, Justice B.P.Singh, Justice H.K.Sema and Justice S.B.Sinha.
It must be noted that both the above judgments were delivered on the same day by the same learned judges and the public were not aware of the existence of these cases.
The High Court, Delhi on 5 November 2004 directed RIL to pay by Monday the 8 th November 2004 Re.40 crore to the BSNL for illegal routing of international calls.
Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, on 5 November 2004 categorically denied that she was the real power center behind the Prime Minister. Further, she said that the Companies should not bother about the stability of the Government.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam addressed the decennial concluding function of National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) of Indian Colleges at Bangalore on 5 November 2004. On that occasion he said, “Education transforms human beings into a noble soul and an asset to the Universe. The colleges should produce learners who will have capacity to both respect authority at the same time capable of questioning authority in an appropriate manner. These are the leaders who transform any nation into a developed nation in a time bound manners. He said, “the mission of the NAAC is to ensure that the higher education system is fully tuned towards creation of enlightened citizen who in turn will transform India India
On 6 November 2004, Sonia Gandhi said that India had a bright future because the younger generations were bold and open-minded. Further, she said that they had a goal”.
As soon as Dr. Manmohan Singh returned from the Indo-European Summit at The Hague, the Home Minister submitted his assessment about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the result of his interactions with various sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the meantime, Dr. Singh announced troops reduction in Jammu and Kashmir. There were over 5,00,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir
Mr. L.K.Advani criticized the dialogue between the militant people and the Home Minister. He described that the decision of the Government to start a dialogue with them in Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Andra Pradesh as not a well thought out one. He warned that the Congress Party was putting in jeopardy the internal security of the country.
When the newsmen asked about the statement the Prime Minister on 10 November 2004 said, “They are our own people and if we do not talk, how will peace return? The Communist Party waged an armed struggle in Telengana in 1948 and today they are major part of the country’s political set up. So we will deal with this situation too. My Government would talk to anyone who was ready to talk”. It was the first time; the wavelength of the news media and the Government was opposed. Further, the words of the Prime Minister were consistent with the letters of this writer.
Dr.Kalam on 10 November 2004 asked the banks to devise ways to utilize the foreign exchange reserves in high yielding enterprises.
Pakistan and all sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir welcomed the decision of the Government of India to demilitarize Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq described this as a giant step towards searching a solution to Kashmir issue. He wanted the Government to withdraw the Armed Special Forces Power Act and improve the human rights report card in the State. He said that the two rounds of talks with the NDA Government collapsed after the UPA took over at the Centre. He further said, “If New Delhi wants the Kashmir talks to move forward, they should withdraw the extraordinary powers vested to the armed forces. It should also check on the human rights violations. Gen. Musharraf too is very keen to find an amicable solution on Kashmir ”.
On 13 November 2004, a Mr. Ila Patnaik of The New Indian Express wrote an article titled “Public Sector Capitalism” in the paper in its center page. He said that the consumers paid astronomical prices as long as the VSNL belonged to the public sector. He said only politicians prevented the growth of aviation sector. The article was a repetition of the old stories.
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