Position Paper 3

Context: This was the first paper that my brother wrote for the conference that was referenced in papers 2 & 5. 

[Name: Shivraj Singh Chouhan 

Political Party: Bharatiya Janata 

Committee: All India Political Parties Meet

Party Position: Cabinet Minister 

State of Governance: Madhya Pradesh 

Alliance: The National Democratic Alliance 

Agenda: Evaluating the Misuse of Central Investigative Agencies for Disruptive Purposes]

'“There can be no compromise regarding corruption” – Atal Bihari Vajpayee

In this era, we see the rise of many tensions in the societies we live, work and interact. But sometimes, we witness a specimen of tensions that seem to increase exponentially, one of the most controversial being centred around the misuse of investigative agencies for disruptive purposes. With the advent of these tensions, I am here to state my stance, expose the problem, and propose unique solutions to resolve these tensions.

 

Let me define this agenda clearly. This issue can be trifurcated into 3 sections:

 

·       a) The Current Government’s Use of Investigative Organizations for Arresting Opposition Leaders: 

The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal has made us all consider our stance on this topic, with various vloggers giving their views on this topic on various social media outlets, saying that the current government is behaving like a dictatorship. We respond to these allegations by saying that they are false, and that we don’t have any involvement in his arrest. We trust the ED as a reliable organization, and it is Arvind Kejriwal’s fault that he was involved in money-laundering and the liquor scam just before the elections. It was his fault that he skipped numerous hearings by the court. We do not attest any of the other arrests due to this scam to our resentment against the AAP.

 

·       b) The Freezing of the INC bank accounts:

This is another tension that has repeatedly been brought up in the BJP – INC conflicts. All of these allocations are completely politically polarized. Also, along with the last false accusation just discussed, this is a false accusation too. It is a job that has not been executed by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Moreover, we will not wash our hands on this area of tension as our hands have not become dirty in it in the first place. The main reason why the bank accounts were frozen was mainly because whatever income or donations they make comes along with a tax. The Congress was skipped the tax repayment deadline in 2017, the extended tax deadline in 2019, and the penalty that comes with the delay. The culmination of all of these factors lead to the freezing of the Congress’ bank accounts.

 

·       c) The Controversial Election Commission Appointments:

      It is a completely normal thing for a government officer to resign from his job, whether it be 3 months before elections or not. The decision committee has decided, wisely, to select Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu as members of the Election Commission. The connection between Amit Shah and Sukhbir Sandhu should not be a ground for judging that the decision committee for the Election Commission members was biased in the least. This is another political tactic that the Opposition tries to use to rise up controversy on the Election Commission and the Current Government. Discussing about the particularity of ED’s candidates for investigation, we have one thing to say. It is the complete fault of the ED to be particular in these candidates for investigation. The number of people investigated from the Opposition and the number of people investigated from the Current Government depends on the ED itself.

 

After defining my stance on this agenda, I would like to give a few solutions that I seek to be included in a proposed Amendment to the Constitution, to be brought before this AIPPM:

·       1) Increase the Transparency in these Investigative Agencies: There is the problem with the CBI, the ED, and the NIA today i.e., their transparency. We believe that constantly checking out on these investigative organizations by introducing investigative journalists in the scene would drastically improve the transparency of these Investigative Agencies.

·       2) Reducing the Time Currently Taken to Investigate a Certain Case: Long delays and prolonged investigations can be used as a harassment tool for the various people involved in a certain. Reducing the time taken for a certain case would be helpful in stopping it from being a trouble for the people involved in the case. This can be done by making the maximum delay for a case being 6 months after the allotted time proposed for a certain case.

 

In conclusion, I as Shivraj Singh Chouhan stating that we will face skirmishes and a whole lot of backlashes on the way to transparency in Bharat, but we will get to it together, by reforming our political system, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the whole of Bharat.

 

Bibliography:

 

1)    The Arrest of Arvind Kejriwal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUS-MPGp7Ps

2)    The Reason Why the Congress Bank Accounts Froze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2gnDuG6vI0

3)    The Congress’ View on the Freezing of Congress’ Bank Accounts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOK4dnCy4H4&t=55s'