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'