The arrest of Gujarat home minister Amit Shah amongst all the drama in Ahmedabad which was been played out of New Delhi leaves everyone with a curious question- Is CBI the ultimate weapon to settle political rivalry or score political points?
Yes, Amit Shah’s name has been doing the rounds in the Soharabuddin controversy for sometime now and it was not the Congress but the Supreme Court that directed the CBI to reopen the case. It’s tough to say at this stage whether Shah is actually guilty or has been framed by the Congress as alleged by the BJP. The final authority on this would be the court which means, we will have to wait a little longer for the real story to emerge.
Hypothetically, if the court does find Shah guilty on all the charges that have been levied against him then it will no doubt give the victim’s family a sense of closure and will also underline the fact that justice might be delayed but is not always denied if investigated in an honest & unbiased fashion even if it involves politicians & businessmen. CBI will have to be appreciated for its thorough investigation. But the paradox of this kind of an outcome is that it will reinforce the notion- that CBI is a political weapon used to settle political scores.
If we take up a few cases involving high profile politicians that have been investigated by the CBI then it paints a sorry picture of the investigating agency. The Jagdish Tytler case in which the CBI gave him a clean chit last year saw a huge outcry from the Sikh community which compelled the Congress party to not issue the party ticket to him just before the Lok Sabha election last year. The case was reopened and last week the CBI has yet again given a clean chit to Tytler. The CBI said in the court that it did not have any evidence to prosecute Tytler. The CBI has made some progress against another Congress leader- Sajjan Kumar, who is also accused in the 84 riots.
Outside the Congress fold there are at least three big cases that are been investigated by the CBI. The Mulayam Singh disproportionate assets case has been under investigation for sometime now but there hasn’t been any progress. There have been allegations made by senior legal counsels against the government for directing them to go slow on the case. Similarly the Mayawati illegal wealth case has seen been on the slow track. So why can’t the CBI expedite the process in these cases? The main factor behind that is the direction from the government to the CBI to go slow on these cases. Even though both Mulayam & Mayawti are just lending outside support to the government and have in fact joined hands with the BJP on issues like the price rise but when it comes to critical issues like the ‘nuclear deal vote’ in 2008 & the ‘cut motion’ the Congress has used these court cases to bargain for their tacit support. Mulayam & Mayawati did not vote against the government when it came to these key issues. Now is that just a mere co-incidence or points to a larger game? The acquittal of Ottavio Quattrocchi in Bofors scandal has further raised questions on the credibility of the CBI to investigate cases without any bias.
But it’s not only the Congress that has used the CBI, even the BJP during the NDA tenure ensured that it used the investigating agency for its benefit. The NDA governments virtually put on hold investigation against BJP patriarch LK Advani in the Babri demolition case. Even the Congress is not too keen to resurrect the Babri demolition issue. This became increasingly clear after the Liberhan commission report was hushed up last year. The Congress fears that by prosecuting BJP leaders in the Babri demolition case it might give the BJP a new lease of life and it may actually work to BJP's advantage. The Congress does not want to take that risk, especially now when the BJP is on the backfoot.
These high profile political cases clearly highlight that political parties have been using the CBI to their benefit. But the CBI has been the biggest victim as this appraoch has undermined its credibility even though it is on par with world class investigating agencies like the CIA & FBI.
Since the Congress led UPA is in power, the Congress should initiate the process of making CBI an autonomous body on the lines of the Election commission and the Lok Ayukta. This will not only help the CBI break shackles when it comes to unbiased investigation but also give Congress the high moral ground. But this is something which the political fraternity will oppose as that would change the dynamics of the political games that are played out over and over again.
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