Why Modi is scared of taking action against the Gandhis
For the BJP, politics seems to have taken precedence over corruption. The party does not appear to be interested in taking any concrete action against the Congress president Sonia Gandhi's flamboyant son-in-law Robert Vadra, even though his name crops up on regular intervals in various cases of alleged wrongdoings.
In fact, the BJP will go slow even in cases where allegations of corruption have been levelled against Sonia herself and her son Rahul Gandhi, as in the National Herald cheating case or the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. Despite Sonia and Rahul daring the BJP to initiate action, no case has yet been made against Vadra because the Centre does not want to make a martyr out of the Congress' first family and dig their own grave.
Imprisonment of Vadra would be the last thing which the BJP would like to happen. Once bitten is twice shy. The BJP does not want to repeat the blunder committed by the then Janata Party government between 1977 and 1980.
When general elections were called during Emergency in 1977, the Congress, led by Sonia's mother-in-law and the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, lost it, winning just 154 of the 543 seats. Subsequently, the Morarji Desai government had her jailed, along with son Sanjay Gandhi, on corruption charges. However, it came to be seen as a vindictive move by the ruling party against Indira. As a result, in the 1980 general elections, Indira came back to power with a thumping majority. The Congress won a whopping 353 seats.
The BJP realises that the same situation would arise if any of the three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family - Sonia, Rahul or Vadra - is jailed. As is the Indian mentality, their imprisonment would earn them sympathy even if it is just law genuinely taking its own course.
Sonia, Rahul and Vadra are unperturbed with the prospect of going to jail because they are also well aware of the voters' psyche. Which is why they keep daring the BJP to take action against them. While responding to allegations that Vadra had links with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and owns a property in London, Sonia said they were all a part of a conspiracy for achieving Congress-mukt Bharat and demanded a "fair inquiry" to be conducted into them.
Indira's imprisonment and then coming back to power again works as an inspiration for Sonia and Rahul. The Congress president invoked her mother-in-law about ten days before she and her son were to appear before the court in the National Herald case in December 2015. "I was asked in the morning by your colleague if I was afraid. I replied that I am the daughter-in-law of Mrs Indira Gandhi and I am not afraid of anybody or anything," she had said.
On Indira Gandhi's 98th birth anniversary on November 19, 2015, Rahul went on to take the 56-inch jibe at Modi and throw a challenge. "I want to say this Modiji, it's your government, you have all the agencies. Set them after me. Show your 56-inch chest. Launch an investigation against me and if you find anything in six months put me in jail," the Congress vice-president said.
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| A poster with pictures of Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadra(!) and Rahul Gandhi at a rally in New Delhi in May 2015. |
Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh too had challenged the BJP to launch a probe against Vadra. "If Vadra has violated any laws, why does not the BJP take actions against him? (They are trying to) Just indulge in gimmicks (hawabazi) to defame him. It is the ill intention of BJP to defame the family of Sonia and Indira," he had said.
Hence, a tug of war is being fought between the BJP and the Congress over allegations on the Nehru-Gandhi family. It is only senior party leader Subramanian Swamy who has dragged Sonia and Rahul to court on a personal level. Otherwise, it suits the BJP that only allegations against the family surfaces from time to time, defaming it everytime. Not taking any action on the allegations against them or going slow helps the ruling party.
The BJP is in power in Haryana and Rajasthan - the two states where Vadra is allegedly involved in dubious land deals - for about two years. Despite this, and surprisingly, not even a single FIR has been registered against him. The BJP-led NDA is also ruling the Centre for over two years but none of the central agencies like the the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income-Tax department, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, CBI or CVC has taken cognisance of the allegations.
As the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had justified raising the controversial land deals of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and the "millions he made in a short time". He had declared that if the BJP won the elections, his government would allow the law to take its own course. But law is far from catching up with Vadra.
Besides, during the peak campaigning, Union water resources minister, Uma Bharati, had gone to the extent of declaring that Vadra was involved in "several falsehoods" and after the election if BJP comes to power, he would surely be jailed.
Had the BJP been serious, its governments in Haryana and Rajasthan would have registered FIRs in their respective states much earlier. Moreover, senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who had exposed the Vadra-DLF land deal, would not have been harassed even by the ML Khattar government in Haryana. He would have been given a free hand in the revenue department.
And this is worrying the Congress, and particularly its top family. The BJP's dragging of the issues may force one to ask whether - (a) someone in the BJP is shielding Vadra, or (b) no case can be made out against him, or (c) the ruling party is waiting for some opportune moment. These may have some merit but the most important reason remains that the BJP does not wish to commit a harakiri again and give the Congress a lease of life by taking a swift action. No acting in haste and repenting in leisure - this is the BJP's mantra vis-a-vis the Gandhi family.