EDITORIAL OPIATE TATHAGATA SATPATHY
The Narendra Damodardass Modi government has landed in a soup over the backing it extended to a fugitive like Lalit Modi, former IPL boss who left a unpalatable shadow in his trail. Considering his background, there is no justification whatsoever on the part of the Modi government to go out of its way and give the nod to the UK government to grant him permission to travel abroad.
Lalit Modi is a ‘wanted’ man in India, having been accused of financial misappropriation and money laundering to the order of Rs 700 crore plus in the IPL scandal. He has escaped the arms of the Indian law and is living comfortably in London, using his personal influence in defiance of an extradition plea from the previous Indian government to UK. With no regard to all these past imperfect, External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has, in her own admission, let it be known to the UK government that India would have no objection if a travel permit was issued to Lalit Modi. He had sought travel nod to go to Portugal on the ground he wanted to be with his wife for treatment of cancer. The minister’s argument that she did so on humanitarian ground does not hold water. Law of the land transgresses humanitarian or humane feelings. Law is above individual whims. Modi, the cricket type, obviously went on a great vacation to Ibiza and Istanbul, as has been exposed by netizens who brought out his self-posted pictures from Instagram.
The fact that BJP chief Amit Shah is among those who have come to the rescue of the minister shows there is a bigger plot involved in the nod given to UK for the former IPL boss’ travel. The Opposition has stressed that the onus for what happened should be shared by Prime Minister Narendra Damodardass Modi, his government and the BJP as well. The plot, it seems, is thickening. In special, Sushma Swaraj’s family has come under a cloud. Her daughter, Bansuri Swaraj, a lawyer, is believed to have pleaded Lalit Modi’s case with the mother; Sushma’s husband Swaraj Kaushal is alleged to have taken favours from
the fugitive in the UK in 2013, to secure admission for a relative in a British university, hinting at another sinister link. The lengthening shadow of suspicion is reaching up to the RSS & BJP as well, as the man is believed to have maintained close connections with some top BJP leaders.
When someone who is believed to have stashed huge sums and is unlawfully and defiantly positioning himself abroad is getting this kind of help, questions naturally arise about the sincerity of the Modi government to get back the hefty stocks of black money pilfered and stored by Indians in foreign banks. His election promise is obviously blowing in the winds. Lalit Modi’s is an absolute and open and shut case of defying the law of the land.
The Aam Aadmi Party has raised a vital question in this connection. By the same token, it has asked, would the Indian government also extend its help to former Bombay underworld don Dawood Ibrahim who is also an Indian citizen running from the law of this nation.
No one should be above the law. That includes not just fugitives but ministers and the government as well. The Narendra Damodardass Modi government will have a lot of explaining to do for the out-of-the-way help it sought to extend to Lalit Modi. While it was the inept handing of the Lalit Modi issue by the former UPA government that covered up his tracks, the present government extending its helping hand to Lalit Modi shows India is being treated as scum by its own elected government.
This has set a very wrong precedent, and national sensitivity is seriously hurt. This is not simply a case of just another Modi.