 |
||
|
||
|
||
IN a Caveat a few days ago, I had warned Buddhadev Bhattacharya not to silently suffer the burdens so wantonly thrust upon him - designed to discredit him as being unfit for the job, to being unable even to protect people in his own constituency, in order to prepare the ground for a call to Jyoti Basu to return to the wild applause of acolytes like Subhas Chakraborty and those nearer home like family and Advocate-General. They had benefited while the going was good. Test the proposition by comparison with what has happened in the short time Basu has been out of office. The Eastern Biscuit Co (Pvt) Ltd is a Chandan Basu enterprise. In 1989, with the Advocate-General appearing for him, the entire record of a case filed by the Excise authorities seeking to recover a huge amount of duty, including an Order passed on 21 September 1989, by the highly respected former Chief Justice, His Lordship, Mr Justice P D Desai, sitting with Mr Justice Shyamal Sen, was abstracted from the custody of their Lordships before the Order could be signed. A writ petition in public interest has failed to trace the file. The relevant question is who stands to benefit by the disappearance of an entire file from a court of record? A bench headed by Chief Justice A K Mathur has ordered that the file be reconstructed, a mild and inadequate response. A sense of outrage that such an unprecedented event can take place in a High Court of Justice is sadly lacking. I am not yet ready to tell what I know; the High Court (coram, Mathur, CJ and Mitra, J) have given leave to bring the matter to court again if so advised and it is for the petitioner to decide his next move. As far as I am able to judge, the whole Bar holds Chief Justice Desai in the highest respect and holds that there must have been an explanation for the unprecedented action in refusing to sign an order passed in open court - this much has been established thanks to the diligence of the petitioner, himself an advocate. The feeling is that something happened that caused Chief Justice Desai to feel outraged. And people want to know what this could have been. You were in the case, Mr Advocate-General. Have you any idea what this could have been? Can you try and cast your mind back?
HARD on the heels of this discomfiture comes to light another case where Chandan Basu, in league with his friends, the Todis, sets up a fisheries operation, borrows over Rs 2 crore from the State Bank of India and when asked to repay the loan takes the initiative by filing proceedings in court to urge that repayment is impossible and seeking appropriate orders. The argument is that fisheries in Digha are prohibited; the purpose for which the loan was sought is rendered infructuous and therefore the bank cannot get its money back, never mind the personal guarantees given by the directors including Chandan Basu. An ingenuous argument and founded upon the unacceptable premise that some borrowers are more equal than others! The first relief sought is that the total demand of Rs 2.12 crore be declared illegal, null and void, with corresponding reliefs. It will be interesting to see what the court has to say when the matter comes up for hearing again. Protecting son Chandan seems to have become a major objective of the former Chief Minister; the Advocate-General's expertise may have been indispensable. It is even said that before he left office, Jyoti Basu extracted a promise from his successor, who was fool enough to give it, that Nara Narayan Gooptu would be retained as Advocate-General. If the CPI-M are not in a position to form the government after the elections, this is one way Buddhadev can save himself embarrassment. If he persists in refusing to be his own man, he may have no choice but to fall back upon such wishful thinking!
I HAD also drawn attention to Jyoti Basu's complicity in the design to force Buddhadev to leave and jump into the saddle again; witness his determination to stay in the public eye, his frequent visits to Alimuddin Street, just as frequent Press conferences there and at the residence, and even when he has nothing to say, retaining his Z-category status, his absurdly long convoy of vehicles, his guards of honour at district headquarters as he rushes about the state in deadly earnest, paeans of praise sung by acolytes on cue, all careful preparation for the draft to return. Jyoti Basu has chosen to answer just two of the points made. As for honour guards, the former Chief Minister with barely 24 years' experience, says he was mislead by police officials who told him he was entitled to them because he had Z-category status. I had questioned the Z-category status. Here is a classic case of begging the question. Never the man to admit a mistake, Basu insists he will refer the whole question to the President of India. As for laying foundation stones and inaugurating all manner of functions in the Chief Minister's place, he confesses that he likes the feel of it, adding that some engagements were made before he left office. Here is hope that in the not-too-distant future this part of his incongruous activities will cease. As for the first point, the President cannot be expected to be bothered. If Jyoti Basu wants to continue to play his little games and his party is content to indulge him and necessarily pays for the luxury, there can be no objection from any quarter. Past experience suggests, however, that the moment the party is asked to pay, there will be howls that the Union Government are unsympathetic, witness the refusal to pay the more than Rs 1,000 crore demanded for flood relief and without which party cadres cannot be content. Besides, Jyoti Basu forgets that His Excellency, Rashtrapati K R Narayanan is Head of State not head of the country's protocol department, responsible for keeping ambitious former Chief Ministers from excesses.
I AM getting a little tired of repeating that Buddhadev should be his own man. Not only is this the right and proper thing to do, it is also the only way for the Chief Minister to establish himself. If however, Buddhadev allows the conspirators their head, he will not be able to say that I did not warn him.
Basu finally left office
on 6 November - the day his successor was sworn in. The same day
he caused the Home (Political) Department, over which he had presided,
to procure a summons on a complaint of criminal defamation filed against
me on his behalf over an editorial - Unending Violence - under the provisions
of the CrPC which apply only to public servants. On the day the summons
was issued Jyoti Basu was not a public servant. Also such a complaint
by proxy can only be filed with the specific written consent of His Excellency,
the Governor of the State who has to pass a speaking order; it cannot be
recited mechanically by the Principal Secretary to Jyoti Basu's own department.
Earlier, the former Chief Minister's lawyer had sent me a notice seeking
a personal apology, to which I had replied. I shared this with you.
When the matter is heard, the gruesome murder of 17 Ananda Margis in broad
daylight by CPI-M goons in 1982, justifying the deed by describing them
as child lifters, alarming Mother Teresa and Ramakrishna Mission monks
in the process, then quickly eating their words and advertising in newspapers
that no case of child-lifting had, in fact been registered, the hate campaign
against Ananda Margis by the CPI-M, including Jyoti Basu personally, allowing
the accused to go scot free on the ground that witnesses were not forthcoming,
these admitted facts are referred to - while the same investigators who
were used to let off the accused pleading lack of witnesses are being cited
as witnesses in the complaint and who are liable to cross-examination.
All this will involve recall of CPI-M violence and revive memories in public
of those dark days. The present Chief Minister will have to consider
how this suits the CPI-M on the eve of the elections. I for one will
not be able to say any more as the matter may become sub judice except
for reports of court proceedings. A bonanza for Mamata and the Trinamul.
And they have to thank Jyoti Basu for it.
|
||
|
||
|
||