May 27, 2014
As a citizen of the country, he raised questions on corruption, prices and communal harmony
Former Union Minister, lawyer and anti-corruption activist Shanti Bhushan
May 27, 2014
As a citizen of the country, he raised questions on corruption, prices and communal harmony
Former Union Minister, lawyer and anti-corruption activist Shanti Bhushan
NEW DELHI: The former Union Minister, lawyer and anti-corruption activist Shanti Bhushan has sought to know whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will assure the people that if credible evidence of corruption surfaces against any of his ministers, he will take steps to drop them.
Posing 10 questions “as a citizen of India”, Mr. Bhushan wanted to know when Mr. Modi proposed to launch proceedings against Robert Vadra as during his campaign he had repeatedly referred to the alleged land scams to which Congress president Sonia’s Gandhi’s son-in-law had been linked.
Mr. Bhushan urged the Prime Minister to spell out a time frame within which he expected prices to start falling.
Gas prices: He wanted to know whether Mr. Modi would resist the demand of Reliance Industries Ltd. for a stiff increase in gas price since it would lead to an increase in prices all around. Mr. Bhushan urged the Prime Minister to take note of the fact that the Supreme Court had laid down in 2010 that notwithstanding any stipulation in any agreement, the government was under the constitutional duty to fix the price of gas, a natural resource of the people, only in the interest of the people and not in the interest of any private individual or country.
Pointing out that that there was not even a single Muslim among the 282 BJP MPs, Mr. Bhushan wanted to know whether Mr. Modi would elect Muslims in significant number to the Rajya Sabha as he had during his campaign attempted to reach out to Muslims.
“Since the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya is linked with the illegal forcible demolition of Babri Masjid and since construction of a Ram temple has been included in BJP’s election manifesto, would Mr. Modi assure the countrymen that no temple would be constructed in Ayodhya without obtaining the broad consent of the Muslim community?” he asked.
Mr. Bhushan wanted to know whether Mr. Modi would set up special fast-track courts to try criminal cases against sitting legislators as a large number of elected MPs had serious criminal cases pending against them.
As the proceedings in Parliament were frequently disturbed when the BJP was in the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Bhushan asked whether Mr. Modi had any plans to tackle such disruptions by the Congress, now in the Opposition.
Pointing to media reports that Mr. Modi’s campaign had cost the BJP several thousand crores of rupees, Mr. Bhushan asked the Prime Minister to reveal the exact amount spent by the party and the sources from which these amounts were collected.
“Since Narendra Modi cleverly and effectively projected his backward caste status as Modh-Ghanchi while campaigning in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, does he propose to take steps to prevent a candidate from exploiting his backward caste status,” Mr. Bhushan asked.
Courtesy: Hindu
