Quid pro quo in Sohrabuddin case and nuclear liability bill deal with BJP

When the news came on August 18, 2010 that the CBI has given clean chit to Narendra Modi in Sohrabuddin case many of us were filled with a degree of dismay. How could the CBI officer claim under the cloak of anonymity that as home minister Modi had the constitutional power to transfer police officers! The whole case revolves round not his constitutional right but the context of the ongoing official inquiry going on for more than three years in the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin. His role in the transfer of the police officers is tied to precisely the revealing findings of the case involving his top police officers and his own MoS (Home)Amit Shah! His transfer orders and noting on the files make him culpable.

The most glaring example in the context is that when Geetha Johari was conducting inquiry she found out that Tulsiram Prajapati was with Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser as they travelled from Hyderabad to Sangli. Therefore she felt necessary to question Prajapati. A day before the scheduled inquiry Prajapati was killed in fake encounter. That was in 2005. Was the fact of the killing of Prajapati lost on the Home Minister of Gujarat when the Gujarat government had already admitted in court that Sohrabuddin was killed in fake encounter and Johari was going to interrogate Sohabudden’s friend and eye witness, Prajapati? Nay, even after five years the Home Minister was getting high ranking officers transferred so quickly to save his MoS(Home). The frequency of transfer is in tandem with the developmental stages in the inquiry of the fake encounters. It was not cat’s cradle that Modi was playing nor was he fiddling a la Nero.

But Modi is such a demagogue that he would still like to play politics here as his BJP is wont to do. The behind-the-curtain deal into the BJP support for Nuclear liability bill stinks like a festering wound on the body politics caused by hunting with the hound and playing with the hare maneuvers! It is the night mare of politics that there is alteration between Congress and the Hindu BJP. Hence Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others like them to come in to confront the “rooster” who is acting as cock-of-the-walk in national politics while his “chick” is ensconced in judicial custody.

Most noteworthy is the fact that in 2007 Modi had used Sohrabuddin case and canvassed for his party fighting election. He was dubbed as maut ka saudager precisely because of his involvement of the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin . Huge amount of cash had exchanged hands over the deal to finish Sohrabuddin. Therefore he was called a merchant who arranged fake encounters. He has smarted under the accusation since then. Can the CBI let him off now?

Indian democracy has a switch-back. If it is Congress government in power it walks a tight rope. If it is BJP it is unabashedly a Hindu party with plethora of sophistry. But for the sake of number it needs other parties and goes to the extent of placating in its own way partners like Nitish Kumar. The other parties have to side with the issues affecting the minorities for their own survival. Therefore it is difficult if the ordinary citizens of the country have much choice in judging such matters as what is happening in Gujarat. How much ice does it cut in Gujarat itself that Modi’s defense lawyer KTS Tulsi had refused to defend him because he was justifying the murder of Sohrabuddin and had told the Chief Minister so: “Modi’s statement has created an awkward situation. It is not proper for me to argue for the state in the case, unless the Chief Minister takes his statement back. I can’t defend the state government, whose Chief Minister justifies one of the most heinous crimes and its policemen go on killing citizens in cold blood.” That was December 2007. Two and half years later Modi is the same brazen and cocksure. Where is the enlightened citizenry of Gujarat? In the birth place of Gandhiji why is the dearth of morality so much severe? If Jethmalani says that CBI is trying to dislodge Modi, with Tulsi now arguing for CBI what can one say?