New Delhi: Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has lashed out at the Congress saying it was "subverting democracy by stalling Parliament, resorting to drama to gain people's sympathy", but "Rahul Gandhi's ambition of becoming PM will prove to be 'Mungerilal ke haseen sapne' (pipedream)".
Replying to questions relating to National Herald case, CBI raids against P. Chidambaram's son and Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh in Rajat Sharma's show Aap Ki Adalat (to be telecast on India TV tonight), Gadkari said: "CBI is conducting probe even against our own governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. I know Shivraj ji (MP CM) is innocent, but did we not order CBI inquiry into Vyapam scam? Has not Supreme Court expressed satisfaction over the progress of CBI probe? So how can you say that we are vindictive? Acutally Congress wants to garner people's sympathy by raising such issues, so that it can win elections and Rahul Gandhi can become PM, but these are Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne, this is not going to happen."
On the National Herald case, Gadkari said, the government had nothing to do with it. "The Congress party collected funds from people which was exempt from Income Tax, and then transferred Rs 90 crore to a trust, which gave this money to a company, in which Soniaji and Rahul have 36-36 per cent ownership and Oscar Fernandes and Motilal Vora are directors. How can you call it justice if you hand over public funds to buy National Herald's Rs 2000 crore property and hand it over to a company? Is this transaction justified?..This is a judicial matter. There is no government interference. Government has nothing to do with this case."
On Rahul Gandhi's charge that the government is trying to browbeat Congress, Gadkari said. "Even the Congress leaders do not take Rahul's allegation seriously. When Manmohan Singh was PM, Rahul tore up a document. He loses patience when he is angry. I can only say, he is a child, if he makes a mistake, people should forgive him."
Gadkari described petitioner Dr Subramanian Swamy as "a one-man crusader". "Swamy ji may have made many mistakes but one qualification he has: he is not afraid of anybody, he always speaks out his mind. It is true he is a one-man crusader who raised his voice against corruption by Congress, but not at the instance of any BJP leader. He started his fight long before he joined our party."
Describing Congress as "a drama company", Gadkari said: "There are two theories - First is to convince, and when it fails, then confuse. Congress party, Sonia and Rahul ji are trying to mislead the people by creating confusion to say that Modi ji is vindictive and is harassing them. This is a drama to garner people's sympathy. Congress party is a drama company doing 'tamasha'. The dispute is between judiciary, High Court judge and Congress, and our party or govt, nor PMO or Modiji have anything to do with this."
On Congress stalling Parliament business, the Union Minister said: "It was Pandit Nehru who gave us parliamentary democracy. But Rahulji, in the presence of Sonia ji, is subverting democracy. Every day there is some tamasha, they are not allowing Parliament to work. Congress leaders are insulting democracy for their personal interests. But let me tell you, the people of India may be simple minded, but not fools. People of India can see through their dramas. People of India will never accept such dubious methods."
Gadkari said, if the Congress continued to stall Parliament, he would request Parliamentary Affairs Minister to "throw out Congress members from the House, so that BJP with other small parties can do Parliament work. We will get bills passed, But if we do that, they will brand us as intolerant, conspiratorial, authoritarian and Hitlerite. If we act soft towards them, they take undue advantage of our softness. ..So they are having both ways. This is Congress drama."
On CBI raids against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary, Gadkari said, the Prime Minister himself told him that he has not issued any order to interefere in CBI work in the last one year. "We are 'dabang' leaders, Modiji is also just like me. Had we done this, we would have definitely said so,. I myself spoke to Modi ji. He told me, for the last one year, I have not issued any direction to CBI in any case. I have only told CBI to do its own legal work."
On Kejriwal's charge that CBI had gone to the CM's office in search of DDCA inquiry file, Gadkari replied: "CBI raided 14 places. It is really ridiculous for Kejriwal to say that CBI had gone there in search of DDCA file. There is no DDCA case with CBI, and CBI has nothing to do with DDCA. Like Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal also makes childish allegations. It seems it has a become a democracy of children."
Gadkari described the Dadri lynching incident as "unfortunate", but pointed out that it was wrong to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Dadri, Kalburgi, Pansare and Dabholkar murders. He said, all these incidents took place where non-BJP governments are or were in power.
Asked why the Prime Minister did not comment on Dadri incident, Gadkari said, it is not necessary for the PM to speak on each and every incident. "You check out history. Never in the past did the PM speak on each and every incident. Our senior minister Arun Jaitley, Rajnath ji and myself did react saying it was unfortunate and our party had nothing to do with those who committed these crimes."
When it was pointed out that the PM even failed to tweet on Dadri incident, Gadkari said:"The Prime Minister has his dignity. The PM occasionally reacts or does not react. But to infer that by not tweeting, he was supporting the incident, is it justified?" When I spoke to the PM, he expressed his pain and sadness, and later he commented too."
The Union Minister said, BJP does not subscribe to statements made by some of its leaders on the issue of beef or sending people to Pakistan. "BJP is a democratic party. The party has, from time to time, clarified that it does not agree with statements made by some of its leaders. Even the Congress had disowned statements made by its leaders Digvijay Singh and Manishankar Aiyar. There is a Sadhvi, who does not belong to either BJP, RSS or VHP, but whose statements are being portrayed as if she belongs to our party. Our president has taken a strong view against all such irresponsible statements."
On the 'award wapsi' issue, Gadkari said: "When many innocent people were killed after the Mumbai serial blasts, how many people returned their awards? Today no such big incident took place, then why did they return their awards?."
Gadkari pointed out that when a brave Delhi police inspector was martyred in Batla House encounter, leaders had gone to the families of terrorists to express sympathy, but did not go and meet the family of the martyred officer.
"What type of tolerance was this? Should there be appeasement of terrorists in the name of secularism? Should there be glorification of terrorists in the name of secularism? Should we insult the memory of police officer who laid down his life for the country? Under no circumstances should there be politicization of such incidents. Whatever happened in Dadri was wrong, what happened in Karnataka was wrong. All-inclusiveness and tolerance is the bedrock of Indian culture."
(Aap Ki Adalat with Nitin Gadkari will be telecast tonight at 10 pm on India TV. The repeat telecast will take place tomorrow Sunday December 20 at 10 am and 10 pm)
