| Friends,
During the last few days, two serious allegations have been made against eminent advocates Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan.
The first allegation is that they have purchased a big piece of land worth Rs. 20 crore from Harimohan Das Tandon for a paltry sum of Rs. 1 lakh and they have paid only Rs. 45,000 of stamp duty against the requisite Stamp duty of Rs. 1.33 crore.
The second allegation is about a CD which is claimed to have conversation between Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh and Shanti Bhushan. I have also heard this CD which has Shanti Bhushan presumably asking Mulayam Singh a sum of Rs. four crore for his son Prashant Bhushan in the name of giving money to a Judge for a PIL.
I don't know whether these accusations are true or false nor do I want to make a personal comment on this. I have read eminent journalist Vineet Narain making straight accusations against Shanti Bhushan and his son with reference to Jain Hawala case. I have also read about the PIL filed by Supreme Court lawyer M L Sharma who has called the Drafting Committee of Lokpal Bill as unconstitutional and illegal. Since I don't have any personal knowledge of these facts about Bhushans, I just can't give a personal opinion. But, yes, I do feel bad about the way the so-called Greats of the "Civil Society" have reacted to these allegations. While all these civil society celebrities are very active when accusations come against other people, but when it is one of them then they are all keeping mum. And this is what I find particularly improper. Be it Kiran Bedi or Arvind Kejariwal or Aruna Roy or Swami Agniwesh, none of them are coming forth and saying that these accusations of serious nature shall immediately be enquired into.
What is more, even Anna Hazare, who got such a great public support, is also openly defending the father-son duo, even before an enquiry has been made and the result declared. I am sure you will agree that this kind of attitude gives a feeling of favoritism. I don't say that only by some possibly "forged" CD or some documents about land deeds we shall make final conclusions and declare a person as wrong. In fact, there is a very great possibility that these are all dirty attempts by people with vested interests to malign the father and son and to derail the anti-corruption movement. But whatever the real facts be, at the same time, at least Anna must ask for enquiry and shall request the concerned person to remain away from the Drafting process of Lok Pal Bill as long as the matter is not cleared.
When the people in Drafting Committee are presumably forming a draft Bill to root out corruption, does it make sense that two of them is facing serious corruption charges and are not budging from their place? Then what difference remains between Shanti Bhushan / Prashant Bhushan and Yedyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka against whom N Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta of Karnataka and one member of drafting committee made clear accusations but Yedyurappa refused to listen to these accusations?
The entire movement of Anna Hazare is based on faith and hence it is very important that faith of the people is not betrayed. Hence, without going into the merit and truth of these allegations, I, on behalf of Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) demand that there is an urgent need of swift high level enquiry into both the matters immediately. We also demand that as long as the result of the enquiry does not come out, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan shall themselves decide to stay away from the Joint Drafting Committee for Lokpal Bill so as to give a good message. Finally we also request Anna Hazare not to try to defend the Bhushans by calling the allegations as false but to ensure an independent and true enquiry, through his good office.
All this is important because institutions are always more important than individuals, whether it is you or me.
Dr Nutan Thakur,
Secretary, IRDS
Convener, National RTI Forum,
Lucknow | 
We need our youth and youngsters to rough all the anti-nationals who migrated india for bread and butter to claim indian regions as theirs by religious breeding.
ReplyDeleteWhat Verma did, had been done from long before, we wouldn't have lost Pakistan and Bangladesh.
We need to terminate these rats who dare to question Kashmir. Kashmir is our intimate and internal part of Indian Union of States.
Beware of Pundits in Kashmir. There are Pseudo Pundits on name of Hindu and Muslims who just use the sentiments for political exploitation.
Prashant Bhushan ka pungi bahut acha bajee...