Unhappy with probe agencies, Opposition parties using old pressure tactics

Arvind Kejriwal and AAP captured power in the name of an anti-corruption movement, but face serious graft charges.

- ALOK MEHTA

Recently, eight Opposition parties have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging misuse of central agencies to target members of the Opposition, days after the arrest of AAP leader Manish Sisodia in an alleged liquor scam case. It appears that India has transitioned “from being a democracy to an autocracy”, read the letter signed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), National Conference, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Samajwadi Party, apart from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In the same way, Congress, DMK and Marxwadi Communist leaders also alleged misuse of investigation agencies by the government.

The question arises in my mind: Is it the first time happening or are these parties unhappy as they are not successful in pressurizing the government and ruling leaders to stop investigations or weaken the cases for courts to punish their own corrupt leaders?

One can recall a few interesting cases and experiences of the past. I was covering CBI since 1972 and did a long interview with D. Sen, the Director CBI around 1974, with a 8-page cover story for a prominent Hindi weekly. Those days it was very difficult to find a major case to report. In the annual report also, I used to see small cases of corruption.

However, in 1975, our sources briefed us about a chargesheet filed by CBI against M. Karunanidhi, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, for alleged favours shown to certain aviation companies.