New Delhi: The Modi government has filed an application in the Supreme Court, seeking modification in the 12-year-old judgment that made action compulsory for the allocation of public resources like telecom spectrum.
The BJP had hailed the 2012 judgment against the grim backdrop of the 2G scam, in which the Manmohan Singh government’s decision to give licences to telecom operators on a first-come-first-served basis was described as a scam. The Modi government now wants the Supreme Court to modify its judgment to allow allocation of spectrum through an administrative process.
Jairam Ramesh's statement
Congress communication general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said: "The hypocrisy of the Modi Sarkar and ‘Bhrasht Janata Party’ knows no bounds. During Manmohan Singh’s tenure, they cried to all who would listen that the administrative allocation of 2G spectrum was a ‘scam’. Now, they are arguing the opposite – they have gone to the Supreme Court for permission to give away spectrum to whoever they want, without an auction.”
Referring to the Modi-Adani nexus, Jairam said, “Of course, this ‘Modani Regime’ has already been handing over public resources to the Prime Minister’s crony capitalist friends – airports have been handed over to one company, coal mines have been given away in fraudulent auctions, and even satellite spectrum has been handed over in exchange for Rs 150 crore in electoral bonds."
Jairam Ramesh strengthens attack
He said: "In total, they have already handed out Rs 4 lakh crore worth of public resources to their corporate donors. On June 4, India’s voters will show this party of organised loot, the door. The INDIA Government will launch a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Adani Mega Scam, and investigate these other corrupt practices – including the #PayPM scam in which the Prime Minister amassed Rs 8200 crore through his well-documented ‘Chaar Raaste’ of collecting funds – 1. Pre-paid Bribes: Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo 2. Post-paid Bribes: Theka Lo, Ghoos do 3. Post-raid Bribes: Hafta Vasooli 4. Farzi companies.”
While the coal and 2G scams destroyed the credibility of the Manmohan Singh government and deepened the public perception about the Congress being thoroughly corrupt, Rahul Gandhi’s ceaseless attacks on favours to Adani failed to dent Modi’s image. The Congress said repeatedly that rules were changed by the Modi government to give many airports to Adani (it was stipulated that one person will not get more than one) but Modi remained unscathed by these charges. Rahul often described this period, called ‘Amrit Kaal’ by Modi, as ‘Mitra Kaal’, highlighting the scourge of crony capitalism. He even coined this slogan ‘Hum do, hamare do’, conveying a message that only Modi-Shah mattered in the government and they worked for Adani-Ambani. The Congress also alleged that Rahul was disqualified from parliament only because he exposed the Adani-Modi nexus.
In a statement issued last year, Jairam said: "In Adani coal scam, you (Prime Minister) are directly implicated. On 9 April 2015, you had stated that the ‘conclusion of the auctions in coal and spectrum establishes that the curse of scam and corruption is avoidable and transparency possible if there is political will’. It is ironic that you spoke these words only two weeks after going out of your way to reallocate huge coal mines to your favourite business partner, after writing enabling provisions into the new coal law.”
