Noisy interruptions and two adjournments marked the proceedings in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, as the Opposition trained its guns on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, making allegations regarding his involvement in the Aircel-Maxis deal. Mr. Chidambaram dismissed the charges as “wild and reckless.”
The issue of the controversial five-year-old deal was raised earlier in the day by senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who said that prima facie what happened was a ‘big scandal' and the government “shouldn't hush it up.”
Leader of the House and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tried to intervene, leading to an angry outburst. The House was adjourned till afternoon.
When the Lok Sabha reassembled after lunch, Mr. Chidambaram tried to reply to the charges made by the Opposition but the uproar from the Opposition benches continued to interrupt the proceedings. He made efforts to be heard while reading out a statement made by his son Karti, on the deal.
“My son has issued a statement in Chennai, and I would like to read that as part of my statement,” Mr. Chidambaram said, to noisy chants from the Opposition.
“I categorically state that neither me nor any member of my family have acquired or hold any stake in Aircel or Maxis. The person is known to make wild and reckless allegations. It is deeply regretted that the privileged forum of Parliament is misused to level wild and reckless allegations against a private citizen,” the Home Minister said. He said that he was making the statement as a member had levelled allegations against him and a member of his family.
Quotes Thirkkural
Quoting Poet Thiruvalluvar in Tamil, Mr. Chidambaram said: “Inna seitharai oruthal avar naana nannayam seidhu vidal. It means that to people who cause harm to you, you shame them by returning it with good.” He also quoted from the Franciscan nuns. “When I was a student, I was taught by the nuns to say, “God, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. I pray that God will forgive the sins of these people.”
Congress defends Chidambaram
The Congress defended Mr. Chidambaram, with party spokesperson Manish Tewari repeating the party's and UPA government's official line on the subject.
Mr. Tewari referred to the official statements made by the Union Finance Ministry on April 28 and May 8, which stressed that the allegation that the proposal of M/s Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, Mauritius (a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Maxis Communications Berhad) to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in M/s Aircel Ltd was delayed by Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister in order to benefit certain persons was “totally baseless.”
However, there was concern that the issue would continue to derail Parliament as the Opposition indicated it wished to raise the matter again on Friday, objecting to the fact that Mr. Chidambaram had not served notice to deliver a statement and that he had, therefore, violated protocol; and two, that he read out a statement issued by his son in Parliament.
We need more people like Subramaniam Swamy in parliament who fight for the people and take on politicians.
Shame on Congress - everything is okay in their wonderland.
I fervently believe Parliament should not be allowed to function till
there is a judicial probe against PC. A CBI investigation will be
worthless since it will try to exonerate PC instead of investigating.
The Opposition should unite and create a stalemate in the Parliament. We
have a whole year till the next budget, so one whole year is there to
disrupt Parliamentary proceedings till the Congress is brought down to
its knees at the altar of the nation.
Ppl,
We recently interviewed J GopiKrishnan, the journalist who unearthed the huge 2G scam and later based on his work, Subramaniam swamy and Prashant Bhushan has filed PIL. Pl go through the interview to learn horrifying facts of 2G scam. Subramaniam Swamy had produced the relevant information on Chidambaram's Son and case is still inpending. Pl visit www.nrisamay.com for more details.
When 2G started to come out everybody was denying any wrongdoing. It's a matter of time before all the details of the scandal with PC and son coming to the fore. All evidence points to manipulation of the dates in order to obtain a illegal benefit. Why wouldn't Shivsankaran speak about the details yet on this matter. He must make a statement before the public in the media.
I have been an admirer of Chidambaram, not now. He has to come out clean from all the charges against him. Basically, the cunningness of politician in manipulating their office for personal benefit is well-known. Never expected this from Chidambaram. His quotes are no substitute for openness and transparency, when the very legitimacy of his election is under the scanner of the Court. In the highest Court of God he has to face his karma-palan--the fruit of his actions.
How can Pranab will support you mr corrupt chidambaram ? if he given any
statement in favour of you & tomorrow you and your son found guilty he
has to resign from his finance ministry or president post...haha. I say
good timing from BJP side to raise this issue on right time.
I hope Mr Chidambaram will next read out statements by his wife and
various other relatives, so that this issue can be closed out once and
for all.
A new chapter has begun. A Central Cabinet Minister reading out the
statement of his son to rebut the allegations against the Minister
himself instead of his own ! Pray God that sooner or later, more
Ministers read out such statements of their sons/daughters. Secondly,
nowadays no one believes that Dr.Swamy makes baseless allegations and
everyone believes that Dr.Swamy does not make statements without facts
and figures. If he makes any baseless allegations, let the politicians
file defamation case against him.
Dr Subramaniyam swamy was insrumental in bringing the 2G scam to the supreme court- so how come anybody can call him an allegation specialist.
every patriotic indian citizen owes a lot to Dr.swamy.
SAwamy is a low class fellow and a political broker.
And may God forgive Mr. Chidambaram's sins when he made wild and reckless
statements about how Koodankulam was 100% safe. He is no nuclear science
background to make any comment on the matter. Now he should know how it feels
to be lied to. Just having a sweet face and innocent looking demeanor will not carry
one through life peacefully. One has to pay the price for making statements on
scientific matters, like an eager stooge of this present incompetent junta, especially
when when one is an equally incompetent scientist like Chidambaram. The tears and
sufferings of the people of Koodankulam will lie on the heads of all perpetrators of
their distress and loss of their joy of existence....and we can see this bad karma
surfacing daily in the squibbling and squabbling that takes place in Parliament.The
fish market scenes of hooting, howling and not letting another speak, are enough to
give nightmares to those who accidentally fall on the scenes on TV and leave one
with a fear of the future
People tend take God's name when they are in trouble!
Chidambaram is shamelessly invoking God to desperately escape the
clutches of the law. His background and activities need thorough
investigation. Beneath his suave mannerisms lie a possibly corrupt and
brutal politician. It's time to nail his various lies. His record is
riddled with conflicts of interest: he represented Enron in India in
the controversial Dhabhol power project involved in a corruption scam;
he represented Vedanta Resources, a mining company that has huge
resource interests anin the naxal-infested areas while he was the home
minister responsible for deploying forces against naxals, he claimed
that he did not know that his wife represented Fairgrowth, a company
accused in Securities scam, while he himself was the finance minister.
Contrary to opinion, he's a pathetic and inefficient home minister -
there's enough evidence to substantiate this. For those who think he's
efficient, in fact, it's sheer luck that has saved India from a major
terrorist attack under his watch
Same kind of defence / denial was used when 2G scam came out. Shameless politicians like Kapil Sibal from congress even today are saying that there was zero loss from 2G scam even after court ruling!!!
These UPA ministers really belive that the can defend the indefensible and get away with almost any crime but Mr. Chidambaram people are watching!!!!
Chidambaram is confident of sins that they can''t be forgiven. Instead praying for opposition''s sins.! :))
well. even god will not forgive your crimes and your collegues in the party.
Mr.Chidambaram is facing a lot of charges.A thorough probe is required.He is a very important minister,having control over the investigating agencies.An honest probe is not possible as long as he is a minister. He must be relieved from the ministry and a court-monitored SIT should go into the charges. CAG should also look into all his major decisions. The investigating agencies should be asked by the courts to furnish the action taken by them on these charges and other complaints received by them.There could be lot of skeletons in his cupboard.Certainly this gentleman should be thoroughly probed.
One should not come to a conclusion and make sweeping allegation against a Central Minister who shown to the world about his ability in the Finance,Industry and Home Affairs.How some body can say that he had manipulated the election results,and if so, any body can win the election in India and there is no need of a Election Commission. People are ready to accept the allegation specialist Dr.Swamy, just because he comes with a new allegations daily but they don't ask for any authentic proof for his allegations. If winning elections and having political base are the criteria to become a honest politician, then no honest man like Dr,Manmohan Singh can enter in to the Indian politics and only liars and manipulators with criminal record only can win the election with some exemptions.
May God forgive your blindness towards your party president’s murky dealings.
Claiming himself to be super clean is probably Mr.Chidambaram's
prerogative. But why did not The Hindu do the service of re-"publishing"
the article in pioneer as it did in case of the "Nakkheeeran"'s article
over TN CM's food habits?
Ms.Jayalalitha, on her first visit to New Delhi, after assuming office
as chief minister of tamilnadu challanged Shri P.Chidambaram on his
winning his elections from the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency on
fraudulent means.
Shri P.Chiadambaram chose to remain silent on that allegation from
nonetheless from a person who holds a constitutional office as chief
minister of Tamil Nadu.
Ms.Jayalalitha, on her first visit to New Delhi, after assuming office
as chief minister of tamilnadu challanged Shri P.Chidambaram on his
winning his elections from the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency on
fraudulent means.
Shri P.Chiadambaram chose to remain silent on that allegation from
nonetheless from a person who holds a constitutional office as chief
minister of Tamil Nadu.
Its eminently possible that India has been safe since 26/11 because
the immediate perpetrators are too busy making the best of the chaos
currently prevalent in Pakistan. As a whole the Islamist movement is
going through a bane except in its heartland of Afghanistan, due to
1.American drone attacks decimating their intermediate leadership as
well as their infantry 2.The breathing space the liberals have got in
the Middle East due to the Arab Spring.
Our borders are almost as porous now as they were on 25/11...there are
media reports to that effect. I somehow don't think the indignant
patriotic rage of a lot of unarmed civilians or shouting matches in
Parliament are an effective deterrent to terrorists.
On one hand, there is a serious allegation against the former FM. On the
other hand, there is total denial. None will dare making such allegation
with documentary evidences. Thus the onus of proving 'not guilty' is
clearly on the person holding responsible position. Can any normal
citizen escape an inquiry after such a scam scandal? Why then there us a
differential treatment?
By seeking God to forgive the sins of the opposition Chidu is indirectly
seeking the same measuring rod for forgiving his hill of sins as an ally
of UPA and as a part of the ruling party and as an individual taking
advantages of positions held by him be as HM or FM!!!!
abbhandary
All ministers have become so shameless and Mr. Chidhambaram is no exception. I agree he is most clever of all.
"Even God cannot forgive your sins" is the sorry state in which this Govt and its ministers are. If Mr. PC and his son are clean, they should file a defamation suit in the courts as challenged by Mr. Swamy and not speak in political forums and parliament. We know you are known to manipulate even an election result and how trustworthy your words would be.
I am sick of reading scandals over scandals daily. No one is getting prosecuted. Our Politician have no self-respect and can justify/or escape every crime. Such attitude is motivating everyone to indulge in unlawful activities. Everyone is busy making money illegally. Even our army has issues. I don't see any solution to such system. Our country is in deep trouble with all such politicians leading us to hell. I this we are approaching the situation described in The Gita "yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham." But, I am also worried that these politicians can also corrupt The God.
Baseless charges against our venerable Home Minister, the man who has kept India safe since 26/11. Is this the way to talk about a True Indian like Mr. Chidhambaram?
without proper investigation ,checking laboriously documents with bank transaction,it is wild imagination to put whole powerful politicians like chidambaram in jail is totally impossible,he is probably involved in 100 nefarious and unethical practices and help to garner crore by commissions,he is involved in famous hasan ali,and tapuria swissbank case, as his wife was lawyer to tapuria in calcutta high court,arresting baba,anna showed his guilt,now his days are numbered,new govt will definitely put whole deals in back burner and cancel whole maxis aircel deals, where even witness by promoter for threatening by force is totally set aside by slave c b i,,,sooner or later whole VIPs will be jail.
Bravo Mr. Chidambaram ! We understand clearly from our observations at various levels of time and space of your performances at the high- offices, as efficient finance minister and currently as efficient home minister, you had occupied in the central govt., you are blot-less and non-corrupt. You have a clean life and image in spite of various mudslinging by the black-sheeps, political bafoons and the power brokers like Subramaniam swamy. Never mind ! GOD Bless.
Chidambaram cannot give himself a good certificate in the Aircel Maxis deal. The matter requires independent investigation.
Mr. Chidambaram is not clean. It may be difficult to prove it legally and mr chidambaram is a stalwart in subverting the law. His communication skills and body language are excellent. He does not have any base in his constituency and his victory in the previous election is under cloud. I am from his constituency. Please come to karaikudi and surrounding villages and see what is happening there. Whatever little is happening there is not due to him.. people there will tell you. God save Indians from people like him and his son. about his son, the less said the better.
Sir, While the charges may be wild or politically motivated, the news item from 'The Pioneer' clearly brings out the fact that the Govt was concealing information on the FIPB approval. Two days ago, when the issue came out, there was an immediate rebuttal from the Fin Ministry - "Clarification on Aircel issue" in its pib website. But 'The Pioneer' has argued against the govt's response today and there seems to be no clarification.... Is something really cooking? And what is need for our Home minister to read out his Son's statement in the parliament. He could have expressed his point of view and left it at that.
Such a pious comment even when he is being ripped apart by a recalcitrant Opposition? I am sure he is guilty. Its only the guilty who develop instant piety (like instant Nescafe coffee, only this one is far worse) when confronted with their wrongdoing.
Mr. Swamy should come out with facts Other wise he should apologise for his remarks. If kartick had acquired shares there should be records in the company books. They should be produced Otherwise it is a wild charge
This issue is just a reminder that P.Chidambaram is not white like the premier dhoti and shirt he wears all the time. How else could someone with no massive base support among people even in his own constituency have achieved the position and influence he currently holds other than through deft maneuvering, cunning manipulation and positioning himself in the corridors of political power and within the corporate world. His image among the middle classes who were previous admirers is hopefully slipping when everyone comes to realise that beneath the public persona lies a more sinister and malicious person.
Please Email the Editor