Press Briefing Saturday, 18 Apr 2009

Shri Kapil Sibal addressed the media today.

Shri Kapil Sibal explained as to how the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. L.K. Advani, presents a wrong version of history and distorts facts stands exposed in his autobiography “My Country My Life”.

Shri Sibal said that Mr. Advani does not care to educate himself about the country’s most celebrated freedom fighters. He writes that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged for hurling bombs inside the Delhi Assembly. Contrary to his research, they were sentenced to death for the assassination of S.P. Saunders and the case was known as the Lahore Conspiracy case. His ignorance is quite obvious because being a “Swayamsevak” himself, he knows that RSS had no role to play in India’s freedom struggle.

Shri Sibal said that Mr. Advani does not care to verify the facts. He pronounced Satyapal Dang, the CPI leader from Punjab, as dead and refers to him as “the late Satyapal Dang” while the veteran leader is alive and in good health.

Shri Sibal further said that Mr. Advani’s duplicity stands exposed when he writes that BJP party “forced” Mrs. Indira Gandhi to order “Operation Blue Star” to liberate Golden Temple from anti-national occupants. At the same time he writes that it was one of the most painful moments in the history of our Republic.

Shri Sibal said that Mr. Advani’s divisive agenda is apparent when he describes Babi Masjid demolition as a “Hindu awakening”. At the same time his hypocrisy is evident when he writes that it was the “saddest” day in his life. Yet, he did the groundwork for that day when he embarked on his journey spreading hate in his 1990 Rath Yatra that resulted in communal riots in which hundreds of people were killed.

Shri Sibal made it clear that Mr. Advani’s purpose is to deceive. The self proclaimed “Lauh Purush” and then Home Minister strongly advocates a tough line against Pakistan and a hot pursuit of terror camps in PoK, and then contradicts himself by saying that he had no inkling that during the IC-814 hijacking episode, Mr. Jaswant Singh was escorting the terrorists to Kandhar;. However, Mr. George Fernandes called his bluff by saying that the decision was collectively taken at a Cabinet meeting and that Mr. Advani was suffering from “memory lapses”. Rather than being a resolute Home Minister, as he liked to project himself, he was perhaps the weakest Home Minister ever.

Shri Sibal said that now Mr. Farooq Abdullah - NDA ally during the hijacking drama, has called Mr. Advani’s bluff by saying that despite his insistence to Mr. Advani that he is not in favour of releasing the three terrorists; Mr. Advani had told him that it was Cabinet decision and Mr. Abdullah should help him.

Mr. Advani’s memory lapse was again evident when he describes that during the IC-814 hijacking episode, he spoke to US Ambassador Robert Blackwill for assistance. The fact is Mr. Richard F. Celeste was the US Ambassador to India from 1997-2001.

Shri Sibal said that Mr. Advani tries to mislead the people when he writes that right from the beginning he and Mr. Vajpayee were firmly opposed to sending Indian troops to Iraq. However, a June 8, 2003 statement of the Indian Embassy in Washington said that Mr. Advani told then Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during his visit to the US that the matter was under consideration.

Mr. Advani chooses to give an account of people killed in police firing during the Gujarat riots but does not find it important enough to talk about how the State machinery including the police was involved in the riots. He justified the rejection of the demand for Modi’s resignation but praised Narendra Modi as “the most viciously, consistently persistently maligned leader, both nationally and internationally” of the past 60 years and said “ my confidence in him has been fully vindicated” in the autobiography.

Shri Sibal said that Mr. Advani did not have the courage to mention that it was owing to RSS directive after his Pakistan visit in 2005 and his statement on Jinnah that he was forced to resign from Party President’s post. He writes in his book: “One day,… I was told I should step down from the Presidentship of the BJP…” and calls this “profoundly agonizing”. Who told him to resign is apparent but Mr. Advani won’t admit.

Mr. Advani’s politics and ideology has no relevance to the majority of the people of the country. His autobiography was a failed attempt at reinventing himself to gain a wider acceptance among the people. He is desperate to shed the tag of being “Prime Minister in waiting”. But a Prime Ministerial ambition based on distortion of facts would ensure that he lives with this tag in perpetuity.

Shri Sibal said that the people of India have to ask themselves only one question: Does India deserve such a Prime Ministerial candidate? The party with a difference has certainly projected a man with a lot of differences for the Prime Minister’s post. His only expertise lies in distorting facts aimed solely at self aggrandizement.

Shri Kapil Sibal, while referring to the statement of Shri Advani published in the newspaper that the BJP party will bring back the black money, said that he wants to ask a question from Mr. Advani that if he was so concerned about the black money, why his Government did away with Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1973. Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act came into effect on 1st June 2000 and FERA was phased out because it was replaced by FEMA. Under FERA you could prosecute individuals who amassed foreign exchange in foreign banks and did not bring it into India. It was the NDA Government that moved to do away with FERA and bring in FEMA and in FEMA there is two years sun set clause. All existing prosecutions under FERA had to be completed within two years. If they were not completed, then the sun set clause would come into operation and those cases would lapse.

Shri Sibal said that he is talking about the double faced character of a perspective Prime Ministerial candidate. On the one hand, he says that all people committed offence under FERA should not be prosecuted except if the prosecution of old cases is completed within two years of the coming into force of this Act i.e. June 1, 2000.

Shri Sibal said that on one hand the BJP talks of the black money and on the other hand they want to let the perpetrators go scot-free. The BJP Government lets them go scot-free because this will improve trade in India. Shri Sibal raised a question from Shri Advani, when you in your manifesto, have you mentioned that you will bring back FERA if you come to power, or do you intend to not to prosecute any of these people who kept money in foreign banks, in your desire to bring it back. This is again electoral politics.


Shri Sibal said that the fact of the matter is that a person by the name Heins Teber was an employee of Linkshtine Global Trust Bank. Spain made a complaint against him for defrauding their Government in the matter of tax. That employee was fined Euro 370 thousand. He ran away from Linkshtine along with secret details of all the accounts from the Linkshtine Global Trust Bank. That employee who was fined started blackmailing the countries such as America, Germany and Britain. He attached a price tag for the disclosure of the names of the people holding the accounts. Americans paid him the money and he released the names of the account holders. Then he went to Germans and told them he would release the German names. There were 1400 names that he had. He earned much more money than what he had paid in fine. Out of 1400 names supplied by him, out of which 600 names were of Germans and 800 names were non Germans. Now the German authorities said we are willing to share these names with anybody who wants them.

Shri Sibal further said that moment it happened, the Government of India wrote that we would like to have these names. Today they say there are some problems in giving the names and one of the problems is that in our double taxation treaty, there is no clause for exchange of information about such accounts. So consequently in the OECD performa document, which we have endorsed, we have requested that such a clause should be introduced in any prevention of double taxation treaty which is not there before and we have written to the German Government that we would like to do. As far as India is concerned, we are already on the move to actually try and get the money back. Shri Sibal further said that he does not understand Mr. Advani’s motive as to why he says because r. Advani knows that all other classes are moving away from the BJP party and this may be something he can attract the middle class of the country.

Shri Sibal raised a pointed question before Mr. Advani if he will bring back FERA, will he prosecute them all. That will be difficult for him, so this is again an electoral issue. Will he bring back FERA, will he put these people to jail and what kind of punishment would he like to bring. Shri Advani must make that clear to the public and he hopes he does it in the next couple of days.




(Tom Vadakkan)

Secretary, AICC