Vajpayee Government: A Saga of Sin, Scams, and Shame

The Vajpayee government has failed miserably on all fronts. Its economic agenda was partisan, it communalized the polity, it sought to destroy the social fabric of India and political expediency was its guiding ideology. The promises it made have turned out to be false. Its real agenda stands exposed. It rode to power with the help of opportunistic alliances, the sole aim of which was to retain political power at any cost. The farmers were neglected, women marginalized, the youth left unemployed. The scams that surfaced while this government was in power are legendary. Even the security of this country was compromised. Tehelka and other scams demonstrated that the NDA government was immersed neck-deep in corruption. The people of India want change. They want a government that performs. Through this document, our endeavor is to inform the people of the country about the completely dismal performance of the BJP-led NDA government. 

Scams:

1.     DEFENCE SCAMS:

1.1   Tehelka

•      The sensational Tehelka scam shocked the country. The then BJP President, Bangaru Laxman, was caught on tape accepting cash and asking for further payment in US dollars. Bangaru Laxman mentioned the names of Brajesh Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and Ranjan Bhattacharya (PM’s foster son-in-law) and said that they influence the dealings of various ministries like MEA, Defence and, Power.

•      The tape also captured the then Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley talking about money for facilitating a defence deal, at the Defence Minister’s official residence. It clearly indicates that Jaya Jaitley has used George Fernandes’s influence as Defence Minister.

•      As a consequence of the Tehelka expose, George Fernandes was forced to resign from the post of Defence Minister. Although Congress was demanding a probe by the JPC, the government appointed an Inquiry Commission headed by Shri Venkatswamy - a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, on 16^th March 2001 to look into the Tehelka issue. LK. Advani had even then predicted that Fernandes would be back in the government in “five, six months”.

•      The terms of reference of the Venkatswamy Commission includes term (D), which completely erodes "freedom of press". Under this term the Commission has been asked to probe the credentials of journalists who had conducted the investigations and made the charges. Such an amazing term has never figured in any Inquiry Commission set up under Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. Furthermore the Inquiry Commission didn’t cover Bangaru Laxman’s as well as Jaya Jaitley’s conduct in its terms of reference.

•      Fernandes was brazenly re-inducted as Defence Minister in October 2001. The PM defended Fernandes’s re-induction and said that there were no charges against him; that he was not an accused and that the Inquiry Commission had not sought any explanation from him. Vajpayee owes an explanation to the nation that under what pressures and why George Fernandes was re-inducted into the Cabinet even before the submission of the Commission's Report?

•      Justice Phukan Commission

•      Due to the resignation of Justice Venkatswamy from the Commission of Inquiry, Justice Phukan took over. Justice Phukan ordered that the Tehelka tapes should be sent abroad for forensic examination with a view to determining their authenticity. Justice Ventakasamy, on the contrary, had already found the tapes to be authentic. But the Phukan Commission reversed earlier orders passed by Justice Venkataswamy. What was the need to check the authenticity of tapes already declared authentic by Justice Venkatswamy?

•      The Centre has since given the Justice Phukan Commission an extension by six months, on 3^rd of Jan 2004. It seems that the Inquiry will be pointless, as extensions upon extensions are being granted and it will take it beyond the term of the present  government and therefore beyond the scrutiny of the coming elections.

•      The Inquiry Commission was set up in March 2001 and was to complete its inquiry within six months. What the Phukan Commission has done recently is that it has submitted its first report on defence purchases contracted up to the year 2000. The controversial Tehelka scam relates to the later date of 2001, therefore, to make an inference that the Phukan Commission has exonerated George Fernandes in Tehelka, is entirely misleading and preposterous.

1.2   Coffin Scam

•      In the infamous Coffin deal, a US company was contracted to supply 5000 caskets at the cost of US Dollars 2500 each. In assigning the contract, procurement standards were flouted; there was no acceptance test, evaluation or price assessment. Audit scrutiny of the deal revealed that, in December 1999, the firm requested for an amendment to the contract for increasing the weight of the casket from 18 kgs to 55 kgs.  While the Government was still deliberating on the request, in March 2000, the firm supplied 150 caskets. Government released 90 percent payment amounting to US$ 337,500 equivalent to Rs. 1.47 crore.  The entire lot of caskets was subsequently rejected during inspection, on grounds of being overweight and being welded rather than being die pressed.  

•      The Ministry of Defence under George Fernandes had constituted a Price Negotiating Committee for purchasing coffins. Two officials implicated in the Tehelka tapes were key members of this PNC. It is to be noted that PNC Chairman L. M. Mehta took a gold chain and Murgai accepted cash according to the Tehelka ­tapes. Murgai was the one who took Tehelka’s journalists to George Fernandes's house.

•      Our jawans were sacrificing their lives in Kargil for defending the honour of our country and the NDA Government was busy making deals and receiving cuts on the purchase of coffins bought for carrying bodies of ‘Shaheed Jawans’. Surely this is the most shameful and heartless of all scams in India’s history?

1.3   Killer MIGs

•      Dozens of India’s best pilots have been killed in MIG crashes. Despite the fact that Vajpayee’s Government had been requested to replace MIGs by alternative planes, the Defence Minister had chosen to endorse the safety of MIGs by flying one. It was a pathetic act of bravado because the flight was conducted under controlled conditions.

•      Between January 1998 and July 2003, 136 aircraft crashed; out of these 88 were variants of MIG. Since then there have been several more MIG crashes. The families of the pilots and the people of India cry out for safer aircraft but the Government remains unconcerned. Non-replacement of MIGs by suitable aircraft is also causing loss of hundreds of crores of rupees, but a impervious Government continues to buy questionable quality spares for MIGs.

1.4   Misuse of Kargil cess

•      The NDA Government taxed honest taxpayers in the name of National Security and collected Rs. 7,000 crores. Shamelessly, the amount of collected tax, instead of being used for National Security, has been treated as part of the "General Revenues" of Government. The Standing Committee on Defence, chaired by BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana, indicted the NDA Government for not using Surcharge on Income Tax or Kargil cess for National Security.

•      The following amounts meant for Defence capital expenditure remained unutilised for 3 successive years: -

• Rs. 8964 crores in 2000-01

• Rs. 7734 crores in 2001-02

• Rs. 6499 crores in 2002-03

•      Un-utilisation of the Budgeted amount for three successive years has slowed the process of modernisation of Defence forces and weakened Defence preparedness. Has not non-utilization of the budgeted amount resulted in betrayal of our armed forces and our citizens?

1.5   Irregularities in purchases made for operation    Vijay (Kargil War)

•      CAG has suspected scams in purchase of more than a dozen items during Operation Vijay. What is worse, all the supplies were either received or even contracted after cessation of hostilities and, therefore in no way useful for the Operation Vijay.

•      Supplies valued at Rs. 2,150 crores were received after the cessation of hostilities in July 1999, of which supplies worth Rs. 1,762.21 crore were received after six months of cessation of hostilities.

•      Supplies valued at Rs. 1,606.26 crores (75% of total purchases) were contracted after the cessation of hostilities.

•      In as many as 35 cases, due to relaxation of rules, Government knowingly paid Rs. 44.21 crore extra.

•      The worst case was purchase of expired ammunition, valued at Rs. 91.86 crores, and purchases in excess of requirement/authorization aggregating Rs. 107.97 crores.

•      Ammunition worth Rs. 342.37 crores was contracted for import on grounds of operational emergency, even though it was being produced in Indian ordinance factories.

•      Thus though critical supplies of clothing, ammunition and arms could not reach the troops during the operation Vijay, an amount of Rs. 1,046 crores in foreign exchange was spent fruitlessly.

•      According to CAG, to meet the demand of Operation Vijay and normal deficiency, in July/ October 1999, orders were placed with two foreign firms, for supply of 52775 pairs of Multi purpose boots. It was in addition to an existing contract for supply of 16775 pairs of shoes.  Upon delivery it was observed that the delivered shoes were either smaller or larger than the standard, resulting in a huge loss to exchequer.

•      According to CAG, without any rate negotiation, a contract was concluded in July 1999 with RA Rometechnica, Romania for supply of 22.5 million rounds of ammunition of AK 47 rifles at the rate of US$ 103 per thousand rounds, ignoring another Romanian firm, which quoted a rate of US $ 90 per thousand rounds. Why did the Government not go in for rate negotiation even when an opportunity for doing so was available is a moot question?

•      Surprisingly, instead of restricting the fast track procedure only to purchase of equipments related to Operation Vijay, other items listed in the routine Annual Procurement Review were also included in the purchases.

•      Irresponsible and non-serious approach of the NDA government on serious issues of Defence is reflected by following facts:

•      The 10^th Defence Plan for 2002-2007 has still not been finalised.

•      Subramanyam Committee Report has not been discussed in Parliament in 4 years. No information has been shared about implementation of the major recommendations of this report. Nothing has been disclosed about why the Kargil War was started, what were the lapses and, who were responsible for the mistakes made.

•      The non-disclosure of the CVC report on Defence purchases to the PAC in relation to ‘Operation Vijay’ is an unprecedented violation of Parliamentary authority.

2.  Other Scams

2.1 UTI and Cyberspace Infosys Ltd. Scam

•      The Unit Trust of India is the largest mutual fund in the country created in 1964 through an act of Parliament. UTI's scheme of US-64 was set-up specifically to channel small savings of citizens into investments giving respectable returns/interest. The US-64 scheme had 2 crore investors, the bulk of whom were small savers, retired people, widows and pensioners. US-64 has been most popular, giving returns as high as 18% in 1993 and 1994. In 1998, the UTI crashed, and the BJP-led NDA government organised Rs. 3,500 crore bail-outs to UTI.

•      BJP Government appointed P.S. Subramanyam as the new UTI chief, as he had the backing of the PMO. It was also said that Jayalalitha had pressurized the NDA government for appointing Subramanyam, in lieu of her continuing support to the Centre. Subramanyam strengthened his relationship with corporate big-wigs with the help of Small investor’s funds deposited with UTI, showered favours on Government favourites, and invested huge amounts in junk bonds.

•      In August 2000, after prices of software stocks had begun to crash, Subramanyam (UTI) purchased 3.45 lac shares of a relatively unknown company "Cyberspace Infosys Ltd." at a huge price of Rs. 930 per share. Cyberspace promoters, Arvind Johri and Anand Johri have RSS connections. Initially the UTI hierarchy had opposed purchase but subsequently, after four days, agreed to the purchase. In less than a year's time, the share price plummeted to just Re. 1.

•      This investment, coupled with other shoddy investments, resulted in staggering financial losses to the UTI and investors. 

•      Besides this, the UTI also invested in other junk bonds. This amounted to handing over common people’s money (investments) to the rich and powerful. Thereby thousands of crores were siphoned off to big business and favoured individuals. The UTI Chairman organised a high profile propaganda campaign promoting UTI, while at the same time leaking information to the big corporates to withdraw their funds.

•      Within no time the bigwigs redeemed their investments with UTI, amounting to Rs. 4,000 crores. The shameful part is that they were re-purchased at the price of Rs. 14.20 per unit (face value Rs.10), when in fact its actual value (net asset value) was not more than Rs. 8. As a result, UTI’s small investors lost a sum of Rs. 1,300 crores.

•      In fact, huge withdrawals by corporates further precipitated the crisis. On July 4, 2001 the Board of UTI took the unprecedented step of freezing the purchase and sale of all US-64 UTI units for six months. Simultaneously it declared a pathetic dividend of 7% (10% on face-value), which was even lower than the interest paid by the banks and post office saving schemes. Such freezing of legally held units was unheard of. In other words the 2 crore shareholders were denied the opportunity of re-investing their savings else where — and were compelled to passively see their unit price erode from Rs. 14 (at which they would have purchased it) to Rs 8.

•      Sensing a back-lash by small investors, the UTI later announced the repurchase price of UTI units at Rs. 10 — i.e. at 30 % below the purchase price.

•      The Finance Minister feigned ignorance of what was happening in the UTI, and remarked that as the Ministry did not have representatives on UTI Board, he did not know of US-64 suspension. This was in sharp contrast to Subramanyam’s bail application in which he repeatedly said that he had kept the Finance Ministry informed about the problems faced by the UTI.

•      In the wake of these developments, Subramanyam was forced to resign. Finance Ministry did not order a probe into what went wrong with the investment pattern of the US-64, which resulted in the suspension of the scheme and loss to small investors.

• One can imagine the plight of a retired person who would have put a large part of his/her PF, gratuity etc. in the US-64 scheme, considering it the safest possible investment. Not only have small investors’ income (interest/dividend) halved overnight, they also lost a large part of their hard earned investment.

•      Not only did the episode cost the country thousands of crores, it eroded confidence in the most holy of all financial institutions. The capital of UTI fell by 33% from 75,000 crores to 50,000 crores, making this a 25,000 crores scam.

•      Responding to the question as to why he had made telephonic calls to the Chairman of UTI, Prime Minister’s foster son-in-law, Ranjan Bhattacharya, said that he had called up the UTI Chairman for getting some units transferred! Does the Chairman of a mega institution like UTI get units transferred?  Vajpayee’s son-in-law seems to think that he is smart enough to fool the whole country.

•      Another scam of Atal Behari Vajpayee Government relates to laying the  foundation stone of a Software Technology Park, named as ‘Cybertron Technopolis’ by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.  The park was promoted by the same Johri brothers who were benefited by the UTI scam. The RSS man who facilitated this was Pradeep Narayan Mathur, who is a trustee of Vishwa Samvad Kendra in Lucknow and a senior member of VHP. The Rajnath Singh government in UP collaborated in the venture by becoming a partner of the proposed IT park.

•      Since the company had the blessings of the Prime Minister, the innocent public invested heavily in the company. Now the promoter, Arvind Johri is under investigation by the CBI but the Prime Minister is silent. The then UP Chief Minister and now Union Minister, Rajnath Singh is also silent on the entire episode. In his statement to the CBI, ex-UTI chief Subramanyam claimed that among those who called him up regarding the purchase of Cyberspace shares were Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s private secretary Bharat Vyas. So much for probity.

2.2 Petrol Pump and Gas Agency Allotment Scam

•      Kith and kin of many top BJP, NDA, RSS and Sangh Parivar functionaries were awarded petrol pumps and gas agencies by flouting all norms. In November 2000, the Government set up Dealer Selection Boards across the country comprising of three members - many of whom were retired judges - all handpicked by the Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik. Over half of the 3,850 allotments until May 2002 (just two months before the scam surfaced) went to BJP workers, their relatives and Sangh Parivar allies.

•      It was done in complete disregard of the Parliament Committee’s report on Petroleum and Chemicals 2001. The report said, “The Committee came across reports indicating that chairman/chairmen of selection boards have brought to the notice of the government that they are being pressurized by politicians recommending/pressuring them to make allotment in the name of specific persons”. There were cases of proof of payments made to BJP functionaries in Maharashtra in lieu of such allotments. But the NDA Government set up an elaborate charade, the Prime Minister cancelled the allotments knowing full well that the cancellation could be legally challenged. Congress demanded legislative cover for the cancellation, the Government refused. The inevitable happened, the Supreme Court struck down the cancellation by the Prime Minister.

•      The Standing Committee on Petroleum and Chemicals, in its report on the 20^th of December 2002, severely indicted the allotment procedure followed in petrol pump allotments.

•      The petrol pump scam thus established that what happened were not a few sporadic instances of favoritism but a systematic doling out of largesse, with the tacit blessings of the BJP high command and active assistance from the government. Erstwhile DSB chairperson for Jammu and Kashmir, Vidya Sagar, alleged that Ram Naik used to call him to say that 50 per cent of petrol pumps should be given to BJP supporters. Erstwhile DSB Chairperson Himachal Pradesh, R.K. Mahajan, and Yadunath Sharan Singh, DSB Chairperson Patna, also went on record to say that there was political pressure on them from all sides for the allotment of petrol pumps and gas agencies.

•      A look at the list of beneficiaries, as revealed by The Indian Express, is an eye-opener. For instance, the list from Maharashtra includes names of Sreeniwas Madhavrao Vaidya, son of RSS spokesperson M.G. Vaidya, Sunita Phundkar, wife of State BJP chief Pandurang Phundkar and Dhananjay Munde, nephew of BJP leader and former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and other relatives of BJP and Shiv Sena leaders.

•      The list from Uttar Pradesh includes the name of Aparna Mishra, wife of Raj Mishra, a relative of Vajpayee. In fact, her address was the same as the Prime Minister's Lucknow address.

•      The allies of the BJP too got their share. For instance Union Labour Minister Sharad Yadav's nephew Rahul Yadav secured a petrol pump in Rewari in Haryana; wives, sons, daughters-in-law, nephews, BJP leaders themselves and of the allies, figure in the list of beneficiaries of allotment from other States. For instance, the followers of Akali Dal in Punjab and Samta party in Bihar are major beneficiaries of allotment.

2.3 Judeo Scam 

•      Former BJP Union Minister, Dilip Singh Judeo was proclaimed to be the great Hindutva hero of Chattisgarh. Through a video recording he was caught taking drinks in a five star hotel’s room and taking cash money to expedite mining projects in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Not just that, he said that money was no less than God Himself.

•      Natwar Rateria, assistant PS to Judeo, told the CBI that he along with Judeo had met an official of a mining company named Rahul Sarogi in the first week of November 2003, at New Delhi’s Taj Mahal hotel. With nothing to cling to, the CBI finally registered a FIR against Judeo on 22^nd December 2003, more than a month after he was caught on camera accepting money.

Government’s statements to shield the     accused Dilip Singh Judeo:

•      PM’s contradictory Statements:

•        To shield Dilip Singh Judeo the PM said - “The cassette is very hazy, the identity of who gave the money as well as the details of the Australian firm that has been mentioned in the cassette are not clear”.

•        PM also virtually gave him a clean chit by saying that the election results in Chhattisgarh have favoured the BJP.

•        This statement in effect meant that Vajpayee had already given the clean chit to Judeo by announcing that the allegations were false.

       Judeo’s statements in his own defence:

  • He claimed that even Mahatama Gandhi received money “from Birla” during the freedom struggle.

• Even though he was video-recorded taking bribe, the BJP rallied behind him and projected him as its star-campaigner in the Chhattisgarh elections.

2.4 HUDCO Scam involving Former Union Minister Anant Kumar

•      Notices have been issued by the Supreme Court to BJP leader and former Urban Development Minister Anant Kumar and other officials for allegedly sanctioning loans to the tune of Rs. 14,500 crore without following procedures.

•      Loans worth Rs. 550 crores were written off by the Urban Development Ministry in 2002-03.

•      Loans worth Rs. 500 crores were sanctioned to one party on a single day.

•      Gross procedural irregularities cost the exchequer thousands of crores.

•      Even the office and telephone expenses of Anant Kumar had been met by HUDCO according to the petitioner.

2.5 Plot Allotment Scam

•      The NDA government gave away prime plots in the heart of the nation’s capital to the RSS, the VHP and affiliates of the Sangh Parivar. All these were allotted at an average price much below the market rate. 

•      The tiny Jhandewalan office of the Samarth Shiksha Samiti, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh got land in its name in at least seven prime locations in less than three years.

•      Almost every affiliate organisation of the RSS, including the BJP itself, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (the party’s student wing) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were among the beneficiaries of land allotment. For example, the Laghu Udyog Bharti, whose "Margdarshak" is RSS Chief K. S. Sudarshan, was allotted 571.2 square yards plot at Kotla Road, Rouse Avenue, in New Delhi.

•      Some little known organizations, like the Vaish Aggarwal Education Society also got 1.9 acres land due to the organization’s proximity with Union Minister Vijay Goel, who is also the society’s General Secretary. Similarly, Mukherjee Adarsh Shiksha Sangha has been allotted 1,300.8 square yards in Sarojini Nagar. It has former BJP MLA, Ram Bhaj as Chairman. The Child Education Society of former Delhi Transport Minister and BJP leader, Rajendra Gupta, has been allotted 4 acres of land at Dwarka-Delhi.

•      The Students Experience in Inter-State Living – a front for the ABVP has got 1,428 sq metres of land in Rouse Avenue, right next to the New Delhi Railway Station. Several institutions among the allottees were those who are affiliated to the Sangh Parivar.

•      BJP President, Venkaiah Naidu and his family members, as per newspapers reports, gained possession of 4.95 acres of government land in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, meant for distribution to landless poor and weaker sections. Venkaiah was a member of the State Assembly when the land was assigned to him. Under attack from all quarters, Venkaiah Naidu was forced to relinquish the ownership of the land.

•      Dharmayatra Mahasangh, whose patron is Union Minister Jagmohan and President is BJP's leader Mange Ram Garg, was also allotted a 571-square-yard plot in Rouse Avenue.

2.6 Medical Procurement Scam

•      From 1998 onwards, the Central Government Health Services made a departure from the policy of purchasing drugs directly from the manufacturers. Till 1998, the Medical Store Organisation (MSO) of the Health Ministry had been the agency for this purpose and only those medicines not available through the MSO, were procured from the local authorised chemists. From that year onwards, however, more and more medicines are being directly purchased from private manufactures and chemists empanelled with the Health Ministry. This has apparently resulted in gross irregularities, as the chemists formed a cartel.

•      In this connection, the CBI raided two former aides of former Union Health Minister, C.P. Thakur. Criminal cases have been registered against them. They are suspected by the CBI to have colluded with chemists to sell medicines to the government dispensaries at astronomical prices.

•      The scam calls into question the former Health Minister’s role in the scam as the CBI has picked up leads from a large number of documents seized during the raids on two of the aides of Former Health Minister Dr. Thakur.

3. FAIlures of NDA Government

3.1 Mounting Unemployment

•      Unemployment situation in the country has reached alarming heights. The Prime Minister and his Government have chosen to juggle figures rather than present a comprehensive employment generation plan. The Prime Minister had promised generation of one crore new jobs per year for the youth of India. By using a small sample of NSS, he claims that 8.4 million jobs have been created. Economists regard this assertion of PM as unreliable and unwarranted.

•      The actual figures show a drop in annual rate of growth of employment. Between 1983-1984 and 1993-1994, the annual rate of growth of employment was 2.67% a year. Between 1993-1994 and 1999-2000 this slowed to 1.07% a year, according to NDA Government’s Economic Survey for the year 2002-2003. The unemployment rate grew from 5.99% in 1993-94 to 7.32% in 1999-2000. Organized sector employment dropped from 28.2 million in 1997 to 27.7 million in 2001.

•      With the growth rate of the economy declining under the NDA rule, job opportunities have ceased to grow at an acceptable rate, leading to an explosive situation on the unemployment front.

•      The story of the unemployment scenario in India may be demonstrated by the fact that 7.5 million youth applied for 38,000 vacancies of Gangman and other manual labour positions in the Indian Railways. The applicants included Postgraduates, Management trainees and other professionally qualified youths. Does the NDA Government care for the unemployed youths at all?

3.2 Loot of Public Sector

•      The Centre has raised Rs.11,260.23 crore from the sale of 31 PSU’s, including 18 hotels of the Indian Tourism Development Corporation and 3 of the Hotel Corporation of India, since the sale of Modern Foods in January 2000. So far, 39 PSU’s have been sold in 10 states. Most of these PSUs have been sold to 'favourites' of the Vajpayee Government.

•      The erstwhile Disinvestment Commission had specifically warned against the option of bridging the budget deficit by raking in money from disinvestments. Disinvestment Commission wanted the proceeds of disinvestment to be used for financing infrastructure, restructuring of loss-making PSU’s or for retiring public debt. That was the policy followed by the last Congress Government. The present government has reversed that.

•      The most blatant cases of erosion of public money through disinvestment are as follows:

• (A) BALCO:

•      Balco was the only public sector company producing special aluminum alloy to meet critical requirement of defence and for production of other space accessories.    

•      It was one of the few profitable PSUs and had a huge surplus reserve of about Rs.300 crore, even at the time of its disinvestment. Since this amount of surplus was sufficient to undertake modernization of plant and machinery, without going for an outside partner, the move of disinvestment was highly questionable.

•      The assets alone were worth Rs.5,000-6,000 crore. The aluminium giant where missiles such as ‘Agni’ and ‘Prithvi’ were shaped, was sold to Sterlite  company for a paltry sum of Rs.551 crore.

•      The whole process of selecting the bidder was done in a suspicious manner. It discarded all the norms prescribed like minimum requirement of six parties, minimum time for submission of offer (15 days) and requisite earnest money deposit in case there is limited tender. Out of the four parties, Mr. P.V.Rao was selected, although he had no experience in the aluminium sector, to undertake the specific job involving in-depth examination and valuation of assets.

•      This is in great contrast with the sale of SAIL’s Captive Power Plants (CPPs)  in Rourkela and Durgapur, where a professional consultancy firm, Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (MECON), was contracted to do the valuation.

(B)  CENTAUR HOTEL:

•      The CAG, in its recently released report-2004, has expressed serious doubts on the methods used by the NDA government for computing the valuation of the underlying assets in the matter of dis-investment of Centaur Hotel. CAG has stated that the Government had suffered a loss of rupees 145.69 crores in revenue in the sale of Centaur Hotel.

•      In June 2002, the 288-room Centaur Hotel near Mumbai’s domestic airport was sold by the Hotel Corporation of India to Batra Hospitality, for Rs 83 crore. Within four months, Batra Hospitality sold off the hotel property to the Sahara group for Rs 115 crore, raking in a 35% profit.

•      Batra Hospitality has been promoted by Amrit Lal Batra, an industrialist who is close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

•      The bidding process of the hotel is alleged to have been rigged in favour of A. L. Batra. Initially, there were 12 potential bidders who had expressed an interest in procuring the government stake in Centaur, of which 11 dropped out. As the initial bid price of of Rs 65 crores offered by Batra Hospitality was lower than the reserve price of Rs 75 crore fixed by the government, a re-bid was undertaken.

•      It is to be noted that before the second round of bidding commenced, a couple of important clauses of the sale agreement were changed to suit Batra Hospitality.

3.3 Plight of Farmers

•      While addressing a meeting of farmers in Haryana on February 19, 2004, Dy. Prime Minister LK Advani conceded that there is no feel good factor amongst the farmers of our country.

•      250 million people work in the rural sector. 700 million people depend on the rural sector for a living. Average annual employment growth in the agriculture sector was 2.23% between 1983 and 1993-1994. The growth was 0.02% between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 the agriculture and allied sector grew at an annual average rate of 4.63% during the years 1992-1997 but grew only by 2.02% a year during the years 1997-2002. Even the NDA government has accepted (Economic Survey 2002-03) that the decline in the share of investment in agriculture as per cent of GDP from 1.6 per cent in 1993-1994 to 1.3 percent in subsequent years has been an area of continued concern.

•      The NDA government has no plan for reviving public investments in agriculture. Public extension services have collapsed. Nor does the NDA government have a plan for improving credit delivery to agriculture, apart from the election-eve declaration that banks should lend at 2 percentage points below Prime Lending Rate. During the NDA government, bank lending for agriculture has been consistently lower than the Nationally accepted target of 18 percentage. Every Indian know that without agriculture and allied sectors growing at 4%, the dream of 8% GDP growth is impossible.

•      NDA's total neglect of agriculture has led to increasing joblessness and unprecedented migration from villages to cities. Farmers are reeling under heavy debt and are being forced to commit suicide. There are reports from Orissa that the poor have to resort to eating mango kernels. Can India shine when large section of the population, particularly those dependent on agriculture, are starving and are even being forced to sell their children?

•      Funds have been announced with a lot of fanfare, invariably without any budgetary provisions. For example, some months ago, the NDA government announced that it would give rupees 2000 crores to State governments to be given to sugar mills to pay off sugarcane arrears to farmers. Not a single farmer in Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu has seen that money.

•      According to reports, food production during 2002-2003 was lowest in the past seven years. Oil seeds output was lowest since past 13 years. Total food grain output fell short by 13.89%, output of oilseeds came down by 24.7%, food grain output fell short of 17%, which had been on increase up till 1996-1997.

•      Growth in agriculture sector including animal husbandry, forestry and fishing declined from 5.7% in 2001-2002 to (-) 3.1% in 2002-2003. 

3.4 The Shame of Farmers' Suicides

•      Nothing could be more shameful for the NDA Government, and tragic for us all, than the suicides committed by farmers during the tenure of the government. As per the documents of the Union Home Ministry-1999, poverty caused 2,952 suicides, unemployment caused 2,124 suicides and the NDA-neglected agriculture sector had 14,833 farmers taking their lives. In the last five years these sectors have seen an even greater decline; therefore, the figures for 2003-2004 would be even worse.

3.5 Discrimination in Allocation of Food Grains to States suffering from Drought

•      In the three worst droughts affected years (2001-02, to 2003-2004), palpable discrimination was observed in allocating food grains to the States ruled by Congress Government and the States who are coalition partners of the NDA Government.

•      Rajasthan was allocated only marginally more food grains when the issue was raised by Hon'ble Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi.

•      Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which were also reeling under unprecedented drought, were not allocated as much food grains as other States ruled by NDA allies were allocated.

3.6 No Welfare for SC/ST

•      The Indian Constitution has provided adequate protective, positive discrimination for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Any government is under an obligation to ameliorate the conditions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes by making suitable provisions for their education, employment and social justice. Congress government implemented the special scheme of SCP for achieving above objective.

•  

•      Unfortunately under the NDA government regime, real per capita budgetary allocation for total SC/ST welfare has declined from Rs. 39.2 in 2002-2003 to Rs. 36.9 in 2003-2004.

•      Apart from decreasing funding, the Vajpayee government was a mute spectator when VHP and Bajrang Dal people were massacring Dalits in Jhajjar, Haryana and other parts of country.

3.7Women’s Reservation Bill

•      After promising the women of India that they would be given legislative reservation, the NDA has recanted on its promise. It is only the Congress party, which has a demonstrated track record for empowering women. The Congress fulfilled Rajiv Gandhi's dream to provide 33 percent reservation for women in Panchayats and Nagarpalikas. For almost 6 years, Vajpayee's promise remains just that, a promise. Even after Congress has time and again promised its full cooperation, the NDA has not been able to reconcile its own differences.

3.8 Escalating Price of Essential Commodities

•      While the NDA makes tall claims about the economy, a large section of the population goes to sleep hungry. Prices have escalated to unprecedented levels. In October 1994, price of ration rice per kilo was Rs. 4.45 while the open market price was Rs. 9.50; in 2004 the price of ration rice per kilo is Rs. 6.15 while in open market it is Rs. 14.00 per kilo. Price of wheat in the open market was Rs. 6.50 per kilo in 1994 and now it is Rs. 14.00 per kilo. The price of kerosene in 1994 was Rs. 6.00 per liter, now it is Rs. 18.00 per liter. The price of diesel was Rs. 7.80 per liter in 1994, and now it is Rs. 20.53 per liter. The price of petrol was Rs. 11.75 per liter in 1994 but in 2004 it has gone up to Rs. 33.70 per liter. The price of LPG has doubled from 1994 to 2004.

 3.9 Neglect of Health sector

•      In the 2003-04 Budget, the per capita budgetary allocations for medicine and public health declined for both revenue and capital account under plan and non-plan heads. The 2003-04 Budget, in fact, encouraged privatisation of the health care sector. The same Budget also reduced budgetary allocations for TB Control Programme, National Filaria Control Programme, Trachoma Control Programme and Blindness Control Programme. According to the Human Development Report of the UNDP 2002, less than 50% of the population has access to essential drugs, only 31% is using adequate sanitation facilities, 47% children below the age of 5 years are underweight and only 42% of births are attended by skilled health staff.

3.10.1 Right to Education only on Paper

•      Public expenditure on education was 3.9% of GDP in 1990 and has only increased to 4.1% in 1998-2000. The Tenth Plan had a target that all children should be in school by 2003. Nothing of this sort has happened. The government has failed in its responsibility of providing basic education.

•      Plan capital allocation on education has declined from 30 paisa per head in 2002-2003 to 18 paisa per head in 2003-2004.

•      Through the 86^th Constitutional Amendment in December 2002, it was stated, 'The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may by law, determine.' Then the NDA Government had promised to spend Rs. 9,800 crores a year for the next decade but only 15% of the amount has materialized, thus making it all a farcical joke. S. C. Tripathi, Secretary Education, wrote to Planning Commission Secretary N. K. Sinha: "The objectives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the literacy mission are under the threat of becoming illusionary."

•      Further the education scenario has suffered with the following:

3.10.2 Communalisation of Education

•      Under the NDA Government, the education system has been pushed into a state of confusion over moral and religious curricula. The government has pushed the RSS ideology and views into textbooks, especially history textbooks. These efforts are blue-prints for an education system that is tailor made for communalization of education. Instead of giving priority for science and technology, all efforts of NDA government are centered around distorting historical facts and development.

•      NDA Government has taken steps like the following which would result in denigrating and lowering the academic standards of educational institutions:

  •      Subversion of institutes of excellence like ICSSR, ICHR, ICPR, Institute of Avanced Studies etc. by denial of adequate funds and uncalled for interventions;

  •      Weakening the academic autonomy of Universities by imposing Common Admission Tests, through an ordinance, which will hit many institutions of higher learning including the minority institutions like AMU;

  •       Subjugating the IIT & IIMs by reducing fees; and

  •       Controlling all aid from donors through the Bharat Shiksha Kosh.

3.11 (In) Security Situation

•      First came the Lahore Bus ride, then Kargil, then a ceasefire, then calls for a final war (aar-paar ki ladaai) with Pakistan and finally the much-trumpeted thaw in Indo-Pak relations. All through the Prime Minister’s attempts at peace and war, innocent Indian citizens continue to be slaughtered. India’s symbols of Democracy, the Red Fort and the Parliament, have not been spared while the Prime Minister oscillates between playing a dove and a hawk.

•      The Subramaniam Committee report on Kargil has already indicted the NDA Government for failure in intelligence. The Kargil Review Committee made it clear that the intrusion across the LOC in Kargil was a result of “systematic failure”, involving intelligence agencies and the government in general. The government did not take the report seriously and in 2003, another Kargil like intrusion was detected, wherein terrorists from across the border had set up their camps in Hill Kaka area of Surankote in J&K. An operation named “Sarp Vinash” was hastily launched to eliminate the militants in the region. This was another instance of this government’s irresponsible attitude towards security of the country.

•      This so-called ‘nationalist’ Government has given the worst example of kneeling before terrorists anywhere in the world. The then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, personally escorted the most dreaded terrorists in India to Kandahar. One of those released, Maulana Masood Azhar, gave a new impetus to terrorism in India. Masood Azhar and terrorists like him have masterminded and carried out the attacks on Kashmir Legislative Assembly, the Parliament, the residential area of the Indian Army in Kaluchak and the pilgrims on their way to Amarnath and Vaishnodevi. The terrorists have been attacking religious places with an aim to create communal tension and the NDA Government. has been unable to contain the same. Why did the Government release dreaded terrorists? Why did the External Affairs Minister personally escort the terrorists to Kandahar? Was it part of the deal to legitimize the Taliban Government in Kabul? Did the Vajpayee Government strike a deal with the Taliban?

•      Operation Parakram cost the country rupees 8,000 crores and hundreds of casualties in de-mining operations. But it is still a mystery for Indians why the army was mobilised on such a massive scale, made to wait for 11 months in combat-readiness and then withdrawn?

3.12 Attacks on the Media

•      Tehelka.com instead of being commended for its expose on defence related corruption had to face unprecedented attacks, which led to its closure. Tehelka’s sources of finances, its owners, its journalists were all systematically targeted by the government. A foreign correspondent, Alex Perry of Times' magazine, who was critical of the Prime Minister, faced harassment. There were incidents of journalists being jailed and later released for lack of evidence. Prominent journalists covering the Gujarat riots were threatened over the phone. 

• 3.13 Charge-sheeted Ministers and Subversion of CBI

•      Three ministers – LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati – charge-sheeted in the Babri demolition case enjoyed ministerial office for years and Uma Bharati has now become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Instead of asking them to demit office, the Prime Minister strongly defended their presence in the cabinet.
   

•      The CBI has been continually used by the NDA government as an instrument of political manipulation and for settling political scores. Nothing reflects this more blatantly than the fact that the CBI diluted the charges against L. K. Advani in the Babri Masjid Demolition case as a result of which the Rae Bareilly Court discharged Advani, while charging the seven others including Uma Bharati and Murli Manohar Joshi. The CBI has now decided not to file a revision petition challenging the discharge of L. K. Advani.

3.14 Communal face of Vajpayee Government

(A) Gujarat Violence

•      Narendra Modi’s government protected the killers and arsonists who were active in Gujarat violence in early 2002. The Supreme Court’s order staying the trial of riot cases in Gujarat amply proved that the judicial process was being hampered by the Modi government. Advani described the Gujarat riots as an aberration, and praised Modi’s handling of the riots. He described Modi’s handling of the communal violence as unparalleled and stoutly defended his chief ministership. Advani told the Rajya Sabha in July 2002 that Modi had turned out to be “the best Chief Minister in the last half century.” Instead of diffusing tensions, Advani praised Modi’s “Gaurav Yatra”.

•      Shameless and tension-creating statements continued to emanate from Narendra Modi who said, “Relief camps are actually child-making factories. Those who keep on multiplying the population should be taught a lesson.” 

(B) Scuttling Liberhan Commission

•      The NDA Government does not want the Liberhan Commission, investigating the Babri Masjid Demolition, to complete its report by 31^st March 2004. Crucial investigation staff provided to the Commission by the CBI has been steadily withdrawn to ensure delay in timely release of the Liberhan Commission's report. Even after the Commission's Secretary writing to the Government of India on 25 July 2003 for providing senior-level officers, the Government has not been helpful. The CBI has told the Commission that due to an acute shortage of staff it cannot spare any senior officers. Clearly, the NDA Government does not want the truth to come out before the Lok Sabha elections. With Kalyan Singh rejoining the BJP, it also does not want to cause embarrassment to BJP leaders after what Kalyan Singh had said before the Commission. 

• (C) Communal Violence in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh

•      Even after the internationally condemned killing of Graham Staines in Orissa by Bajrang Dal and VHP activists, the BJP continues to aid and abet violence against minorities. Immediately after the BJP came to power in Madhya Pradesh, at Jhabua on 14 January 2004, a mob of VHP activists forced their way into the Catholic mission school complex, pelted stones and attacked the priests and some innocent Adivasis. Instead of arresting these VHP hooligans, the State Government headed by Ms. Uma Bharti arrested 12 Christians for violence. After Gujarat, it seems that it now is the turn of Madhya Pradesh to be a laboratory for communal violence.

• 3.15 The Actual State of India

•      Going by the UNDP Human Development Report-2003 and NDA Government's own figures, it can hardly be said that all of India is shining. India's ranking in UNDP's Human Development Report has come down from 124 to 127. 34.7% of the population lives below the international poverty line; 47% of children under the age 5 are underweight; 25% of the population was under nourished; 56% of children were immunised against measles in 1990 and the figures continues to be exactly the same in the year 2001. Infant mortality rate is 67 per thousand and improvement in the infant mortality rate has stagnated. 15.3% of the Indian population will not survive till the age of 40. Nearly half the country's population still suffers from chronic under nutrition and malnutrition. The most vulnerable are children, women and the elderly among the lower income groups. BJP led NDA government has taken no credible measures to attend to these tasks.

•      There is a food surplus of 65 million tonnes while 320 million people are not able to earn a square meal. More than 135 million people have no access to basic health facilities. More than 226 million people have no access to safe drinking water. This must change.

• 3.16   Denigrating Key Institutions of Indian 

• Democracy

•      The NDA Government has denigrated key and essential institutions on which Indian Democracy rests. The reports of JPC, CAG, CVC and NHRC have not been heeded to and these institutions have been continually attacked by the BJP.

4. Vajpayee's Flip-Flops

(A)    On Ayodhya

      In April 1991, Vajpayee as an opposition leader says at a VHP rally that construction of a temple at Ram Janmabhoomi is necessary because "national honour" has to be restored.

A day after the Babri mosque was demolished; Vajpayee says it was the "saddest day of my life".

In February 1998 Vajpayee lists "construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya" in BJP election manifesto.

After controversy erupts over construction activity in Ayodhya, Vajpayee writes to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, "The judiciary will be unfettered in discharging its duty in the Ayodhya matter". "Demolition of Babri masjid was a mishap and mishaps don't get repeated", he tells Lok Sabha.

In December 2000, Vajpayee shocks the nation by saying the Ayodhya agenda is still incomplete, describes Ramjanmabhoomi movement as "expression of national sentiment... still to be realised". He also tells reporters- "temple could be built at the disputed site and the mosque built elsewhere in Ayodhya".

After pressure from opposition a few days later, in December 2000, Vajpayee said, "I never asked for building a Ram temple at the site of the demolished mosque".

In his Kumarakom musings, Vajpayee 'clarifies' reference to Ram temple and national sentiment was in "past tense". "We cannot forever remain shackled to debate on demolitions, either of the distant or recent past. India must move on".

On 1 August 2003, at Ramchandra Paramhan’s funeral in Ayodhya, Vajpayee says all obstacles in the way of temple would be removed, urges opponents to "come to their senses".

 (B) On George Fernandes

When George Fernandes resigned after Tehelka in March 2001, 'The Defence Minister's resignation is an expression of our commitment to law.'

When asked how George Fernandes was reinducted without being absolved of charges in October 2001, 'No Comments' said Vajpayee.

  (C) On Gujarat and Modi

While visiting Gujarat in the aftermath of the riots, "This Gujarat Chief Minister should follow rajdharma and uphold laws".

On a visit to the State in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots in April 2002, 'If innocent people had not been burnt alive in Godhra, the tragedy could have been averted.'

  (D) On Muslims

In his Kumarakom musings, January 2001, "Worse still, a campaign was launched to create misgivings about me in the minds of our minority brethren."

While campaigning for the UP Assembly elections of 2002, "We do not need Muslim support to form a government".

  (E) On Communal Tensions in the Dangs

In January 1999, "The Constitution allows anyone to change his faith. It is legitimate."

On his return from the Dangs in February 1999, "There should be a national debate on conversions."

   (F) On being a Swayamsevak

While visiting USA in September 2000, Vajpayee said, “I am a Swayamsevak first.”

Later the PMO denied he had said this. It was stated that Vajpayee had said that he was Swayamsevak of the country.

   (G) On Employment for Youth

In the NDA Manifesto, Vajpayee promised 10 million jobs to youth annually for the next ten years.

On 30 December 2000, Vajpayee asked the youth of India not to look to the Government for jobs.

India will "feel good" only when the NDA government is thrown out. The 21^st century belongs to the Congress Party. The people of India cannot tolerate the Vajpayee Government any more. They have seen through the double-speak of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. They want a government that is honest, consistent and which works. The Congress Party will provide such a government.