Arvind Kejriwal's nephew arrested in PWD scam: This is how Modi government is trying to crush AAP
The arrest of Vinay Bansal, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s nephew is not the first case of police onslaught on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and people related to it. It didn’t come as a surprise, at all.
The "do logon ki sarkar" (government run by two men) at the Centre has made it clear since the AAP came to power in Delhi that it would leave no stone unturned to take revenge for the massive loss it faced in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.
The PWD Case: Bit by bit
Vinay Bansal’s father, the late Surendra Bansal, was a contractor with the PWD for around 15-20 years, before he died in 2017. It was not that he started working with the Delhi government after the AAP came to power in February 2015.
The said contract was awarded to Bansal’s firm before the AAP came to power in Delhi. The work was awarded to his firm during President’s rule. It was for construction of a drain.
The drain was constructed by the company. Third party certification of the construction was done by IIT-Roorkee. The PWD also handed over certificate of completion to the company after a site visit and the third party certification.
Later in 2017, a politically motivated FIR was registered by the lately "infamous" Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) against Bansal’s firm. The company was charged with not having executed the work of constructing the drain properly. A quality check of the drain was assigned to the Sriram Labs, which later gave a clean chit to the work done. The PWD also remained firm on its stand over the work and cleared it of any compromise with quality.
Even the media reported that the people who were using the drain were happy with the quality of work done by the firm. Then why was Bansal haunted by the ACB?
Let’s try to understand.
ACB: A guided missile
Delhi’s Anti-Corruption Branch is a part of the vigilance department of the government of Delhi. It even worked on the directions of the elected government for the first few months after the AAP came to power. However, the Centre, through a notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs, took over the control of the ACB and the story changed from here.
The new story has a clear, one-sided narrative. The ACB will work as an agency to malign the elected government of Delhi led by Arvind Kejriwal. Cases would be registered, the AAP leaders/functionaries would be questioned and the agency would leak stories defaming the elected government of Delhi.
One of the former ACB chiefs was quite vocal and was seen speaking to the media numerous times on cases against the members of the AAP and the elected government.
But, even after nearly 40 months of hounding the AAP through the ACB and other agencies, the masters of these agencies have failed to collect evidence of any wrongdoing.
The "do logon ki sarkar" uses the ACB as its “apna chaheta bachha” (favourite child) who would be unleashed against Arvind Kejriwal and his team.
Raids, arrests – nothing new for AAP
It is a clear-cut case of political use of the ACB to malign the name of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the elected government.
The "do logon ki sarkar" having failed miserably in finding anything against Arvind Kejriwal, his MLAs and ministers is now stooping to a new low and targeting Kejriwal's relatives.
The Modi government has got Arvind Kejriwal investigated/raided by all agencies, Manish Sisodia's premises raided by the CBI, Satyendra Jain hounded by the Enforcement Directorate, I-T department and other agencies. And what has been the result of these onslaughts? Nothing.
In most of the cases, the agencies have received flak from the court of law for wrongfully arresting AAP MLAs. Such blatant use of force against a political opponent is not democracy.
The masters of these agencies should also understand that the AAP leadership and its functionaries are not going to crumble under such pressure. We have grown stronger facing their repression in the past 40 months.
The AAP is not just a political party, but a political revolution and revolutions whenever crushed have gone from strength to strength.
(The writer is a former advisor to the government of Delhi and a functionary of the Aam Aadmi Party.)