New Delhi: The Congress has raised a strong objection to the Narendra Modi government’s decision to approach the Supreme Court seeking permission to allocate spectrum without auction, an issue politically exploited to the hilt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to defame the Manmohan Singh government.
The Modi government filed an application 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.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday, “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, Ramesh 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. 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.
Reckless allocation of resources to crony capitalists has been one of the main charges against the Modi government by the Congress. SHAKTI is one of the countless acronyms coined by Modi over the last decade and forgotten without a trace. SHAKTI here meant ‘Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyla (Coal) Transparently in India’. Envisaged in 2017, this policy raised hopes of a transparent system to stamp out the factor of arbitrariness in the reward of contracts relating to natural resources. But allegations of favouritism and arbitrariness didn’t stop. About coal allocation, Congress communications chief Ramesh had issued a statement last year, “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.”
The statement further said: “Your Government passed the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act on 20 March 2015 to implement the Supreme Court’s decision to cancel and auction prior coal mine allocations. However Section 11(1) of the Act added a convenient loophole by permitting a new concessionaire to continue mining contracts signed by the previous allottee. This led to the reappointment of the Adani Group by BJP state governments as mine developer and operator (MDO) for two mines, including the Parsa East and Kente Basan coal block in Chhattisgarh on 26 March 2015.”
Ramesh added, “A subsequent NITI Aayog report critiquing this allotment has reportedly been suppressed, but correspondence has now emerged in which senior officials in your own office have described these allocations as ‘inappropriate’ and lacking ‘consistency and transparency’. Clearly your own officials, perhaps fearful of being held accountable, are distancing themselves from this blatant favouritism towards the Adani Group. Are their written observations not a stinging condemnation of your hypocrisy and the fact that you have clearly been tainted by the curse of scam and corruption? Even after pointing out that the fresh MDO contracts with the Adani Group were opaque and inappropriate, PMO officials chose to amend the Coal Block Allocation Rules only prospectively to prevent this in the future. They left the problematic Adani Group allocations untouched even though the Group is the sole beneficiary of the Section 11(1) loophole. Did you put any pressure on your officials to ensure that no retrospective changes are made that could damage the commercial interests and cash flows of your cronies?”
Congress Calls Out Modi Govt's 'Hypocrisy' in Wanting to Allocate Spectrum Sans Auction
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27.04.2024
New Delhi: The Congress has raised a strong objection to the Narendra Modi government’s decision to approach the Supreme Court seeking permission to allocate spectrum without auction, an issue politically exploited to the hilt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to defame the Manmohan Singh government.
The Modi government filed an application 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.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday, “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, Ramesh said, “Of course, this ‘Modani Regime’ has already been handing over public resources to the Prime Minister’s crony capitalist friends – airports........
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