Black Money Issue & We the People

Rome Was Not Built In A Day!

Much has been said, discussed and talked about Black Money issue since the Government filed its response in Supreme Court of India stating It cannot reveal names of account holders in foreign banks , this Friday morning. The focus of main stream media has been only on NDA = UPA 3. In fact even people were on high expectations that the black money will be brought back in 100 days as claimed by Modi himself during election rallies. As a result of which now people are loosing their confidence on Government on this issue of black money. The problem is not with people and their lack of understanding but with the media which is not letting out the TRUTH. Fact of the matter is Government failed to take into consideration the people of this country and went on with their work. This may somewhere hurt the image of Mr.Modi as people have already started hating him. My point is simple: The government should have made a statement much before and then carried on with their efforts to bring back black money but on the same time even the people should repose their faith in the newly formed government which formed an SIT on the very first cabinet meeting i,e on 27^th May 2014.

It all dates back to 2011 when senior Supreme Court Lawyer Mr.Ram Jethmalani filed a petition in Court in this issue. From then onwards the court was asking the then incumbent government to form an SIT in this regard but it failed; inviting wrath of Supreme Court. It was then in election campaign in 2014 when the BJP’s Prime Ministrial Candidate Mr.Modi ( now PM of India ) had attacked the UPA for its failure to form an SIT. Now when he’s become PM he kept his promise of bringing in black money when the cabinet approved to form an SIT. The allegations made after today’s stand in SC are that Ambani, Adani and all those who r said by the media to b close to Mr.Modi have their accounts there and hence the Modi government is refusing to disclose the names. This argument though well received is completely hollow for the reason being: If at all , lets consider for a moment, Mr.Modi is trying to shield those industrialist then the very first thing is he would have never asked an SIT to b set up. He could have argued in the Court for years together like the previous government did. But he did not. So the ridiculous argument of shielding Ambani and Adani stand nullified. Another point is that people claim it that Ambani’s and Adani’s have accounts in Swiss bank. My argument: Who told? Is there any proof? How come the common man knows who has accounts in foreing banks and who has not? Has the media hub which claims at the top of voice any evidence to support this argument? If they have then instead of telecasting it they should submit it to the SC. Next argument made is Modi is only a talking parrot. My counter argument: If Modi is talking parrot then Why did u believe him for last 5 months? If Modi is a talking parrot how is it that India and Switzerland are working on bilateral agreement on black money case? If Modi is a talking parrot then how come Swiss officials who till now were in denial mode agreed to share information in this regard with India? How come is the Government trying to sort this issue with Mauritius and Germany? This again proves the hollowness of some elites trying to blame Modi Government. Yet another stupid argument is that BJP leaders of which some cabinet minister’s names are being attached have their accounts in Germany and hence the Government is not ready to disclose the names. If cabinet was involved they would have stopped the FM and PM from doing so. But what Ravi Shankar Prasad said in media briefing was this,’’The cabinet unanimously approved forming SIT in this matter’’ Do I again need to highlight the word Unanimously!

Interestingly when so called opposition leaders are attacking the government even the people have started criticising the same without knowing the nitty gritty of the case. The very first thing to be considered is that in 1995 the UPA government signed a DTAA agreement with Germany  where the clause prohibits from disclosing the names of account holders as a matter of privacy and also says that unless the charges are proven nothing should be disclosed. Even the Supreme Court guidelines state this and I quote,

1.‘’That ..The Union of India is exempted from revealing the names of those individuals who have accounts in banks of Liechtenstein, and revealed to it by Germany with respect of who investigations/enquiries are still in progress and no information or evidence of wrongdoing is yet available’’

Clearly the Court says not to disclose anything if enquiries are unable to prove charges!The order goes on to say,

2. The revelation of details of bank accounts of individuals,

without establishment of prima facie grounds to accuse

them of wrong doing, would be a violation of their rights

to privacy. Details of bank accounts can be used by those

who want to harass, or otherwise cause damage, to

individuals. We cannot remain blind to such possibilities,

and indeed experience reveals that public dissemination

of banking details, or availability to unauthorized persons,

has led to abuse. The mere fact that a citizen has a bank

account in a bank located in a particular jurisdiction

cannot be a ground for revelation of details of his or her

account that the State has acquired.

The right to privacy is a Constitutional right of every citizen of this country and hence in any case it cannot be violated. If everything is disclosed it may lead to infringement of a person’s right merely on the ground that he has an account in this bank. It further says,

3. Whether the State itself can access details of citizens bank accounts is

a separate matter. However, the State cannot compel

citizens to reveal, or itself reveal details of their bank

accounts to the public at large, either to receive benefits

from the State or to facilitate investigations, and

prosecutions of such individuals, unless the State itself

has, through properly conducted investigations, within the

four corners of constitutional permissibility, been able to

establish prima facie grounds to accuse the individuals of

wrong doing. It is only after the State has been able to

arrive at a prima facie conclusion of wrong doing, based

on material evidence, would the rights of others in the

nation to be informed, enter the picture.

None can compel the person to disclose the identity without going to fair trial. If proved the citizen have right to know who the traitor is but not unless the charges are proved.

4. There is no presumption that

every account holder in banks of Liechtenstein has acted

unlawfully. In these circumstances, it would be

inappropriate for this Court to order the disclosure of such

names, even in the context of proceedings under Clause (1)

of Article 32.

In all the above statements by the H’ble Supreme Court of India , The Court has unequivocally said that unless the charges are proved no one, absolutely no one can disclose the identity of a concerned person and infringe his/her’s right to privacy. Still the main stream media and some 5 star activists working for others , funded by others, Modi baitors, and all anti national elements are shouting out on the top of the voice that Modi Government is making a U-Turn. I would like to highlight the fact what Mr.Mukul Rohatagi (AG) said today. He said,’’ Not ALL information can be disclosed and made public’’ He said Not ‘’ALL’’! Means some things which are prohibited by law cannot be made public as a result of right to life with dignity and the right to privacy of concerned person may be infringed! And State and Judiciary are there to protect the rights of the citizen and not to breach them! Even the FM Arun Jaitley said that DTAA act is the problem and the government is trying its best to sort it out and further schedule of this will be made public shortly! When FM himself is clarifying that the government will sort out things and is committed to bring back all the black money irrespective of come what may.........Still We the People instead of standing by the government are criticizing it for its failure! But my question is where is the failure? For argument’s sake Mr.Modi indeed said 100 days but which 100 days (?) that’s not mentioned by him! And even Rome was not built in a day folks!

Twitter and Facebook comments show lack of understanding of law among masses. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court- The highest authority of Law in India. And when SC has not objected to this then we the people who don’t even know the ‘L’ Of Law are no one to comment on this serious issue. Rest the Law takes its own course and the matter is in safe hands when an SIT is set up by Supreme Court itself and Court is monitoring it as well. We need not create ruckus and tell the whole world how our brains work. Instead wait and watch. Sabra Ka Phaal Meetha Hoota Hai. ..........