News Analysis India

Tag: Kapil Sibal

  • Zakia Jafri questions SIT role in Gujarat riots inquiry

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Appearing for Zakia Jafri, widow of Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that he too has been a victim of communal violence, having lost maternal grandparents after the partition of India in 1947.

    “Communal violence is like lava erupting from a volcano. It is institutionalised violence. Wherever that lava touches, it scars the earth. It is a fertile ground for future revenge,” Sibal said. Arguing before a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, Sibal said the Special Investigative Team looking into the Gujarat riots ignored a mass of evidence and drew conclusions without any investigation.

    “SIT did not record statements, seize phones, check how bombs were manufactured and straightaway filed closure reports,” Sibal said, challenging the clean chit given by SIT to the accused including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

    He said the SIT ignored the tapes of a sting operation by Tehelka magazine, in which many gave statements on their participation in violence and accumulation of arms. Although these tapes were used for conviction in the Naroda Patya case and the Gujarat HC had endorsed their authenticity, the SIT ignored them in Jafri’s complaint.

    Congress MP Jafri was among the 68 killed on February 28, 2002 — a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt,  killing 59 and triggering riots.

  • Zakia Jafri’s plea: Communal violence is like lava erupting from volcano, Kapil Sibal tells SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Communal violence is like a lava erupting from a volcano which scars the ground it touches, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court on Wednesday while arguing for Zakia Jafri who has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 persons including Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister during the 2002 riots there.

    Sibal told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that communal violence is a “fertile ground” for future revenge and he too had lost his maternal grandparents in Pakistan.

    “Communal violence is like lava erupting from a volcano. It is institutionalized violence. Wherever that lava touches, it scars the earth. It is a fertile ground for future revenge,” he told the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

    “I lost my maternal parents to it in Pakistan,” a visibly emotional Sibal told the bench, which was hearing Jafri’s plea.

    The senior advocate, who was representing Jafri, said he is not accusing A or B but a message must be sent to the world that this is “unacceptable” and “cannot be tolerated”.

    He said this is a “historic matter” because the choice is between ensuring that rule of law will prevail or letting people run amok.

    The argument in the matter is going on in the apex court.

    Jafri is the wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, who was killed at Gulberg society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002 during the violence.

    Ehsan Jafri, the former MP, was among the 68 people killed in the violence, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.

    On October 26, the apex court had said it would like to peruse the closure report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) giving the clean chit to 64 persons and the justification given by the magisterial court while accepting it.

    Sibal had earlier argued that Jafri’s complaint was that there was “a larger conspiracy where there was bureaucratic inaction, police complicity, hate speeches and unleashing of violence”.

    On February 8, 2012, the SIT had filed a closure report giving a clean chit to Modi, now the prime minister, and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was “no prosecutable evidence” against them.

    Zakia Jafri had filed a petition in the apex court in 2018 challenging the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her plea against the decision of the SIT.

    The plea also maintained that after the SIT gave a clean chit in its closure report before a trial judge, Zakia Jafri filed a protest petition which was dismissed by the magistrate without considering “substantiated merits”.

    It also said the high court “failed to appreciate” the petitioner’s complaint which was independent of the Gulberg Society case registered at a Police Station in Ahmedabad.

    The high court in its October 2017 order had said the SIT probe was monitored by the Supreme Court.

    However, it partly allowed Zakia Jafri’s petition as far as its demand for a further investigation was concerned.

    It had said the petitioner can approach an appropriate forum, including the magistrate’s court, a division bench of the high court, or the Supreme Court seeking further investigation.

  • In India only two persons powerful, people powerless: Kapil Sibal slams Amit Shah

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his “3 families powerless” remarks and alleged that in India, there are only two persons who are powerful and the people of India are powerless.

    In a tweet, Sibal said, “Amit Shah ji, You say: In J-K 3 families are now powerless. I say: In India only 2 persons are powerful and the people of India are powerless. This is our mother of democracy !”

    Sibal was referring to Shah’s remarks that came while addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of various development projects in Jammu on Sunday.

    “When we came up with the new industrial policy, the three families used to make fun of us as to who will come here. What did these three families give to the state except 87 MLAs and six MPs? PM Narendra Modi has made 30,000 people elected representatives,” Shah said without naming the ‘three families’ of Congress, National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party.

    Shah unveiled the three phases of the IIT Jammu campus on Sunday, the second day of his three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

  • G-23 effect: Congress seeks undertaking from membership aspirants against criticising party in public

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Following several open criticism aimed at Congress by its group of 23 leaders (G-23), the party has now sought an undertaking from leaders and workers to never criticise the party’s policies and programmes in public forums who aspire to take up primary membership.

    “I subscribe to and work for promoting the principles of secularism, socialism and democracy. I shall not, directly or indirectly, openly or otherwise, adversely criticise the accepted policies and programmes of the party, except through party forums,” read the newly constituted membership form.

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    This comes after several senior leaders, who are a part of G-23, criticised the party during media interactions and even questioned the organisational structure, demanding elections within the party.

    Kapil Sibal, a G-23 leader, in September had said that the party leaders are unaware of who is taking the decisions in the party as there is no president.

    “In our party, there is no president so we don’t know who is taking these decisions. We know and yet we don’t know,” he had said.

    Ghulam Nabi Azad had also written a letter to party’s interim President Sonia Gandhi demanding an urgent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet.

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    Ahead of the meeting, the G-23 leaders had demanded elections for CWC members, Central Election Committee (CEC) members, and Parliamentary Board Elections.

    During the CWC meeting on October 16, Sonia Gandhi had issued an indirect attack at the G-23 leaders and said that there is no need to speak to her through the media and suggested partymen to speak to her directly.

    In a way, she displayed that her position in the party cannot be questioned as she is the “full-time and hands-on” party chief.

    The membership form is being seen as an indirect warning from the party’s High Command to G-23 leaders that criticism outside the party is not acceptable.

    A delegation of 23 members (G-23) of Congress in August last year wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding a slew of organisational reforms.

    ALSO READ | Caste equation plays out ahead of revamp in Congress’ Gujarat unit

    Apart from this, the membership form also abstains new leaders from consuming alcohol and drugs.

    It further seeks “manual labour as may be prescribed by the Working Commitee.”

    As part of the membership form, the Congress has said that its objective is the welfare and progress of all Indians and the party has the objective to establish a socialist state through peaceful and constitutional means, which is based on parliamentary democracy.

    The Congress also seeks to establish a regime where there is equality in opportunities and economic, political and social rights and aims to bring world peace and universal brotherhood in society, as per the new membership form. 

  • Every Congress member wants revival, but that requires unity: Sonia Gandhi at CWC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: In an apparent message to the G23, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said she is a full-time, hands-on party president and there is no need for leaders to speak to her through the media.

    Her remarks came days after Kapil Sibal, one of the leaders of the group of 23 who had written to Sonia Gandhi for organisational overhaul last year, demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.

    In her opening remarks at the CWC meeting, Gandhi asserted that every member of the party wants a revival of the Congress, but that requires unity and keeping the party’s interests paramount.

    “Above all, it requires self-control and discipline,” she added.

    Recalling that the Congress had finalised a roadmap for electing a regular Congress chief by June 30 but that deadline was extended indefinitely due to Covid second wave, Sonia Gandhi said that today was the occasion for bringing clarity once and for all on the issue of the organisational polls.

    A schedule for full-fledged organizational elections had been put before the CWC members, she said.

    “I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands-on Congress president,” Gandhi said, which is seen by many as a response to Sibal’s comments last month.

    Sonia Gandhi also asserted that she has always appreciated frankness and there was no need to speak to her through the media.

    “So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC,” she said.

    Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Channi of Punjab attended the meeting.

    Senior leaders and G23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma were among those present at the meeting at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here.

  • Why are you silent on Lakhimpur Kheri incident: Kabil Sibal to PM Modi 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Friday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, and said just “one word of sympathy” was needed from him.

    In a tweet, Sibal said, “Lakhimpur Kheri Horror. Modi ji, Why are you silent? We need just one word of sympathy from you. That should not be difficult!” “Had you been in opposition how would you have reacted? Please tell us,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

    Lakhimpur Kheri HorrorModi jiWhy are you silent ?We need just one word of sympathy from youThat should not be difficult !Had you been in opposition how would you have reacted ?Please tell us
    — Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) October 8, 2021
    Earlier this week, Sibal had urged the Supreme Court to act suo motu on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    He later thanked the Chief Justice of India after the Supreme Court took cognisance of the incident and had said courts in India are temples of justice that can restore the faith of the voiceless.

    Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    The UP police on Thursday made the first arrests in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence taking into custody two people and also summoned Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, an accused, for questioning.

  • After SC takes cognisance of Lakhimpur incident, Sibal hails apex court; Gehlot seeks Centre’s intervention

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday thanked the Chief Justice of India after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and said courts in India are temples of justice that can restore the faith of the voiceless.

    Eight people were killed in the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district during a farmers’ protest on Sunday.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana is scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.

    “Thank the Chief Justice of India for deciding to take up the matter suo motu. This is the need of the hour. This and courts in India are the temples of justice that can restore the faith of the voiceless who most often feel orphaned,” Sibal tweeted.

    Responding to Sibal’s tweet, Congress leader and lawyer Vivek Tankha said, “Yes kapil ji. After such savagery if there is no action it’s a blot on our democracy and Justice delivery system.”

    “SC is gaining trust of people by (taking) such independent decisions!!” he tweeted.

    Earlier in the day, Sibal had urged the Supreme Court to act suo motu on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “Supreme Court, there was a time when there was no YouTube, no social media, the Supreme Court acted suo motu on the basis of news in the print media. It heard the voice of the voiceless,” Sibal said in a tweet.

    The violence in Lakhimpur Kheri has triggered a major political storm with opposition parties accusing the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government of shielding the culprits.

    Of the eight people killed, four were farmers, who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area.

    The other four include two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel.

    Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said the Centre should intervene in the matter.

    He said the entire country was a witness to the struggles of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi against violence in Lakhimpur Kheri and the “dictatorship” of BJP-led government in UP and the Centre.

    “The Uttar Pradesh government had to eventually hear the voice of the nation and release Priyanka ji after an illegal custody of 52 hours,” he tweeted.

    The AICC general secretary was detained in Sitapur early Monday on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri where eight people were killed the previous day.

    While four of the dead in Sunday’s incident were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the others included BJP workers and their driver who were allegedly lynched.

    Gehlot noted that Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders are going there to meet the bereaved families of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “It is surprising that no culprits have been arrested so far. The central government should intervene in the matter to ensure that those guilty are arrested and the victims get justice,” he said in another tweet.

  • Congress may hold CWC by month-end to discuss internal issues: Sources

    Even though no date has been set, the sources said the CWC, the party #39;s apex decision-making body, may meet this month to discuss the internal matters of the party.

  • Gujarat riots: Supreme Court to hear plea of Zakia Jafri against clean chit to Narendra Modi on Oct 26 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday said it would hear on October 26 a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, challenging the Special Investigation Team (SIT) clean chit to Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister during the 2002 riots in the state.

    A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar made it clear that no request for further adjournment at the instance of the petitioner (Zakia Jafri) will be entertained on future dates.

    “At the request of the petitioner, hearing is deferred till October 26,” said the bench, also comprising justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

    “It is made clear that no request for further adjournment at the instance of the petitioner on any count will be entertained on future dates,” said the bench, which granted liberty to the petitioner to file additional compilation in the matter.

    At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Zakia Jafri, said this matter has suddenly come up and there are about 23,000 pages of record and they would circulate a convenience compilation.

    The bench said the matter was notified well in advance.

    “No my lords, it was suddenly notified on Friday,” Sibal said, adding, it was adjourned in April this year and because of the pandemic, it did not come up.

    He requested the bench to list the matter on a fixed date. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the request on the ground of convenience compilation is being raised for the last one-and-a-half year.

    “There is no notice issued, there is no stay, my friend cannot possibly object,” Sibal said.

    However, the bench observed, “Mr.Sibal, we think that Mr.Solicitor General was very considerate in saying only one-and-a-half year. The matter is pending from 2018.”

    In April this year, the apex court had said that the matter would be listed after two weeks as the petitioner had circulated a letter seeking adjournment in the case.

    Zakia Jafri’s counsel had earlier told the top court that notice needs to be issued in the plea as it relates to an alleged “larger conspiracy” from February 27, 2002, to May 2002.

    Ehsan Jafri, the former MP, was among the 68 people killed at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.

    On February 8, 2012, the SIT had filed a closure report giving a clean chit to Modi, now the prime minister, and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was “no prosecutable evidence” against them.

    Zakia Jafri had filed a petition in the apex court in 2018 challenging the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her plea against the decision of the SIT.

    The plea also maintained that after the SIT gave a clean chit in its closure report before a trial judge, Zakia Jafri filed a protest petition which was dismissed by the magistrate without considering “substantiated merits”.

    It also said the high court “failed to appreciate” the petitioner’s complaint which was independent of the Gunbarrel Society case registered at Meghaninagar Police Station.

    The high court in its October 2017 order had said the SIT probe was monitored by the Supreme Court.

    However, it partly allowed Zakia Jafri’s petition as far as its demand for a further investigation was concerned.

    It had said the petitioner can approach an appropriate forum, including the magistrate’s court, a division bench of the high court, or the Supreme Court seeking further investigation.

  • Modi not willing to understand others’ point of view: Sibal hits out at PM

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not willing to understand other people’s point of view, which is the nub of all the problems the country is facing.

    Delivering the Girish Patel Memorial Lecture here on the topic “India in the Age of Modi,” the former Union minister also said a project like Central Vista has no relevance to a democracy unless one is able to understand “the aspirations and soul of a nation that is crying for change.”

    “Democracy is the interaction that takes place with people inside that building, who represent multifarious aspirations of the country that is so diverse. You can build whatever structures you want, but unless you are able to understand the aspirations and soul of a nation that is crying for change, you will never be able to run a democracy,” he said.

    A structure does not symbolize democracy “if you don’t talk to people, don’t have conversation with people, don’t relate to what people want,” Sibal added.

    “The problem with the age of Modi is that he is not willing to understand others’ point of view, and that’s why we are in trouble,” he said.

    Contrary to the prime minister’s “minimum government, maximum governance” slogan, in reality we have “maximum government, no governance,” Sibal claimed.

    “Where is that governance? If you recognise people by the clothes they wear, is this governance? If Dalits are lynched, and you never say a word, is it governance? If people gasp for oxygen and have no beds, and you are not prepared for vaccines, is it governance?” the Congress leader asked.

    Unlike Mahatma Gandhi who spun `charkha’, Modi “spins a yarn”, he said, taking another jibe at the prime minister.

    A prime minister of India should talk on behalf of the 130 crore people of the country, but “when (Modi) stands up in Parliament, when he goes out and speaks, he taunts people,” the Congress leader said.

    “What we are seeing in the country is the prime minister addressing issues that have nothing to do with the country. He is addressing issues of politics, to ensure that next time when there is an election in a particular state, they come to power,” he further said.

    Data is being manipulated to show that the country is doing well while relations with China and Pakistan have been reduced to a spectacle, Sibal alleged.

    Institutions are being compromised, the Congress leader alleged, asking, “If you have the umpire in your pocket, how do you play cricket? If you have all the institutions in your pocket, how do you run democracy?” The sedition law and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are being used against students, academicians and other citizens like never before, Sibal alleged.

    Accusing the Modi government of not fulfilling the obligation of providing education and healthcare to everyone, he said its priority was “electoral bonds and demonetisation.”

    “If you control your education system which you have done and been trying to do, you destroy the spirit of innovation. And if you destroy the spirit of innovation, that nation can never be wealthy,” the former Union minister said.

    Unemployment rate in the country was 6.1 percent, the highest in 41 years, and 25 million people have lost jobs in January 2021 alone, Sibal claimed.

    “People ask us. Congress party is not a good opposition. How can we be an opposition if you don’t play by the rules of the game,” he said.

    “Economy is in doldrums, the political system is manipulated, and whoever opposes, the ED lands up at his house the next day,” Sibal said.