Clarification by Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni on statement participating in NDTV’s ‘Big Fight’ deb

A misleading impression has been created by erroneous news reports about my statement, in the course of a TV debate on Friday, that the BJP does not consider the Congress party to be “political untouchable”. It has been reported in section of the press today that I advocated the BJP and Congress working together to form a stable government. This is completely untrue and preposterous.

Participating in NDTV’s ‘Big Fight’ debate, I had said that the so-called “secular unity” mooted by the Congress and Left parties is nothing but an opportunistic ploy to isolate the BJP. The Congress-communist combine has used this bogus concept as an ideological justification to preach and practice political untouchability towards the BJP. They did so in 1996 when, despite the BJP having emerged as the largest single party in the Lok Sabha with 162 seats, other parties were mobilized on the plank of “secularism” to form two United Front governments propped up by the Congress, which destabilized both in quick succession.

I said that the BJP does not believe in practicing political untouchability, and quoted Shri L.K. Advani’s oft-repeated affirmation — “If untouchability is wrong in the social sphere, it is equally wrong in the political sphere.” The anchor asked me if the BJP considered the Congress to be untouchable. My answer was “No”. When he questioned me if the BJP would work together with the Congress, my response was: “Yes, if the nation’s interests demand so at some time in the future.”

Congress is the BJP’s principal adversary in the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Along with our allies in the NDA, we have campaigned vigorously for the defeat of the Congress. We are confident that the people will give a decisive mandate for change and in favour of a BJP-led NDA government. As such, the question of the BJP and Congress working together in the post-May 16 scenario is simply unthinkable.

The BJP has grown in strength by consistently fighting the anti-people, corrupt and dynasty-controlled Congress party. We have succeeded in transforming India’s polity into an essentially bi-polar system by ending the Congress’ single-party domination. More and more sections of the Indian society have supported us, and an increasing number of political parties have allied with the BJP, in spite of the Congress-communist combine’s ceaseless demonisation of the BJP as a “communal party”. Clearly, the Congress-communist combine’s stratagem of isolating the BJP has resulted in their own growing isolation.

Any future possibility of the BJP and Congress working together in the nation’s interests hinges on the Congress party eschewing its attitude of “political untouchability” towards the BJP

BJP's message on the black money of indians in swiss and other banks.

The Congress party is clearly getting desperate by the day as it reads the clear writing on the wall that the people of India are not returning it to power. The language of its leaders including the usually cool Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is becoming more and more shrill and intemperate as the election campaign reaches its inevitable end. The Prime Minister has chosen to describe Shri Advaniji's call to bring black money stashed abroad by Indians as an 'election stunt'. He has also alleged that Shri Advani and the BJP were 'behaving irresponsibly' by raking up the black money issue. He has said that BJP's campaign would "alert" those who had stashed this money illegally abroad. And finally, he has accused the BJP of not understanding economics.

We plead guilty to the last charge. The BJP does not understand economics as well as Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi do. At the same time, we would like to assert that even with our limited understanding of economics, the BJP/NDA government managed the economy much better than Dr Singh with his vast understanding of the subject. Even the Economist of London which the Congress party's General Secretary Digvijay Singh quotes with such pride has said in the same article that the NDA government's performance on the economic front was creditable. We would also like to remind the Congress party that quoting foreign sources can be a double edged weapon. If they draw comfort from the Economist, what about Razeen Sally's article in the Financial Times of London in which the economic performance of the UPA government, and specially the role of Dr Manmohan Singh as a ''do-nothing, zero-reform" Prime Minister, has come in for severe criticism? Sally has said "Mr Singh has proved a hopeless decision-maker as prime minister……Mr Rao and A.B. Vajpayee proved their mettle despite heavy political constraints. Mr Singh has failed."

The BJP understands enough economics to realise that the entire global environment today is far more conducive to bringing the black money of Indian's back to India than it ever was earlier. Shri Advaniji has seen this opportunity and grasped this moment. Dr Manmohan Singh refuses to recognise this opportunity and use it for the country's benefit. Nothing exposes this government more on this issue than its own affidavit before the Supreme Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation which has failed to satisfy the Supreme Court.

What can be more ridiculous than the Prime Minister's fear that the BJP's campaign would alert the depositors of the black money and they could withdraw the money? According to its own claim the government has been at it seriously for some time now. Has not that alerted the black money depositors already?

Foul and abusive language cannot be a substitute for sound argument. Having lost the argument, the Congress party and the Prime Minister are resorting to a language which is eminently avoidable even in the heat of electoral battle.

Bofors scam: Quattrocchi off CBI's wanted list

The Interpol has removed the red corner notice issued against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was being sought in India 

for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Rs 64-crore Bofors scandal. ( Watch ) 

This comes just three weeks before the Congress-led UPA government's term ends. 

The Italian businessman no longer figures in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) list of wanted persons and the 12-year Interpol red corner notice against the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case has been withdrawn from the agency’s website after the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) appeal.

The CBI will formally inform the court of the same on April 30. "The case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009)," CBI spokesman Harsh Bahal said here today. 

The CBIs decision is based on the legal opinion sent by Attorney General Milon Banerjee to the government in which he describes the notice as "a continuing embarrassment." 

Banerjee writes: "The CBI is under an obligation to have the matters set right at the Interpol level as there is no basis on which the RCN can continue...I am of the firm opinion that immediate action should be taken to withdraw the Red Corner Notice". 

Quattrochi's counsel had already sought the removal of the notice in October 2008. 

Quattrocchi's role in Bofors scam, and his proximity to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi through his wife Sonia Gandhi, is thought to have contributed to the defeat of the Congress Party in the 1989 elections. 

Ten years later (1999), the CBI named Quattrocchi in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe and on he basis of a 1997 non-bailable warrant, the agency sought a red corner notice against him The case against him was strengthened in June 2003, when Interpol revealed two bank accounts, 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L, held by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria with the BSI AG bank, London, containing Euros 3 million and $1 million, a "curiously large savings for a salaried executive". 

In January 2006, these frozen bank accounts were unexpectedly released by country's law ministry, apparently without the consent of the CBI which had asked for them to be frozen. 

Reacting to the development, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi called the Bofors case ‘a dead horse that the BJP has been flogging.” 

“BJP has been unnecessarily dragging Rajiv Gandhi’s name,” Singhvi said. 

BJP senior leader L K Advani trained his guns on CBI for dropping the businessman’s name and demanded a probe into the agency's role during the last five years. 

"This is a serious decision. It is not a question of Quattrocchi alone but the entire role of the agency during the last five years which should be probed. It is a very serious issue. They have become the "dastak" or "handtool" in the hands of politicians," Advani, while campaigning in his constituency, said. 

$27bn flows out illegally every year from India

Just when a partisan debate rages over the issue of billions of black money hoarded abroad by India's corrupt, a US-based organisation 

— Global Financial Integrity (GFI) — has ranked the country fifth in the list of 160 developing countries suffering from the outflow of huge amounts of money through illicit channels. 

Quoting its report -- 'Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-06' — which came out in December last year, GFI said total illicit financial outflows from India during the period averaged from a low of $22.7 billion to a high of $27.3 billion per year. 

The report comes bang in the middle of a confrontation between Congress and BJP over the latter's promise to bring the illegal billions back. 

Congress has accused the BJP of exaggerating the issue by distorting facts for partisan ends. It, along with the Left, has also accused BJP of not taking measures to tackle the problem during NDA's tenure at the Centre. The BJP has returned the fire with full force, accusing Congress of ignoring the issue. 

GFI director Raymond Baker said it was not just India's problem. "In 2006, total outflows from developing countries outpaced incoming official development assistance (ODA) by a ratio of 10 to 1. This means that for every $1 in ODA a developing country received, $10 was lost due to illicit financial outflows," he said. 

China topped the list of countries for illicit outflows with $233bn-$289bn, followed by Saudi Arabia ($54bn-$55bn), Mexico ($41bn-$46bn) and Russia ($32bn-$38bn). 

The issue of money taken illegally abroad and stashed in tax havens has recently acquired prominence because of the feeling, encouraged by the global slowdown, that days of secret banking are over. The consensus was reflected in the recent meeting of G-20, and has been strengthened by the promises of Swiss authorities to cooperate with demands, provided they are backed up by specific details, for investigation into accounts in banks within their jurisdiction. 

In India, Supreme Court has taken up the matter following a PIL by a group of well-known citizens. 

The Centre has promised to get back to the court this week with details of what it has done to deal with the issue, particularly with regard to details of 1,400 accounts with a bank in Liechtenstein which has been made available by German authorities. 

The GFI report estimated that total illicit capital flight from developing countries was as high as $1 trillion per year during 2002-06. The illegal outflows involve activities such as corruption (bribery and embezzlement of national wealth) and proceeds of licit business that becomes illicit when transported across borders in violation of laws and regulatory frameworks. 

Baker said, "This massive loss of assets is the greatest impediment to economic development and poverty alleviation and should be of concern to all nations." 

The GFI report is based on examination of trade and external debt data from 2002-06 maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.