HOW
EVERYTHING HAPPENED
IN
V.SABARIMUTHU
DEDICATION
Mrs & Mr. T. Vyakappan, Mr. R. Maria Michael, T.Maria Susai, Mrs & Mr. A. Martin, Mrs & Mr. Devasahayam
Rt. Rev. R. Antony Muthu, Most. Rev. Benedict Mar Gregories, Rev. Sr. R. Veronica,
Rev.Sr.Bennet, Rev. Fr .A. Jockim, Mr. C. Francis, Mrs. Dhachayini, Mr. V. Thompson, Mr. John I. James, Mr. Ravindranath, Dr. R. Lekshmana Sarma,
Mr. Sathia Siva Sankaran, Dr.M. Sankaranarayana Pillai, Dr. Jayaseelan Mathias, Dr.K.Rajendra Retnam, Dr.T.Sebesan,Dr.M.George, Dr.S.Anto,Dr.S.Rex, Mr. K.T. Sundaram Pillai,
Dr. Ravi Ramamurthi, Dr. Anil Pande, Dr.M.C.Vasudevan, Dr. Nigel Symss,
Dr. K.Santosh Mohan Rao, Dr. C. Goutham, Dr.N.Pradeep Kumar Jain,
Dr.K. Ravindranath, Dr. B.V. Shivram, Dr.P.S. Hari Nivas
Dr.Jacintha Munirajulu, Dr.Akila Suresh
And
All others, who helped this writer in one way or other.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is an inspired work.
This writer wrote a high utility book in inorganic chemistry. The American International Publishers, USA
Then the day- to- day events in India
In 2001, the Government of India led by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), apparently, began to act in bad faith. Therefore, a letter -containing ten points in one page - was sent to the then Prime Minister of India
In October 2002, Mr. C. Francis, a retired Head Master of the Vellicode village handed over a leaflet. It contained the words, “A black man has no right that a white man is bound to respect.” This fitted well for the letter No.14 dated 19-10-2002 . It was the first time; an external force voluntarily supplied a material badly needed to describe the situation prevailing then.
In February 2002, Mr. M.Ravikumar, a Lecturer in Political Science, came to the Chemistry Department and uttered, “Court is the tomb of the Nation” and “If they don’t have bread, let them eat cake” to this writer. These were immediately incorporated in the letter No.18.
Now, Mr. S. James, the elder son of this writer - perhaps due to an intuition - bought a very old used book - Political Thought by W.I. Waiper- from a platform vendor and wanted this writer to see it. This book is a treasure house of political wisdom. It contains the works of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, Mill, Rousseau, Hegel, Green, Marx, Lenin and Stalin. This writer went through it several times. It was extensively quoted from chapter 19 onwards. Noticing the keen interest taken by this writer over this book, he bought the novel Marthanda Varma by C.V.Raman Pillai. It is a book of historical facts with romance. It was used tellingly in chapter 59 and sparingly in other chapters. One day, he came with Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Though this is a book of fiction, some points in this book were invoked in chapter 56 and in some other chapters to make the presentation effective. This writer had the privilege of going through Alexander the Great’Art of Strategy by Partha Bose, VIVEKANANDA- A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, Principles of Sociology by K.Singh, The World’s Great Speeches By B.N. Ahuja and some other books he purchased for his self reading. The reflection of these books could be discerned in this work in one way or other. Incidentally, it was the sociology book that gave a hint about Mussolini that prompted to refer some more books and to browse internet.
This writer noticed the Travancore Manual by Nagan Iya on the table of Mr. S. Edwin Sam, a Lecturer in History. It appeared that some incidents in this book would serve the purpose of complementing the efforts of this writer. Therefore, this book was constantly used as a reference material starting from the letter No 46. An incident in this book was mentioned in chapter 77 and this, for all practical purposes, halted the privatization of Chennai and Culcutta airports till 2010.
One day, Mr. S. Delight, the younger son of this writer, bought The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. This book gives the lives and opinions of Aristotle, James, Nietzsche, Russel, Bergson, Spencer, Locke, Plato, Croce, Bacon, Voltaire, Santayana, Spinoza, Kant, Dewey and Schopenhauer. This book was also used as a reference material to write chapter 76 and some other chapters. This writer got a chance to go through a few pages of Necessary Illusions by Noam Chomsky purchased by him.
Again one day, Mrs. Irene, the elder daughter of this writer, purchased two or three newspapers from Bangkok
In the meantime, one or two books on the Constitution of India were taken from the Lekshmipuram College Library for reference. One day, Mr. P.Saravanan, Librarian invited the mobile van of the National Book Trust to the college and asked the teachers to take the needed books. This writer took Our Constitution by Subhash C. Kashyap. This book helped to pin point some constitutional points.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche was purchased when the present writer went to a shop to buy some toys.
One day, Mr. Delight, the younger son of this writer, came with his two friends. They wanted to visit the important temples in Kanyakumari District. The present writer accompanied them. In one temple, a man offered BHAGAVAD-GITA by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at 50 percent discount and this writer purchased one. The names of the titles of many chapters since Chapter-90 were based on this book and the discourses of one or two resource persons.
There was a feeling that the political philosophers came to the succour of this writer through the above books. All the facts present in this work came to the notice of this writer quite naturally. The mass media has several other hidden facts.
Mr. A.M. Mathew, Retd Lecturer in Botany, had been going through the letters until his retirement in May 2004. He used to wonder at the contents. His opinion was a source of great satisfaction.
Many people in the village of this writer are proud of this work. They include Mr. M.Gopalan, Advocate, Mr. G.Thanka Raj, Retd.Head Master, Mr. C.Francis, Retd.Head Master and Mr. Dhason conductor.
Evidently, the inspiration to continue with this work for nine and a half years came naturally. It must be a conspiracy of the nature. No wonder, one would even consider this book as a work of fiction.
INTRODUCTION
The financial manipulations that took place in India
The mass media was instigating the idle mass to overtake the working class just to usurp the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
There was a strong feeling that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government was tending to act in bad faith. Simply remaining as a silent spectator appeared as crime. Therefore, this writer decided to take the pen on 1 June 2001 to do the present work in a systematic way.
Consistent with the letters of this writer, Service Tax was imposed. Further, interest rates were brought down and all the loans were rescheduled. This gave a breathing space to the borrowers. The Government could no longer attribute the act of privatization to fiscal deficit because the Service Tax brought huge revenue.
However, the Union Government arbitrarily decided to sell many PSUs. The unconstitutional nature of this policy was pointed out to the Supreme Court. Ironically, the Supreme Court, on 12 December 2001 , put the economic policy above judicial review.
Based on the above judgement, the Government started the privatization of the PSUs. Immediately, the unconstitutional manipulations were pointed out to the President, Supreme Court, various High Courts and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In an instance, an industrialist removed Re. 850 crore from the public sector Bank of India (BoI) when the decision to sell the VSNL – an important PSU –was taken. Thus the public asset was converted into private asset using public money. The unconstitutional nature of this sale was brought to the notice of the Government and the Supreme Court. But they did not take any action against him. Therefore, he was –in Chapter 13- described as the de-facto ruler of India
Then the Government sold a PSU to a charge-sheeted company violating the guidelines devised for privatization. The present writer pointed out this. This crippled the privatization programme.
The Government was executing the latent orders of a few manipulators in bad faith. The media, in turn, blacked out this work. This instilled the feeling that there was no FREEDOM or democracy in India
The manipulations were affecting the honour of the Prime Minister of India. Therefore, he abdicated power.
After the advent of the present UPA Government, great emphasis was given to Transaction Tax and the Government obliged. Importance was given to prevent the Government from transferring public funds into the hands of about ten manipulators. At the same time, many plans of the backroom players to manipulate the system were frustrated. Thus the idea of the manipulators to amalgamate the banks was thwarted. Some unconstitutional joint ventures with some private parties were discouraged.
However, the UPA Government began to to give money to the manipulators in the name of buying shares. Thus, the total subscription for the public issue of a private company was Rs. 1.4 lakh crore! The money was given by public sector financial institutions. A simple analysis showed that the beneficiaries were close to the people possessing power. This revelation succeeded in halting the unconstitutional flow of bank funds into the hands of the manipulators. In this way, the Government could be partially saved from the clutches of a corrupt and rapacious crowd. Until then, the public money in the banks - according to them- must be called private money.
The manipulators find different ways to plunder public money. Therefore, the demand to restrain the financial institutions from investing money in shares overlaps in many chapters.
Similarly, the system still considers the mark obtained by a candidate in an examination as the sole index of intelligence. This prevents the entry of students from many communities and regions into the premier educational institutions. This is a human rights issue. As saying something and leaving it there would not achieve the objectives, this matter also recurs in some chapters.
As the act of moving the Members of Parliament (M.Ps), Chief Ministers and the other leaders is equivalent to moving the masses, the copies of many emails sent to the successive Presidents of India were periodically dispatched to them for better results. Thus, immediately after the UPA II assumed power, different chapters from this work were sent to 184 MPs by post. At one time, the attention of the world leaders was invited to extract good response in India
As the Supreme Court could save India
The people, as a rule, consider the mass media as the ultimate truth. But they are the ultimate power. They black out news and views. They publish news items suited to convert public assets into private assets. Therefore, the sinister plan of the mass media to plunder public asset was exposed. In fact, there was a feeling that all news and views originated from the same source. This source was described as the “mysterious force” in Chapter 51.
The sensitivity of three successive Presidents of India inspired to persist with this work. Otherwise, the entire public assets might have gone into the hands of about ten people.
Only simple words were used in the beginning. Then the constitutional position was mentioned. When the system defied this, words of the political philosophers were quoted to impress the leaders.
As the work progressed like a physical repetition of Mahabharata war, the titles of most of the chapters from Chapter 90 were taken from Bhagavad-Gita.
In 2007, the private companies affected a steep hike in the prices of steel. This prompted this writer to demand the take over of all natural resources. On 7 May 2010 , a three judge Bench of the Supreme Court said that all natural assets must –ideally- remain under the Government.
As the Government was obstinate in converting public assets into private assets, the emails submitted to Her Excellency the President of India were sent to the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force from Chapter 110. Whatever happened, the armed forces expressed their reluctance to kill the militant people as mentioned in Chapter 135. It was a turning point.
The mysterious force was making some conscious steps to convert India China
In the third week of November 2010, some people partially published the tape recorded telephonic conversations of an underground mole. Based on this, the CBI brought to the surface a strange looking woman –the underground mole of the manipulators. The interrogation of the above mole suddenly showed that all the predictions and conclusions of this writer were correct. She represented the mysterious force. Identification of this force was another turning point.
The underground mole was so mighty that she could earn about $18 billion by "killing" one news item. Thus by killing the news about the existence of this work, she earned about $500 billion to $ 1 trillion to her clients since 2001.
The method of submission of a manipulation to the President of India consists in giving a hint about it and then developing it systematically showing its different facets. As this instills an element of fear in the mind of people exercising power in bad faith, the intensity of the seriousness of the work steadily increases.
This work rescued India India
However - despite nine and a half years of continuous work - the people of India India
CONTENTS
PART - I
1. THE CRISIS AND THE SOLUTION
2. A PRAYER
3. A SUICIDE
4. INCREASING THE REVENUES
5. PRIVATIZATION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
6. THE CBI AND THE COURT CASES
7. A GIANT MANIPULATION
8. DEMANDS OF THE COMMON MAN
9. THE SUPER CABINET
10. LEARNING TO LOSE
11. APARTHEID
12. ABSOLUTE POWER
13. DE-FACTO RULER
15. A DEFEAT
16. THE WILL
17. LEARN TO LOVE
18. THE TOMB
19. ACT ARIGHT
20. AN ETHICAL INSTITUTION
21. “STAKECOCRACY”
22. HUMAN EXCELLENCE
23. TRUTH IS PEACE
24. MERIT AND INTELLIGENCE
25. EVERYBODY CONTROLLING EVERYBODY
26. SOCIAL POWER
27. FALSE DEMOCRACY
28. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
29. STATE INSTINCT
30. A REAL WILL
31. A VETO
PART-II
32. WICKED DOCTRINE
33. THE DIVINE SPIRIT
34. FLIGHT OF CAPITAL
35. THE EXISTENCE OF THE GOOD.
36. SELFISH INTEREST
37. POISON
38. THE IDEA OF THE GOOD
39. APPROPRIATION
40. NIPPING A MANIPULATION IN THE BUD
41. BULLETS
42. ARBITRARINESS
43. RULE OF LAW
44. OPPRESSION
45. INTRIGUE
46. INDEPENDENCE
47. DISGUISED OPPRESSION
48. ABDUCTION
49. ABSTRACT CODE
50. SLAVERY
51. CUTTING THE THROAT
52. FIRST SERVANT
PART III
53. CORRUPTION
54. CIVIL SOCIETY
55. DRIVING FORCE
56. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EMERALD
57. THE RIGHT OF MIGHT
58. SILVER LINING
59. THE JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE PRACTICAL WISDOM
60. HUMAN RIGHTS
61. BLACK PLAGUE
62. THE FIENDS
63. A SUPER BODY
64. THE REWARD
65. JUDGING THE JUDGES
66. UNITY
67. THE DISCOVERY OF MIND
68. THE DARKEST PAGE
69. REFRACTORY MARAUDER
70. PLAYING HAVOC
71. THE BLOODLINE
72. THE MOST POWERFUL MAN
73. THE VICTORY DAY
74. WHOLESALE BUTCHERY
75. POLITICAL CAREER
76. MEDIOCRITY
77. “TALI”
78. THE BASIC STRUCTURE
79. PLOTTING AGAINST CITIZEN
80. COMPLETE ASSUMPTION
81. HIDDEN ASSASIN
82. AN AWE INSPIRING RESPONSIBILITY
83. A COUP
84. A PARADISE
85. CONTROLLING PUBLIC MIND
86. SOCIAL HERITAGE.
87. NEO-FASCISM.
88. JUSTICE.
89. A MADONNA.
PART - IV
90. DUTY
91. SENSITIVITY.
92. ONE STEP.
93. SAME SOURCE.
94. DISTINGUISHING RIGHT, AND WRONG.
95. SMALL AND BIG THINGS.
96. THE HIGHEST FORM.
97. SIGN OF NATURAL INTELLIGENCE.
98. DECISION.
99. ODOUR
100. NATURAL COURAGE AND COMMITMENT.
101. TRUTH.
102. TOTAL SURRENDER
103. NATURAL CHANCES.
104. BURNING HOUSE.
105. ANIMAL.
106. KNOWLEDGE IS LIBERATION.
107. GREATNESS
108. DESTRUCTION
109. A STAND.
110. ACTIVATION KNOWLEDGE.
111. A STABLE MIND.
112. HEAVEN.
113. MONSTER.
114. EXCHANGE OF TRUTH.
115. ACHIEVEMENT.
116. FULLFILMENT.
117. ABILITY.
118. NO ESCAPE.
119. ESTABLISHING JUSTICE.
120. TERMINATING SELF INTERESTS.
121. FOOTSTEPS.
122. THE FIELD.
123. A PHYSICIAN, AND NOT AN INCARNATION.
124. POWER OF UNDERSTANDING
125. FALSE PROPRIETORS.
126. UNTOUCHABLES.
127. SHOW AND SATISFACTION.
128. INACTION IN ACTION, AND ACTION IN INACTION
129. TOTAL DESTRUCTION.
130. AN ARRANGEMENT.
131. FREE MAN AND SLAVE
132. DUALITY.
133. ILLUSION.
134. MODE OF GOODNESS
PART- V
135. LIGHTING FIRE
136. HIGHER PLANETS.
137. EARTHLY PLANETS
138. DEMONS.
139. BIRTH RIGHT.
140. THE GREATEST ENEMY.
141. IGNORANCE.
142. HELLISH WORLDS.
143. SUCCESS.
144. SLEEP.
145. REBIRTH.
146. ILLUMINATION.
147. FOOLISHNESS.
148. NECTOR.
149. ABOMINABLE TYPE OF EXISTENCE.
150. THE HIGHEST PTATFORM.
152. HORRIBLE WORK.
153. PRIDE AND FALSE PRESTIGE.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162. KNOWING THE BODY.
163.
164. CHEATING
HOW EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN INDIA
PART- I
1
THE CRISIS AND THE SOLUTION
The mass media in India
In the year 2000, the Government of India disseminated the view that the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) would become unviable due to competition from private banks and disclosed its intention to denationalize them.
Protesting the above move of the Government, 10.5 lakh employees of banks went on a token strike on 15 November 2000 . The public, as usual, ignored the strike.
As an instantaneous - but pre-meditated - retaliatory answer to the strike, the Union Cabinet on the next day decided to reduce the share of the Government in PSBs to 33 percent. Thus, the Government showed to the world that the employees lacked public support for their agitation against privatization.
The mass media instilled the public against the employees to achieve their objective.
The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments (CCD) in November 2000, apparently at the behest of the stakes (stakes = vested interests that amass wealth through unethical financial manipulations), identified 38 PSUs including the Air India (AI), Indian Airlines (IA), Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI ), National Aluminum Company Limited (Nalco), Mahanagar Telephone Niham Limited (MTNL), Maruthi Udyog Limited (MUL) for immediate privatization.
Further, the print media said that all other PSUs including the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC ) and the Railways would be privatized very soon. Accordingly, the Government, in a hurry, invited bids for the privatization of the IA and the AI from the latently chosen stakes.
The print media supported the Government saying that the fear of stick alone would make the employees to do their work. The media suppressed the voices that opposed the privatization moves.
However, one day, a former Judge said that the privatization of the banks was perverse in law. A newspaper reported it in an insignificant way.
The Budget for 2001-2002 envisaged privatization for Re. 12,000/- crore.
There were reports that a broker boy, siphoned off Re. 3100/- crore to Switzerland
Further, there were reports that all the State Governments were in the red.
The employees believed that even the retirement benefits would be given not in cash but in the form of bonds only. Fearing cut in retirement benefits, many employees opted for Voluntary Retirements from Service (VRS).
Everyone came out with his own theory to solve the economic crisis. The theories led the people to believe that the only way to solve the problem was to sell the PSUs.
The despondency of the people was such that a colleague of this writer said, “Sir, there is no hope! They are going to privatize everything…”
Further, apparently, the rate of public investments in many States and districts in India
Furthermore, there was a sudden feeling that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre was going astray. In this connection, this writer felt that the mass media was manipulating the economic policies of the Government for the benefit of about ten stakes.
Disturbed by the developments, this writer wanted to know whether his perception was real or imaginary. Therefore, with the real desire for the ‘good’, a letter was dropped to the Prime Minister of India on 1 June 2001 .
The Prime Minister gets 30,000 letters per day from the people. The probability of a letter from a citizen of India
Again, as the Prime Minister would be ordinarily busy, the letter was dispatched when he was taking rest in a hospital at Mumbai after his knee operation.
The copy of the letter was sent to many Chief Ministers and the prominent leaders of political parties. This was done in the hope that they would also exert some pressure over the system. The crucial letter follows.
From
V. Sabarimuthu,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, P.O, 629167
To
The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
Parliament House,
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the question of:
1 Constitutionally preventing bulk purchasing to avoid big commissions.
2 Awarding contract works in pieces and not in one go.
3 Splitting big public sector financial institutions like the UTI , LIC , Banks and giving them to State Governments to check flight of capital and to prevent big losses.
4 Banning banks from giving advances against shares on any account even for normal investment activities to pluck loopholes.
5 Passing a bill to effectively confiscate Re. thousands of crore amassed by brokers, corporate houses and manipulators and kept abroad since 1990 to prevent them from buying Public Sector Undertakings.
6 Realizing at least one percent interest on all deposits and credits and ten percent of all service charges and processing fees.
7 Granting all licenses including telecom to private parties through the State Governments to realize maximum income and to avoid favoritism.
8 Splitting the public sector ONGC, SAIL and BSNL to promote competition and to prevent big commissions.
9 Giving exports licenses and code numbers through district level offices.
10 Devising a scheme to encourage expatriate workers to send money through banking channel.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
1-6-2001 Sd-
V.SABARIMUTHU
The letter, apparently, reached the Office of Prime Minister; an officer took a positive note and handed over the letter to the Prime Minister while he was taking rest at Mumbai after his knee operation. This could be discerned from the fact that the Prime Minister, at that time, said that the teachers must talk more.
Further, the public sector TV channel showed the Prime Minister of India holding a paper in his hands while he was at Mumbai hospital.
The officer responsible for showing the letter to the Prime Minister deserves honour because his action went down as an inspiration. The inspiration was reinforced by the extraordinarily active interest taken by the Prime Minister.
Thus, after his return from Mumbai, he called for a revision of Government policies and programmes.
The instantaneous action of the Prime Minister for a simple letter of a citizen of India
Accordingly, the CCD on 4 July 2001 decided not to sell the PSUs to 1.Those who were a threat to the security of India
The grave offence was defined as one, which outraged the moral sense of the community. The Government, further, clarified that for matters other than security, any conviction by a court or an indictment by a regulatory authority for a ‘grave offence’ would be sufficient.
The letter did not mention the word “privatization”. Apparently, the Government felt that one of the latent messages of the letter was against privatization and manipulation of public funds. In fact, the Government gauged the depth of the letter. The three guidelines were equivalent to abandoning the policy of privatization.
Based on the above guidelines, the CCD disqualified the bid of a company for buying the AI because of its involvement in the Bofors case. Two companies were disqualified because they were indicted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India
However, the Government, consistent with the demand of this writer, imposed 5% service tax on a number of items to mobilize 10,000/- crore.15 more items were added on 9 July 2001.Thus, the Government could very easily compensate the amount that would have accrued to it through disinvestments. The suggestion to impose service tax, in fact, saved India
The industrial houses were embarrassed by the new stand of the Government. They treated this as an earthquake. They openly moaned that charges of said nature in business were not unexpected.
A NRI industrialist from the UK
Disenchanted by the decision, a leader of a political party threatened to withdraw his support to the Government saying that he was opposed to Indo-Pak talks.
The disillusioned newspapers began to attack the Government.
Some newspapers said that the employees of Air India
A paper asked the political parties not to allow the “whale” to get away with its misdemeanors.
Some papers exhorted the Congress leader to take on the BJP-led challenge in the wider national arena and wanted her to prove her mettle.
A few papers pressed the people to oppose the policy of the Government to do business.
A few other papers said that the Prime Minister was under a cloud in the Unit Trust of India (UTI ) matter.
Some newspapers wanted the Prime Minister to come clean on the UTI affair.
Some papers said that the profits of the PSUs came from monopolies that existed in the public sector oil and telecom sectors.
Some papers said that the sale of state assets to the preferred buyers and subsidized finances to favoured enterprises were all for a price. They substantiated this by the words of a Minister, who had said that possible competitors through exchange of money sabotaged the privatization of the IA and AI.
Some papers added that the favoured companies were manipulating the policies and rules in the economic ministries over which the Office of the Prime Minister had total control.
Some papers deplored that the corrupt politicians-cum-entrepreneur operated through shell companies established in Mauritius Singapore Dubai London Zurich
A few newspapers advised the Government to wind up the “Civil Services” saying they were impediment for disinvestment.
Many papers exhorted the Government to devise a transparent guideline for disinvestment with the help of technocrats and specialists from industry. A few prominent papers wanted the Prime Minister to step down to save his reputation.
The media, further, wanted the Government to bring the rural rich under the tax net, stop giving food grains, freeze the Dearness Allowance (D.A) and introduce the VRS.
Some political parties again threatened to withdraw their support opposing the Indo-Pak talks at Agra
In the meantime, Unit Trust of India (UTI ) - the Public Sector Mutual Fund- sought a loan of Re. 2000 crore from the public sector State Bank of India (SBI).
Realizing the dangers, the following letter was sent to the Chief Justice of India on 24 July 2001 .
From
V.SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu P.O.629167.
To
Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court, New Delhi
Your Lord,
Sub: PIL to restrain banks from giving a loan of Re. 2000 crore to the Unit Trust of India-reg
The money from all over India LIC , UTI . There, some brokers and some corporate houses use the funds to manipulate the stock exchange and siphon off Re. hundreds of thousands of crore to other countries. Though part of the money reappears in India FII and through over invoicing/ under invoicing/ of exports/ imports, major portion goes into oblivion. This affects the economic activity all over India India
Distressed by the above, a letter was written to the Constitutional Review Commission on 30.7.2000 to split the Public Sector Undertakings such as banks. Had the Commission acted on it, the Re. 20,000/- crore loss suffered by the UTI could have been averted.
Later, on 1-6-2001 , a letter was written to the Prime Minister of India to restrain-among other things- banks from giving any advances against any shares. The letter is pending before the Prime Minister.
Now the UTI , instead of asking the corporate houses to remit the amount received by them from the UTI over and above the net asset value of the shares, has sought a loan of Re. 2000 crore from the nationalized banks. The loan, if given, would affect the day-to-day life of all people all over India
Therefore, this letter may kindly be treated as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and the banks restrained from giving any loan to the UTI till the disposal of the letter before the Prime Minister or this petition before the Supreme Court.
Vellicode Thanking Your Lord
Sd/-
(V.SABARIMUTHU)
The Chief Justice of India did not accept the above letter as a writ petition.
However, the Chief Justice of India might have informed this matter to the Prime Minister of India as the banks turned down the request of the UTI .
But for the above two letters, the banks might have given the money to the UTI , and all banks in India UTI later.
The service tax became a great boon to the Government to overcome the fiscal crisis.
However, the Government did not give any credit to this writer for the suggestion. The Government did not claim any credit for itself for imposing this tax either.
Thus the two letters saved India
Coming back, in order to give a fitting reply to the mass media, the Prime Minister said that profits earned by “hook or by crook” should not be the sole criterion for judging the success of a business. He added that the Government would not “turn a blind eye” to corruption how high a chair they might occupy.
True to his words, an industrialist was arrested for Re.44.75 crore. Another industrialist was arrested for overprizing the exports.
The newspapers implored the Government to spare the corporate houses from investigations. They divulged that several corporate houses absconded after collecting several crore through mega issues and no criminal action was taken against them.
They disclosed that several industrial houses had systematically abused Indian Financial Institutions and banks. They cited several examples. Therefore, the paper sought a lenient view against the present culprits.
As the Government applied brake to the privatization policy, the SEBI - in its interim report on stock markets - said that the brokers were able to build up concentrated positions utilizing the funds available to them from the overseas corporate bodies, Indian Corporate Houses and the banking system.
The political parties began to support the new stand of the Government. Naturally, the Members of Parliament (M.Ps) vied with one another in attacking the industrial houses.
A political leader said in Parliament that a particular industrial house had stranglehold over the Government and could get decisions in its favour.
A Member of Parliament described the UTI as the United Thieves of India
Another Member of Parliament said that a private company had looted the UTI and made it bankrupt.
A Member of Parliament said that the Government did not answer his letter against a private company. He added that even the portfolios of the Union Ministers were determined by that company.
The mass media then began to publish articles demanding privatization. To this, Mr. Arun Shourie, a Union Minister, deplored that the avalanche of allegations against potential buyers of PSUs was scaring them away. He added that they - by staying in the race - were needlessly persisting in a minefield.
After doing such ground works, the newspapers demanded the Government to withdraw from all sectors except those concerned with the security of the country.
At the same time, they again unleashed several allegations against the Prime Minister. They gave a suggestion to change the “presiding physician”. They deplored that the Congress leader failed to utilize the opportunity provided to her to pull down the Government.
In this connection, it may be pointed out that a copy of the letter had been sent to the Congress leader. Naturally, the Congress leader was aware of the reasons for the developments and therefore maintained a studied silence.
During the Chief Minister’s conference on co-operative credit system, a Union Minister wanted to bring the co-operative banks under the control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) based on the recommendation of the task force on co-operative credit system. This was presumably to make the deposits in them accessible for the stakes through a single window. However, Mr. Agit Singh, another Union Minister, stoutly opposed the recommendation and the move was dropped. The exasperated leaders wanted some radical changes in the Government.
It must be noted that this writer had sent the copies of the letters to the latter Minister. Later, he lost his position in the Cabinet presumably due to the estrangement, which started from this day.
The Prime Minister made some changes in Government as if he had no alternative. Thus, a Minister was elevated to the Cabinet rank. A crucial new post was created in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The Government then convened the meeting of the Advisory Council of the Trade and Industry for reviving the economy. A series of meetings were conducted with various committees.
Finally, the Prime Minister conveyed the decision of the Government to utilize the surplus deposits in banks for large scale development of roads, Railways, ports and the PSUs and requested the industry to ride on the back of higher public investments. Thus the Government embraced the views of this writer.
It must be noted that the above decision to use public funds for public investments was the most important economic decision taken by the Union Government since independence for the welfare of the people. It was the result of a metamorphosis and this showed that the BJP, the dominant Party in the NDA Government, wanted to do good to the people. Many other coalition partners also might have supported the BJP in this matter. In fact, it was the outstanding difference between the BJP and other political parties in India
However, a powerful syndicate began to work in private interest. This syndicate had stranglehold over the entire system. A sinister privilege began to play in private interest presumably due to some pressure from within or the Prime Minister himself decided to work in selfish interest and private interest.
Thus, within two days, the Economic Advisory Council was convened presumably at the instance of the stakes. The stakes succeeded in torpedoing an excellent opportunity to develop India
Thus a powerful Union Minister opposed a massive public investment programme to reverse the economic slowdown. The Prime Minister was virtually not allowed to talk. A sea change in the policy occurred as the Government gave in to the pressure and resumed privatization.
The Prime Minister lost full control over the system and began to play a new role that too reluctantly. Thus, the Prime Minister, apparently, allowed this syndicate to determine the priorities of the land although he succeeded in vetoing most of their decisions. Thus the Prime Minister postponed the privatization of several PSUs under one pretext or other.
Overtaking the Prime Minister, the Government sold Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC ) which had been showing a growth rate of 27% in preceding three years for Re. 207 crore, a price lower than the market price. Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd (HTL ), another public sector company, was sold for Re.152 crore.
The mass media promptly commended the privatization policy of the Government.
However, a political leader pointed out that “Modern Foods” which was worth nearly Re. 2,200 crore had been sold for a paltry Re.150 crore and the BALCO for 10% of its estimated value of Re.5,500 crore.
While selling the PSUs, the Prime Minister, in vain, said that the Government was opposed to privatization of profits and socialization of pains.
In the second week of November 2001, the Government decided to sell 51 percent equity in Indian Petrochemicals including 26 percent to a strategic partner in 90 days. At the same time, Bank of India
In the meantime, the US Federal Reserve imposed a hefty $7.5 million fine on the State Bank of India (SBI) for collecting money violating several local laws.
In the seventh Inter State Council (ISC) a Chief Minister asserted that Re. 9 lakhs could be collected from service tax alone. Further, the meeting accepted the demand of the Chief Ministers to bring taxation matters under concurrent list. It was a step beyond the Sarcaria Commission recommendation.
Now the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the banks to give 5% of their deposits as credit to brokers. It was an unconstitutional decision.
The newspapers now said that Government would have to pump in Re. 10,000/-crore to keep the Indian banks healthy and stable and wanted the Government to permit the banks to raise capital directly by diluting their holdings.
The Government now disclosed that the processes to sell the public sector VSNL and the Indo-Burma Petroleum (IBP ) were on course. A Union Minister said that the old stories would not be repeated and the PSUs would be sold as planned. Another Union Minister said that there would be no holding back of reforms (privatization).
Now, the Ministry of Communication asked the BSNL to renegotiate prices for buying the equipments for its countrywide cell phone network as the winning companies had hiked prices by forming a cartel. The newspapers described this as a trick by the Ministry.
2
A PRAYER
Obviously, the letter No.1 dated 1-6-2001 had a profound effect on the system. The developments were watched very curiously. There was a feeling that the letter No.1 alone would be sufficient to transform India
However, to the great disappointment of this writer, the system relapsed to its old ways. Therefore, one more letter – the letter No. 2- was sent to the Prime Minister and the important Chief Ministers on 20 November 2001 . This letter, for all practical purposes, beseech-ed the Prime Minister to spare the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Another objective was to rescue the people from the debt trap. For this, the Prime Minister was requested to decrease the interest rates. The letter follows.
From
V.Sabarimuthu,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, P.O.629167.
To
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
Parliament House,
Your Excellency,
While our toiling hands in the form of NRIs flood the banks with Re. hundreds of crore everyday, the Government is selling Public Sector Undertakings, (PSUs), the value of which cannot be measured in terms of money. The PSUs belong to all people all over India and the act of giving them to a few people of one or two states under any principle is not only painful but also it would lead to lopsided development leaving the common man with no firm soil to stand. In fact, our IAS officers are capable of running them more efficiently and more profitably than others provided they are split into smaller units. Even in England PSU after another with bank funds, public funds or ill-gotten funds, the industrialists refrain from starting any new industries and it is one of the reasons for the recession.
Above all, the mind and tongue of our people is governed by ignorance mainly due to the mass media. Therefore, it is the paramount duty of the Government to preserve the PSUs with perseverance for the benefit of posterity.
In the light of the above and in continuation of the letter dated 1-6-2001 , most kindly consider the question of:
1. Abandoning the policy of privatization to encourage the corporate houses to start new ventures.
2. Banning all financial institutions (FIs) from collecting more than 10% interest on any kind of loan and rescheduling all existing loans to save the people from the debt trap.
3. Making it mandatory for all banks and FIs to report to the Chief Minister any transaction over Re. one crore and to get the clearance of the State Cabinet for transaction over Re. ten crore as in the USA
4. Directing all banks and all FIs to disburse 60% of the credit to the rural areas to uplift the rural masses.
5. Annulling the recent decision of the Governor, RBI, to give 5% (nearly Re. 25,000 crore) of the credit to brokers because giving any money to about 100 broker boys of one or two states is anti constitutional, as it would affect the interest of all people all over India
6. Permitting the major State Governments to collect at least Re. 10,000 crore each from all kinds of service charges in this year alone.
7. Directing all insurance companies other than the LIC to remit 30% of the premium amount to the State Governments.
8. Giving an interim relief of 30% to all employees and Rs.500 per month to all non-pensioners above 60 years in order to control recession.
9. Granting a pension to the NRIs proportionate to the amount sent by them through banks and paying a lump sum to the people dying in harness to control illegal transactions and
10. Asking all local bodies all over India
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
20-11-12001. (V.SABARIMUTHU)
The above letter was sent to prominent leaders of the political parties also. A copy was sent to President of India along with the copy of the first letter.
After the receipt of this letter, a DMK party leader said that his party favoured retention of the PSUs by the Government. He wanted the Government to encourage the corporate houses to start new ventures to create new jobs.
A leader of the SP, again after the receipt of the above letter, requested the Government to preserve the PSUs by infusing more money into them.
In fact, the two letters created awareness among the political leaders, as the words of many leaders were complementary to the efforts of this writer. Thus, all privatization moves and all kinds of manipulations came to a grinding halt. The two letters saved almost all PSUs as they showed a new path to the leaders.
Now, two employees of a ITDC hotel obtained a stay against the privatization of the ITDC hotel in Madurai
3
A SUICIDE
Now, cases were filed in various High Courts against the sale of the BALCO, a public sector aluminium company.
The Supreme Court assumed to itself all the cases pertaining to privatization. In this matter, the new Chief Justice of India showed an unusual keenness to take over the case from different High Courts. This showed that the privatization policy was not a matter of the Union Government alone. Thus, though the Union Government wanted to part with the privatization policy in one way or other, the Supreme Court was not ready to accept it.
Apparently, the Supreme Court wanted to hand over the PSUs to about ten individuals. The mood of the Supreme Court indicated that a long fight would be needed to achieve the objective. Therefore, the word “socialism”- present in the Constitution of India- was very politely pointed out to it through the letter No.3. The letter was sent to His Excellency the President of India on 3 December 2001 . The letter was an extension of the first two letters addressed to the Prime Minister of India. The copies of the two letters addressed to the Prime Minister were also attached along with this letter. Some new points were added. Some points present in the first two letters were repeated partly to show their different facets and partly to present ten points in every letter.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam
Vellicode
Mulagumoodu P.O. 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Rastrapathi Bhavan (Presidential Palace) New Delhi
Your Excellency
In order to defend and protect the Constitution of India, kindly consider the question of:
1. Abandoning the policy of privatization.
Government is precluded from selling more than 49% of the shares of any Public Sector Undertaking (PSU ) on any principle by virtue of the word ‘socialistic’-an economic criterion just like poverty alleviation- introduced in the Preamble of our Constitution. A decision taken by majority support cannot undo the decision taken by two third majorities. Privatization of the BALCO is, therefore, out and out void. The PSUs belong to all people all over India Sale
2. Abolishing the policy of bulk purchasing.
The policy of the Centre buying on behalf of the States and the PSUs- and the States buying on behalf of local bodies- must cease.
3. Giving contract works in pieces and not in one go.
Now big works are being given to big contractors. They in turn give them to sub contractors. Therefore, consistent with the spirit of our Constitution, contract works must be given in pieces. This is to encourage local contractors.
4. Splitting all the PSUs like the IOC, BPCL, ONGC, SAIL, BSNL, VSNL into smaller units.
In a country where more than 80% of the people go to bed without the means to meet even the day to day medical expenses, a few individuals should not be allowed to handle Re.hundreds of thousands of crore- several times more than what the Chief Ministers handle. The act of splitting the PSUs would promote competition and efficiency. The policy of keeping the PSUs as giant organizations is against the spirit of our Constitution.
5. Splitting all financial institutions like banks, LIC , UTI and giving them to States.
This is to prevent flight of capital, and to avoid big commissions and big losses. The banks and mutual funds must report to the State Governments transfer of money from one State to another.
6. Granting licenses through District level offices.
The Constitution demands that all licenses such as telecom, WLL and export- import code numbers must be given to private parties through the district level offices to avoid favoritism and to give maximum opportunity to maximum number of people.
7. Annulling the recent decision of the RBI to reserve 5% of the credit to brokers.
The act of reserving 5% of the credit to about 100 brokers of one or two States is unconstitutional. There is no equality of opportunity. The Constitution does not permit gambling in any form for any purpose.
8. Reserving 60% of the credit to the rural areas.
About 75 % of our people live in rural areas. It is, therefore, imperative that at least 60% of the credit from banks must go to them to increase the economic activity in the rural areas.
9. Controlling lending rates.
The present deposit rates indicate that the lending rate must be less than 10 % for all kinds of loans. The banks shall function very profitably with service charges alone.
10. Giving a pension of Rs. 500/- per month to all non-pensioners above 60 years.
People contribute their physical labour to the nation for a span of more than 50 years. They deserve a decent pension in their old age as a matter of right. Since Re. lakhs of crore could be collected from service charges alone, there will be no difficulty in implementing this.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
3-12-2001. V.SABARIMUTHU
Immediately after the above letter, the Union Government began to take a series of measures to decrease the interest rates. Thus the interest rates fell down to about 8 percent from 16 percent. This saved the people all over India India
However, a Union Minister said that the domestic firms must try to become multinational companies (MNCs). He advised that nationalistic concept should not become synonymous with an anti MNC philosophy.
Another Union Minister, presumably keeping this writer in mind, resented that “one could stop everything but no one could do anything”. The newspapers reported this with great dismay on 4 December 2001 .
Some newspapers on 5 December 2001 said that the disinvestment of Indian Airlines was totally off. At the same time, some newspapers said that the Government would conduct a week long road show in London 10 December 2001 to sell it.
As the Government was reluctant to sell the AI and the IA, a corporate house withdrew the bid given to buy the AI.
At the same time, Indian Bank silently hived of its Mutual Fund Schemes, Ind-Shelter , Ind
Further, the Government decided to conduct a week long “Road Show” in London
The Chief Justice of India became very active and, the Supreme Court on 10 December 2001 , upheld the decision of Government of India to sell 51 percent of its share in the BALCO at Raipur
The Court thus gave a deadly blow to equality and socialism present in the Preamble. The Supreme Court, in fact, committed a suicide because judicial review is the corner stone of the Constitution of India. An elated Union Minister immediately said that the judgment would enable the Union Government to defend the cases filed in various High Courts.
The Department of Disinvestments, wrote a letter to various ministries seeking their support for the implementation of the programme of disinvestments. The letter explained that the sum of Re. 1188 crore garnered through privatization fetched Re. 121 crore as interest whereas the Centre was receiving an average dividend of Re. 7.26 crore only per annum from those companies. Obviously, it was a hallow argument to sell the PSUs. Therefore, the above letter dated 3–12-2001 was immediately addressed to all-important Chief Ministers and 14 Judges of the Supreme Court, CBI and the important leaders of the opposition parties.
The newspapers now demanded the Government to pursue the disinvestments process with renewed vigour. They asked the Government to fine-tune the disinvestments process. Supporting this, a Union Minister said that “landmark judgment on the BALCO made the people to accept the unmentionable issue of privatization of Public Sector Undertakings”.
Immediately, Government decided to disinvest 26% stake in Modern Food Industries Limited (MFIL). The privatization of the VSNL, which offered a special interim dividend of 750%, was also speeded up.
On 17 December 2001, a Union Minister, presumably keeping this writer in mind bemoaned that the system had become so diffused that anybody writing a letter could stop anything at any stage. He requested the civil servants to break that presumption. He exhorted the bureaucracy to pick up courage to overrule such letters on file. Otherwise, he warned that he himself would be forced to overrule them.
The words of the Union Minister indicated that the letters of the people had a marvelous effect upon the system. The words motivated to go ahead with this work.
With regard to the BALCO judgment, a Union Minister said that the Supreme Court had reversed the so-called progressive judgments of 1970, 80 and 90s. He said that the immediate consequence of the judgment was that the workers forfeited the right to choose their own employer and that the principles of natural justice did not come into play in regard to policy decisions. He said that the approval of the workers was not needed for buying or selling the shares of the companies.
Further, he warned that the delay in economic reforms was weakening the security of the country. He deplored that the policies of the Government were being scuttled by deep-seated “vested interests” at various levels of the Government itself. Therefore, he requested the officials to stand up to anyone blocking the process of disinvestments. Furthermore, he said that all political parties coming to power carried out economic reforms while in opposition continued to oppose them.
Now some attempts were made to get the support of Congress Party for removing the word “Socialism” from the Preamble. As the Congress Party did not condescend to this idea, the above Union Minister observed that consensus - meaning two third majorities - was difficult to achieve and that was the reason why he did not search for it. He suggested closer interaction between industry and judiciary to create a better understanding. In this connection it must be noted that on 19 December 2001 , Government short-listed three bidders for selling the stakes in the Indian Petrochemical Corporation Limited (IPCL).
The President of India December 19, 2001 said that there were many people like the “Common Man” in India India
The above words of the President indicated the steps taken by him to control the system based on the three letters.
The re-negotiation by the BSNL with the vendors brought down the total cost to Re.2044 crore from Re.2230.92. Thus, the Government gained Re. 187 crore. It must be noted that the first point in the first letter addressed to the Prime Minister was to abolish the policy of bulk buying.
4
INCREASING THE REVENUES
Now, the state Governments were plunging into a financial crisis. The Government of Tamil Nadu State issued orders to stop payment of salaries to the teachers of aided schools. It asked the managements to collect fee from the students to pay salary to the teachers. The treasuries, in fact, returned the bill for December 2001 of private aided schools for want of orders from the Government.
It became apparent, that there was no meaning in opposing privatization without giving some more concrete suggestions to increase the revenues of the state Governments. As usual a few other relevant points also were included.
Further, an attempt was taken to gauge the mind of the Supreme Court.
Everything including the suggestions was sent to the President, Prime Minister, important Chief Ministers and the learned judges of the Supreme Court on 21 December 2001. This was letter No.4. The letter follows.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu. P. O. 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency,
In order to control the economic deprivation of the rural masses, to raise the much-needed revenue by about Re. 10, 000/-crore per state per year and to protect the federal structure of the Constitution of India, kindly consider the question of:
1. Permitting the State Governments to realize transaction charge.
Every transaction in banks and Financial Institutions (FIs) must yield an income to the State Government as well as to the banks. The idea is to take money from the place where there is money. At present there is no income through the above source to banks, FIs, State Government or Central Government.
2. Permitting the State Governments to realize 1% interest on all credits and deposits.
3.Permitting the State Governments to realize income from service charges.
4.Permitting the State Government to raise money during share transfers
5.Permitting the State Governments to realize income from insurance premium.
6.Giving fillip to industries, farmers and coolies.
Those who use indigenous technology must be encouraged to spend more for research. Entrepreneurs and farmers must be given loan at interest rate on par with maximum deposit rates if they pledge their properties. The companies that run financial companies must be forbidden from taking loan from any bank to prevent sub-lending. They must be prevented from charging exorbitant interest because some financiers such as those who give loan for buying vehicles extract as high as 50% interest. For all jewel loans, the interest rates must not be above the maximum deposit rates.
7. Strengthening co-operative banks.
Formers and customers should not be exploited by asking them to have share capital and thrift deposit in the cooperative banks. They should not be forced to buy manure while they avail themselves of loan.
8. Giving educational loans to first generation students.
9. Extending reservation norms to Stock Exchanges and private sector undertakings.
10. Seeking the co-operation of one and all.
Coolies in the rural areas do not get gob for even two days per week. Therefore everyone must work with single-minded devotion to change this scenario. Bulk purchasing, selling and bargaining must be avoided at all higher levels so that the multinational corporations would come down to the District level and compete with one another to sell their products. The courts should not be cited as the reason for the breakdown of the Constitution or for the plight of the people and everyone must come out with concrete suggestions for the progress of the Nation.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
21-12-2001 V.SABARIMUTHU
In this connection, it must be noted that the Union Government implemented most of the suggestions after prolonged prodding. The fact that the Government did not acknowledge it is a different matter.
The USA, on 20 January 2002, intervened on behalf of a power Corporation to make the best out of a closed power plant in Maharastra state.
The two-day International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan was held in Japan. The conference started on 21 January 2002. India participated in the conference and agreed to give $100 million to Afghanistan as aid. Those who participated in the Conference might have met the promoter of Maruthi at Japan. However, the people knew nothing, as the newspapers did not disclose anything.
In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court, on 20 January 2002, held that the Government had the power to refuse or grant permission for the closure of the industrial establishment after making an enquiry into the grounds of closure.
Referring to a Power Company, the Union Government said that the tariffs agreed for off take of power on take or pay basis were unreasonable and admitted that the then Government committed a mistake. The Government acknowledged that India learned its lessons on foreign investments.
Now there were reports that the 17% shares held by the Government in Maruthi would be disinvested leaving the Government with 51% shares. The papers further reported that the Government had referred 20 PSUs for privatization. However, the Prime Minister, presumably referring to the letters of this writer said on his birthday on 25 December 2001 that the beauty of India was that whenever the country was faced with a crisis people became one forgetting their differences.
On January 1, 2002 a Vigilance Officer of a PSU said that Indian Penal Code contained provisions for forcing public servants to do their duty under sections 166 and 167. He quoted from the French writer, Victor Hugo “ there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come”. He said that people make or mar nations and that India was ranked 72 out of 91 countries listed in the order from the least corrupt. He, however, added that the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVC) does not reveal the names of the complainants to ensure his/her security. Some newspapers reported this. This was the first veiled threat against this writer.
5
THE PRIVATIZATION
AND
THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
As the Supreme Court remained unmoved for the first point in letter No.3 and the last point in letter No.4, the following letter No.5 was sent to the Prime Minister, President and 18 learned judges of the Supreme Court on 3 January 2002. In this letter, it was hinted that the learned judges of the Supreme Court broke the Constitution of India from within.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the question of examining the following points with regard to the Policy of Privatization vis-Ã -vis the Constitution of India.
1. The decision to introduce the word ‘socialistic’ in the Preamble of the Constitution was a well thought out one. After noticing the undercurrent, the word was carefully included to pre-empt the incumbent Governments from deviating from socialistic principles using a simple majority in the Parliament.
2. Due to the above amendment, the Council of Ministers and the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, in their official capacities, shall not do anything to offend or destroy socialism lest they would be incurring disqualification, as such a stand would be a violation of the oath taken by them. Any deviation from Democracy, Secularism, Socialism and Sovereignty by them will be deemed as total defiance of the Constitution entailing automatic disqualification. Oath should not have been administered to Minister for Disinvestments. The Ministry of Disinvestments stands for the destruction of the Constitution and hence it must cease to exist. The Preamble, unlike the Basic Structure of the Constitution, is not a vague one to leave it to the interpretation of the Supreme Court.
3. The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are governed by reservation norms. Once privatized, the common man would lose this benefit. Further, once a few people from one or two states using ill-gotten funds, bank funds or public funds purchase the PSUs, the industry would lose its all India character and the employment opportunities of people from many regions would be affected. It is against the federal structure of the Constitution.
4. The vested interests have fielded a syndicate of editors, writers and reporters to keep the mind and tongue of the people under ignorance and they propagate the view that the Government would gain by privatizing the PSUs. They seek to bring down those above the poverty line to a state below the poverty line.
5. Despite the best efforts to kill the PSUs, and in spite of all the commissions the system permits, not even one PSU in India has gone bankrupt. When the Private Sector Undertakings becomes bankrupt, there would be no mourners except the employees and the poor investors. The majority stakes holder would slash Re. hundreds of thousands of crore in foreign banks and reappear in another form. In fact, those who raised Re. thousands of crore through public issues are surviving in the system without spending even 10% of the collected amount. The Government and the CBI must have better knowledge about this matter.
6. There is no practical meaning to liberalization, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). Indian industry had been liberalized long before to the detriment of indigenous technology. Just as the PSUs are handed over to the strategic partners, the licenses had been granted to some individuals to import technology, even obsolete technology. All vehicles in India are foreign in origin. Most of the shopping items in the shops are from foreign companies. Money kept abroad by Indian brokers and manipulators reappear in India as FDIs and FIIs. The Government, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the CBI know about this matter better.
7. A little accountability that exists in the PSUs is lacking in the Private Sector Undertakings. Thus, when a chief of a private company went away with Re. 800 crore, it was cited as a case of bad finance in private sector. The fact that India became poorer to that extent was not noticed by anyone.
8. Indians are hard working in nature. That is why the toiling hands in the form of NRIs flood the banks with Re. hundreds of crore every day. They are property minded and ownership minded also. They consider the PSUs as their own property and alienating them when there is no dearth of funds in banks hurts them just as it hurts the Constitution.
9. The situation prevailing now in India could be compared to the one that existed in France before the French Revolution or to the condition that is prevailing in Argentina. Banks are flooded with money. Money is siphoned off in Re. hundreds of thousands of crore for sub-lending, brokering and for big buying but there is no money in the hands of the common man. The soldiers are not paid immediately after recruitment and those who have not received regular salary for even one month are being deployed to border areas. One state Government in early December 2001 decided to stop payment of regular monthly salary to the teachers of aided schools and the bill for December 2001 was returned by the treasury. However, the Government reversed its stand in the last week of December. Income Tax refunds are not given. No Leave Travel Concessions. The withdrawals were denied by the UTI. Employees are denied withdrawals from the PF. Bonus denied. Earned leave encashment denied. Many ration items denied. No jobs for the educated. No work for coolies. High interest rates cripple the people. Some kill others. Some steal. Some starve. Some suffer in silence. Some commit suicide. Even if the courts give relief, the state Governments cannot do anything because there is no money in the treasury. It is the duty of everyone to avert a major humiliating crisis.
10. Constituting the Benches to take out the worst possible judgment is very common. But the ministers and the judges becoming accomplices to break the Constitution from within are very rare indeed. In such a situation the Chief Justice can constitute a larger Bench to rectify the error or the President of India can demand the opinion of a larger Bench. Therefore, the judgment on BALCO must be annulled and the status quo ante of all privatized PSUs restored forthwith to convey the impression that the Constitution of India despite deadly blows and severe set backs would survive.
Vellicode,
3-1-2002
Yours faithfully,
(V.SABARIMUTHU).
Now a Chief Minister of a state acknowledged the above letters. The acknowledgement letter clearly mentioned the economic deprivation of the rural masses and the federal structure of the Constitution.
In the meantime, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the security scam recommended necessary action against the Managing Director (M.D) of a private company. He had diverted about Re.800 crore for speculative activities in the stock market. Nothing was heard about this matter later.
6
THE CBI AND THE COURT CASES
On 14 January 2002, three judges Bench of the Supreme Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the sale of the BALCO. The mass media treated this as an insignificant but routine judgement. In fact, the print media did not give any importance to the momentous judgement. However, within two days the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments (CCD) referred a fresh bunch of PSUs including Pradeep Phosphate Limited and Jessop to the newly reconstituted Disinvestments Commission. But a Union Minister said that he would come out with a pleasant surprise to satisfy the Finance Minister who was looking for Rs. 12,000/- crore through disinvestments.
Now, this writer felt that the working of the judiciary and the investigation agencies must be exposed to get better result from the Government. Therefore, the following letter No.6 was sent as usual.
From
V. Sabarimuthu,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace,New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Most kindly consider the question of examining the following points with regard to the plight of the people vis-Ã -vis the Constitution of India.
1. The Preamble of the Constitution decides the direction of the Government. Sovereignty, Socialism, Secularism and Democracy are the four keys to the Constitution. The Government must stand within this boundary. The keys shall not be deformed by any reform. All those who commit breach of trust and contempt of Constitution must be disqualified. It is the demand of the Constitution.
2. In November1996, the Chairpersons of two companies were arrested under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated action against two former Union Ministers in April 28, 1998. Another former Union Minister was arrested on 26-5-1998 under FERA. On July 22, 1998, the Directorate of Enforcement had a very strong case against the son of a former Prime Minister. Again, on October 27, 1998 the Managing Director of a public sector bank and 28 others were charge sheeted by the CBI. In August 1998, the Government contemplated a probe by the CBI against the officials of the public sector TV channel for irregularities to the tune of Re. 1000 crore. There are several bigger offenders, which the courts and the CBI know better. Some offenders amass wealth through manipulations and become Non Resident Indians (NRIs) before acquiring citizenship of other countries. They are capable of keeping any case under cold storage. They change the counsels, courts and laws to dilute the severity of the case. They know that they would be discharged at one stage or other under one pretext or other. We could read only what they feed. Thus, the visit of the President of India to the Supreme Court or the second judgement on the BALCO was not news for them. They send the Prime Ministers to various countries. They talk on behalf of Prime Ministers and vice versa. They make or mar the Prime Ministers. They decide the direction of the Government. They keep the key to the Constitution.
3. The media syndicate utilized some of the above cases to bring down the United Front (UF) Government. The syndicate conveyed the impression that the UF Government was biting the ears of the Congress party while sitting on its shoulders. Thus, citing the above cases, some newspapers said that the Prime Minister’s Office was trying to implicate a political leader in a 1993 criminal case. Some papers said the UF Government had wanted to dump a former Prime Minister. Some papers said that the CBI was trying to implicate some leaders in some criminal cases. In fact, some cases served the purpose of enacting two coups-one to stabilize a Government led by the Congress party and the other to destabilize a Government under the United Front.
4. In one case, the High Court, Delhi, on August 9, 1996 said, “The CBI is trying to identify both givers and takers. If the CBI fails, we know to get both sides identified. At this stage we want to utter minimum”. Less than 30 days time was given to the CBI to complete the investigation. At that time, the Supreme Court also did not lag behind as it, on March 31, 1997, threatened to monitor a bank Case.
5. Recently, an employee of the Government of Tamil Nadu (TN) state was suspended from service for accepting a bribe of Re. 50/-. A court in Gujarat recently awarded three-month imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Re. 100/-. A court at Nagercoil (TN), again recently, issued orders to attach all the immovable assets of eight thieves who stole jewels worth Re.48 lakhs.
6. In contrast, a broker was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for about Re. 72 crore. The Supreme Court did not enhance the sentence but chose to uphold it.
7. A Chief Minister was arrested in April 2000. Since then, people have been hearing about his arrests, bail denials, bails, re-arrests, appeals and bails. In 1997, an I.P.S.officer., in bad faith, implicated an innocent person in a criminal case. The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) of Tamil Nadu held that the I.P.S. officer was “specifically responsible” for the incident. The victim appealed to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for further relief. The NHRC rejected the appeal citing one specific reason. The review petition was rejected citing another reason. The NHRC, which recognizes no borders, drew two strong boundary lines for protection. The victim is still persecuted as the prosecution is still pending in the court. There is no authority to hear such cases. There must be a Constitution if not human rights.
8. In some cases, the Supreme Court said that there must be only one category of offenders and not categories. It never said that the assets of small offenders must be confiscated and that of big offenders spared. The big offenders win the cases the moment they save their assets from confiscation. The act of swallowing the small offenders and nibbling at the big offenders for public consumption is a heinous crime against humanity.
9. Some papers on 1-1-2002 casually said that the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) does not reveal the identity of the complainants to ensure his safety. Whether there is anything in store is not clear. When there is a constitutional vacuum there is no use in talking about the safety to life.
10. In early December 2001, a group of people going for white-collar jobs sat on the railway track in Tamil Nadu state demanding plying of more trains because they could not afford to travel in bus. At the same time, in the same state, 10 million women sat on the roads protesting against the increase in the price of rice. No leader gave a call to this historical rebellion. The difference between this rebellion and the French Revolution and that in Argentina was that the women in their poor attire were seen in India. It is strange that this rebellion has not humbled everyone.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
21-1-2002
(V.SABARIMUTHU)
Apparently, the President of India transmitted the above letter to the Prime Minister of India on 24 January 2002.The Republic Day address of the Prime Minister contained several words chosen from the letters sent by this writer. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting and the Cabinet meeting scheduled on 29 January 2002 were cancelled without assigning any reason. On 3 February 2002, the Prime Minister said that the country was in a state of undeclared emergency and asked the opposition parties not to rake up contentious issues.
On 29 January 2002, a former Prime Minister of India thanked this writer through a letter for sending him all the letters. His letter enabled this writer to give a relevant answer to those who constantly asked the question, “Did anyone send you any reply to your letters?”
Now the Prime Minister’s Office) PMO, apparently, did not disclose anything to the mass media. This prompted the newspapers to compare the condition to “black hole”, which gives out no signal. Many papers said that the economy had never been in worse since the crisis days of 1991. A newspaper said that “it was the time to engineer another crisis” to get everyone on the reforms roads again. This showed that the moment the things move against the wishes of the stakes, the media would engineer one crisis or other.
On 4 February 2002, the Prime Minister declared that the PSUs were the pillars of the economy and that an impression was being created in the name of globalization that the PSUs had lost their importance and that the Government had wanted to get rid of them.
In contrast to the words of the Prime Minister, a sea change occurred in the policy of the Government. Thus, on 5 February 2002, the Prime Minister convened the CCD and it decided to sell 25% equity in the VSNL - a public sector telephone company- to a private company. As an eye wash, the CCD also decided to sell the public sector Indo Burma Petroleum (IBP) along with its management control to Indian oil Corporation (IOC) Limited, another public sector company. Further, the CCD decided to sell four hotels of the public sector ITDC to four private bidders. The Cabinet on the same day approved a voluntary retirement scheme for permanent Government employees rendered surplus.
Some papers described the above decisions as a “big step” forward. They predicted that another private Company would bid for the HPCL and the BPCL-two public sector oil companies. They considered privatization as a silver lining as the Government could sell the VSNL without a murmur of protest from the opposition parties. In order to dilute the seriousness of the decisions, the papers deplored that the Cabinet did not take any decision to cut the subsidies on kerosene and the LPC. Some papers said that the sale of the VSNL and the IBP limited passed off without much political noise. They said that the Left parties kept quiet and the Congress had nothing to say. The papers challenged the Government to sell the nationalized banks. They interpreted this not only as a critical test but also a most welcome one. How the media directed attention precisely to wrong things could be gauged.
The spokesperson of the Congress party said that his party was opposed to selling profit making industries. The Communist Party of India (CPI-M) said that the decision to sell the PSUs was a mockery of the pronouncement of the Prime Minister on the penultimate day of disinvestments that the Government was not for liquidating the PSUs. The Communist Party of India (CPI) said that the decision would undermine the economic sovereignty of the nation. In fine, the Left parties described the decision as “economic terrorism”. But they wanted the people to digest it as if the decisions were inevitable. Clearly, the “will” of the Prime Minister was defeated by the “sinister will” of the stakes.
A political leader congratulated the Minister for Disinvestments for maintaining the integrity of the tender process in the disinvestments of the IBP and the VSNL. He said that the Indian democracy would be strengthened by the failure of a company to subvert the tender bid and arm-twist the Government to favour them. His claim was that there was no cartel formation. The mass media gave great importance to his words. The vicious arguments to privatize the PSUs could be discerned.
In the mean time, the newspapers reported that according to “Moody’s”, the international credit rating agency, India was heading towards a debt trap due to the inability of the Government to rein in its huge public sector deficit. It said that the rising debt service burden was consuming an overwhelming share of the resources. It said that the policy of depending on non-resident capital to finance account gap was not sustainable.
The Prime Minister, on 10 February 2002, all on a sudden said that there was a conspiracy to disintegrate the country. A leader of the BJP charged the opposition parties with indulging in “backroom activities” to destabilize the Government.
On 13 February 2002, the Government identified Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL), Rail India Technical and Economic Services and Project and Equipment Corporation, Maruthi Udyog Limited Indian Petro Chemical Limited (IPCL), Jessop Engineering and Hindustan Zinc Limited and Pradeep Phosphates Limited (PPL) for disinvestments before March 2002.
The Treasury of the Kerala State became empty on 13 February 2002. Following a SoS from the Chief Minister of Kerala, the Union Government prevailed upon the LIC, a PSU, to release a loan of Re. 200/- crore to Kerala state and the LIC obliged. However, some private companies obtained loan in Re. thouands of crore without any difficulty.
A newspaper extracted the creative expression “resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, and Democratic Republic” from a retired Supreme Court Judge and reported it for public consumption. The paper extracted this from him, as it was aware of the existence of these letters. Neither did the judge mention this nor did he bother to know the reason for approaching him for his comments. .
The Prime Minister said that any talk of socialism was out of sync with the changing times, which was governed by open market economy. The mass media reported this. The mass media further wanted the Government to create an environment to the industry to compete with global giants. For this, the paper wanted quick decision on labour and moving ahead quickly with privatization.
In the meantime, the Chief Minister of Kerala and the Chief Minister of Punjab acknowledged the receipt of these letters.
In the budget for 2002-2003, there was additional taxation for about Re. 30,000 crore. Most of the revenue was through service charges suggested by this writer. Further, full convertibility was granted to the NRIs and there was a proposal to give loan to the rural people at 2% above the maximum deposit rate. The latter proposal was consistent with the proposal of this writer. However, it was not implemented effectively. There was a suggestion to hand over six PSUs and the remaining public sector hotels to private parties. A Union Minister compared privatization to crossing the forest in the darkness of night. According to him, if the process were stopped in the midway, the tiger would eat them! If that happened, he said, he would plead with the political parties, Parliament and Government as the reform process was still incomplete.
The mass media again said that the Government should not be running enterprises such as hotels, airlines, bakeries and the industries like the BALCO. The indirect message was that all the PSUs and the mineral wealth of India must be handed over to their masters. Now, there were reports that four parties had expressed their interest to buy the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).But later, due to this work, the sale did not materialize.
7
A GIANT MANIPULATION
As the Government of India went ahead with the privatization programme, the manipulation of an individual to buy a Public Sector Undertaking was exposed to the President of India, Prime Minister of India, learned judges of the Supreme Court and the CBI by post. The letter might have reached Delhi within three days.
Now a grave situation prevailed. The media syndicate projected the name of an individual for the post of President of India presumably because the then President was not amenable for manipulations. The stakes apparently distilled his name for the top post. It appeared that a sinister design was behind it. This writer felt very helpless. However, this writer just pointed out the plight of the people to all the important political leaders. The letter did wonders as it changed the perception of the leaders. The letter proved that the leaders have an unquenchable thirst for the good. Perhaps the mind of the Universe has its own way of solving the problems. The apprehension proved correct when the individual himself in an interview to the public sector TV channel in September 2004 disclosed that there was an understanding with the Government long before the discussion started in the media. The way in which the stakes build India using the media could be gauged.
The important letter No.7 sent on 2 March 2002 follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu P.O. 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace, New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the following DEMANDS OF THE CONSTITUTION.
1. The President of India must respect the Constitution of India. If the present President of India fails to protect the Constitution, the plight of the people when a representative of the stakes occupies Presidential Palace shall be envisaged.
When the common man points out that privatization is opposed to Socialism, the President must consider it in the proper perspective, hear the views of the constitutional experts, filter them and take a correct stand. Absence of a reply in this regard conveys the impression that all those who facilitated privatization of the BALCO, VSNL, and a few other PSUs no longer enjoy the pleasure of the President of India.
2. The Prime Minister must respect the Constitution. It is gratifying that the service charges and relatively higher credit at 2% above maximum deposit rates for rural people in the budget are consistent with the suggestions given earlier. However, the economic policy of the Government shall be none other than socialism.
3. The Council of Ministers must respect the Constitution.
4. The print media must respect the Constitution. Unfortunately, the sole objective of the print media is fattening their masters at the expense of the common man all over India. Obviously, the only field where they oppose the real FDI is in the print media. They do not like to point out that liberalization is different from privatization of the existing PSUs. They never say that the PSUs are functioning like private companies although the Government owns them. By not discussing the salient features of the Constitution at a crucial period and by propounding different principles, they showed that they had an axe to grind, cheated 1000 million people and facilitated treachery and day light robbery. Further, the print media is conniving at several murky deals. In fact, the media syndicate is the anti constitutional terrorist in India. That the media syndicate is racist in character could be gauged from their manner of reporting.
5. The RBI reserved 5% of the credit to brokers and the guideline is even now followed although it was pointed out to the President of India that such reservations were unconstitutional. If the monies disbursed by the State Governments- instead of returning to the original place- land in foreign countries via Banks, UTI, Mutual Funds, LIC and brokers, where will the State Governments go for money to meet the day today needs of their people? After causing such harms to economic activity, the RBI stands in the way of the state Governments from raising money from the banks.
6. The Human Rights Commission must respect the Constitution. Since the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found that an IPS officer was specifically responsible for an incident, either the SHRC or the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) must have saved the victim of that incident from prosecution. The letters sent to the President of India on constitutional matters shall not end in vain.
7. The investigation agencies must respect the Constitution. They must resort to arrest a citizen or an alleged offender in good faith that too only after proper investigation. Not withstanding the set backs in lower courts, all cases involving big offenders must be taken up to the Supreme Court.
8. The Comptroller and Auditor General and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) must respect the Constitution. They must notice the suggestions given to the President of India and take necessary steps to prevent big commissions. The CVC should not expect the people without protection to provide the list of cases remaining in a half-baked condition.
9. People must respect the Constitution. Some very powerful players including the masters of some newspapers are trying to become foreigners after becoming global giants by grabbing the PSUs. Permitting them to invest $100 million in other countries every year, as in the present budget, is a complementary action. They have already pocketed socialism. Now it is the duty of the people to restore the status quo ante of the Constitution.
10. The Chief Justice of India and all other judges must respect the Constitution. There was a time when post cards were accepted as writ petitions.
In this connection, it is disturbing to note that when the Prime Minister was in the USA the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments took some crucial decisions. At this time it was reported that an individual was given an advance of Re 845/- crore from the public sector Bank of India (BoI). It confirmed the worst fears of the common man that the PSUs would be purchased using public funds or ill-gotten funds and converted into private properties. The money parked abroad by brokers would be utilized to buy the Shipping Corporation of India. It must be also noted that the Prime Minister canceled the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet meeting slated for January 29, 2002. The mass media became so restless and bold that they threatened to engineer a crisis to the nation. On the same day, the Prime Minister compared the PSUs to pillars. If the Prime Minister did not equivocate, it was the last resistance offered by the Prime Minister against disinvestments. However, on the next day, the offenders using muscle power like force vanquished the Prime Minister Lock, stock and barrel. Earlier, when the sale of Air India was thwarted the mass media had tried to pull down the Government.
The Chief Justice of India should not follow the crowd. He must snatch the key to the Constitution from the offenders - keep it with him- and act without any fear or favour.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
2-3-2002. V.SABARIMUTHU
The Union Government now decided to sell the public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco). But the exposure of the Re.845 crore deal of the BoI crippled the privatization process and, therefore, the Nalco ultimately escaped.
The State Governments began to show great interest in service charges. Thus the Finance Minister of Kerala said that he anticipated substantial income from service charges. The Tamil Nadu state also urged the Centre to amend the Constitution to allow the states to levy service tax. The demands are consistent with this work.
Prime Minister on March 15, 2002 said that the Government was contemplating to sell the PSUs to reduce the fiscal deficit. It was a hallow reason because even after giving concrete suggestions to increase the revenues the Government intermittently wanted privatization.
A former Prime Minister of India said that the Government had no right to sell the PSUs under the fixed economy chosen by India. He compared PSUs to Taj Mahal.
But a Union Minister said that the decision had the seal of the Supreme Court. He said that the money would be deposited in a bank to fetch 8 percent interest.
8
DEMANDS OF THE COMMON MAN
As the Government went ahead with intermittent privatization, the letter No. 8 was sent to all dignitaries on 25 March 2004. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu P.O.PIN: 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the following DEMANDS OF THE COMMON MAN.
1. The Forty-second amendment to our Constitution is the greatest achievement of Indian Parliamentary democracy. So long as it is retained in the Constitution, the judiciary, executive and legislature will have no power to take any decision opposed to socialism or secularism. The benefits of this amendment must flow to the common man. Now it remains blocked. The President of India must have promptly taken effective steps to restore the status quo ante of the Constitution. The President of India remaining silent without taking any concrete action, even after several letters, is nothing but obstruction of impartiality.
2. The repercussion of the above amendment is that the Government is forbidden from selling any share of any PSU under any pretext to any private parties. The Prime Minister pricked the bubble when he declared in Parliament that the decision to sell the PSUs was taken to reduce the fiscal deficit. He forgot the fact that the Union Government refused to sell a PSU to a state Government. Further, even if the crucial words-socialism and secularism- were expunged from the Constitution, imparting racist character to the PSUs would be repugnant to the Constitution. In this connection, it must be pointed out that the Prime Minister had touched the feet of a destitute woman and as such, he must have saved socialism for her.
3. The masters of newspapers know that they have freedom of expression. However, they must realize that they do not have any freedom to suppress news and views. They are not publishing the views of the President of India or the leaders of the opposition parties with any consistency or continuity. They are not publishing even the observations of the judges of the Supreme Court in various cases. They suppress many murky deals and money launderings. They want to give the PSUs to the foreigners who could not be trusted to manage newspapers in India. They never tell that the strategic partners could sell their stakes in the PSUs to someone from Pakistan or China. They look at the Constitution through coloured glasses and remain as a threat to it. All those who still refuse to enlighten the consequences of socialism to the masses must be severely punished and sent to Tihar jail.
4. If the common man takes a housing loan, his house is checked at least thrice to see that the money is not diverted. A Union Minister had to prevail upon the LIC, a PSU, to give a loan of Re 200 crore to the Government of Kerala State. Further, we are living in a country where an employee who stole Re. 850/- from a bank was dismissed from service. However, one individual could remove Re.850 crore from the Bank of India to buy a public sector undertaking. In December 2001, a nationalized bank even hived off its Mutual Fund Scheme to him silently. If such a trend is not checked, he would take Re.85,000 crore from the banks, UTI and LIC to buy the AI, IA, SCI and Indian Railways. Hence, the CBI must verify the veracity of the allegation that an individual took Rs.850 crore from the BoI to buy a PSU. If possible the information such as the purpose of loan, date of application, the person who gave the legal opinion and the amount paid to him, the processing fee collected, security offered, reason for releasing the money in one go, date of utilization certificate, may kindly be furnished.
5. The suggestion to abolish bulk purchasing must be considered with all its seriousness. Recently, the BSNL concluded a deal to buy equipments worth 2044 crore from some multinational corporations. When it was pointed out that bulk buying usually involved big commissions, the deal was renegotiated in the zonal level and the yield was 10%. One more negotiation in the State level would have fetched 10% more. Can a common man digest this? Whether the equipments really reached the real destinations or not is not clear to any one.
6. The suggestion to split the big PSUs and giving them to the State Governments must also be taken with all its seriousness. In May 1999, the IT Department asked a former Chairman of a PSU, facing charges under Foreign Exchange and Regulation Act (FERA), to pay a tax of Re. 25 crore. Now the matter has gone into oblivion. Splitting the PSUs could check such big commissions. The PSUs could join together to undertake big schemes if necessary.
7. The suggestion to split the banks, LIC, UTI and giving them to State Governments must be also considered to prevent flight of capital. After the letter dated 1-6-2001, the UTI has split its jobs among several managers .Now the managers could sit in different State capitals.
8. The Supreme Court, in a case, had asked the investigating agencies to book all persons-irrespective of their positions - that are reasonably accused of committing crime. Using this observation, the CBI must check the proliferation of economic offenders.
9. According to the Supreme Court, the Constitution is supreme. Therefore, extirpation of socialism from the Preamble of the Constitution through the back door is nothing but anti-constitutional terrorism. It is not possible for the common man to file a review petition in the Supreme Court.
10. When the salaries of the employees all over India are either denied or delayed, the Chief Justice of India is drawing salary from the consolidated fund without any problem. Obviously, the common man is not the competent authority to call for an explanation from the Chief Justice of India. However, the High Court, Cochin had recently said that the people are the real employers of the Judges. If the Chief Justice of India respects this, he could kindly give answers for all unanswered questions in a simple straightforward language to enlighten the common man. Further, instead of belittling the judiciary by estimating 20% of the judges as corrupt, he must come out with concrete remedies for all the ills of the nation.
Rectitude must be the hallmark of the Chief Justice of India. Respecting the Constitution, the Chief Justice must rescue socialism immediately.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
25-3-2002
25-3-2002. V.SABARIMUTHU
9
THE SUPER CABINET
On 17 April 2002, the letter No.9 was sent to the President. This letter pointed out the existence of a hidden Super Cabinet in New Delhi. The reason for this conclusion was that the public sector Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) was given to a company which had been disqualified by the Union Cabinet. The copy of this letter was not sent to the Prime Minister as the President had been transmitting the letters to the Prime Minister. The practice of sending the letters to the Chief Ministers and the learned judges of the Supreme Court was also discontinued due to practical difficulties. The letter follows.
From
V. Sabarimuthu,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the REASONS FOR THE FALL OF OUR CONSTITUTION.
1. The Supreme Court has extinguished socialism from the Constitution. The shoulders of the learned judges of the Supreme Court must be broad enough to accept the Constitution even if they cannot relish it. Sovereignty, Socialism, Secularism and Democracy cannot be destroyed by any judgement even if it is reinforced by 100 other judgements. In other words, the Constitution is supreme and not the judgements. Whether the Supreme Court has any power to annihilate socialism and therefore the Preamble through its judgements is the crucial question, which remains unanswered.
2. The words socialism and secularism were included in the Constitution because of great foresight and political will that stemmed from due democratic process. Therefore, destruction of socialism amounts to destruction of democracy through the back door.
3. Several cases pending against big economic offenders were brought to the notice of the President of India, Chief Justice of India, many learned judges of the Supreme Court and the CBI. Nevertheless, no effort has been taken by anyone to bring anyone to justice.
4. On September 9, two judges Bench of the High Court, Delhi observed, “Considering the very nature of the allegation, this seems to be the most important case, (i.e. JMM case), the nation is facing. There can be no other case in Parliamentary Democracy more important than this”. People believed what the learned judges said. Now they anticipate the verdict of the Supreme Court in this case. The JMM money is still in the bank. The CBI has not filed an appeal in this case and in some other cases presumably because the critical energy badly needed to file an appeal is not forthcoming from the President, Prime Minister or the Supreme Court.
5. The High Courts were not allowed to hear the BALCO case. The present Chief Justice of India did not allow the High Court, Chennai to hear the ITDC case. One particular Supreme Court judge has been asked to hear the BALCO case twice. Taking cases from the High Courts, in good faith, is common. However, this should not appear as something done in bad faith. Not all the safety valves available to the affected people should be firmly shut. The logical extension of this trend is that the Chief Justices and Judges of the High Courts would be appointed with an eye on acquitting the accused. Therefore, the people all over India fear that all the big offenders would be coming out with flying colours and added glory.
6. It is well known that an individual took Re. 845 crore from the public sector Bank of India (BoI) to purchase a PSU. The matter was informed to the President of India, the Chief Justice of India and the CBI. The CBI has not denied the allegation. The CBI has not caught the culprits partly because the CBI-it appears- is not purely independent in its functioning and partly because of the present environment. It is strange that a solid complaint against an individual involving Re.845 crore is sidelined. The public servants who influenced the bank to pay the money have the last laugh. Absence of rule of law is evident.
7. In July 2001, the Union Cabinet, in good faith, decided to disqualify the companies that committed grave offences from bidding for the PSUs. Based on this definition the then bidders of Air India and the HZL were totally disqualified. Obviously, this definition could be reversed only in bad faith. The Constitution could be defied. The President of India could be defied. The common man could be defied. How can the Union Cabinet defy its own decision? It is possible because, it appears, that a “Super Cabinet” is functioning somewhere in Delhi. The members of this Super Cabinet periodically decide to divide the PSUs among themselves as if they were their family properties. If it were not true, HZL would not have been given to a company disqualified by the Union Cabinet. It was the reason why the Chief Justice of India was requested not to follow the crowd. The Chief Justice of India could have stayed the disinvestments for the violation of these guidelines, if not based on the Constitution. In fact, these companies committed offences, which outraged the moral sense of not only the community but also the Government. One must make money honestly to make the nation rich. It is evident that the nation is under the clutches of the economic offenders. The Supreme Court could have contributed its share to extricate the nation from their hands.
8. The President of India has not given any reply to the letters on constitutional matters. The President of India, it appears, paid a visit to the Supreme Court in vain. The President of India must be always pleased to certify that the learned judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts enjoy his pleasure because the Preamble of the Constitution is safe in their hands.
9. If the learned judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts were ready to act in good faith, there would be no threat to socialism, democracy, rule of law or to the life and security of the people. On the contrary, if they begin to act in bad faith, there would be a real threat to socialism, democracy, and secularism, rule of law and life and security of the people. Absence of a reply from the President of India indicates that the latter is happening.
10. If a judicial blunder is pointed out, the Supreme Court must come out of it with necessary corrections without wasting time. The Constitution is important and not the procedures and technicalities. There is a new hope that all the privatized PSUs would be taken back to meet the demands of the Constitution. The Chief Justice of India would agree wholeheartedly that the people must enjoy the benefits of the Preamble as a matter of unfettered right and not as gratis. Therefore, this letter may kindly be treated as a writ petition to restore the status quo ante of the Constitution. Alternatively, the President of India or the Supreme Court may find out a mechanism to undo the harm inadvertently done to the Constitution. The Chief Justice of India would earn the goodwill of the people if he could restore socialism to its pre-eminent position before his retirement.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
17-4-2002.
17-4-2002. V.SABARIMUTHU.
17-4-2003.
The above letter further crippled the privatization programme. In fact, the letter sent shock waves across New Delhi. Thus a Union Minister ruled out privatization of Air India and Indian Airlines saying that the immediate priority was to put them on firm footing. Another Union Minister said that the ordinance factories would not be privatized. Still another Union Minister, on the same day, allayed fears that the National Aluminium Company (Nalco)- a PSU- would be privatized on the lines of the BALCO. He ruled out the privatization of Coal India Limited also. Further, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Shipping opposed the privatization of the Shipping Corporation of India. Similarly, another Parliamentary Committee opposed the privatization of Indian Petro Chemical Corporation Limitd (IPCL).
The Union Government did not expect that a citizen of India would pin point the fact that the bank funds were used to buy the PSUs. Similarly, the Government did not anticipate that a common man would point out the sale of a PSU to a charge sheeted company violating the guidelines devised for privatization. The momentous changes that occurred due to this work could be gauged. Now the I.5 lakh ordinance staff decided to defer their 48-hour agitation against the privatization of ordinance factories.
Presumably based on the above letter, the President of India invited the Prime Minister for talks on 19 April 2002. The meeting lasted for 45 minutes. Indian TV channel reported it. The newspapers did not report this matter at all. On 20 April 2002, the Prime Minister had a closed door meeting with important Union Ministers.
Now, the Confederation of Indian Industries and Commerce invited a Congress leader to inaugurate its annual session. Thus, it deviated from its normal practice of inviting the Prime Minister to inaugurate the session. The Prime Minister had been requested to give the valedictory address. This was a ploy to woo the Congress leader by flattering so that the leader would agree to a constitutional amendment like removing the word “socialism” from the Preamble. In this way, the stakes wanted to show that there was unanimity between the ruling party and the main opposition party in the matter of privatization. The Union Government actually had been very considerate with regard to the Congress leader. It could be gauged from the fact that it even did not change the Governors appointed by the Congress party. The ploy did not work as the Congress leader had been continuously receiving copies of the letters. Thus the Congress leader, very politely asked the motive behind inviting the leader of the opposition to start their annual get-together. The Congress leader asked whether there was a change in the direction of the political wind. Finally, the Congress leader said that due to the fundamental difference of opinion on the very character of the society there would not be much agreement between the Government and the opposition.
On the next day, the Prime Minister in his valedictory speech said that the attempt to destabilize the Government with the support of the detractors had neither helped the cause of business nor had they done any good to the economy. He asked the Congress leader not to count the chicken before they were hatched. Finally, as a reply to the letters of this writer he said that, “The Government would do business with the businessmen and the businessmen would continue to do business with the Government”. This apparently showed that the Prime Minister was a supporter of privatization and that but for these letters he might have privatized all PSUs to the detriment 1000 million people.
The industrialists were disappointed because their meticulous plan to enlist the support of the Congress leader did not click. The mass media on 29 April 2002 deplored that the ruling coalition would no longer expect any helping hand from the Congress party even for carrying through the essential reforms bills and agreed reforms measures. As the Government enjoyed majority support in the House, what they meant by this was amendment to the Constitution. The exasperated newspapers pointed out that the new stand of the Congress party did not auger well for the economy. They predicted that the Congress would go along with the Left for the rest of the term. The “Divine Spirit or Reason” prompted the Congress leader to change the policy of the Congress Party towards privatization. Truly, it was a turning point.
Now, the Government disclosed in the Parliament that the exchequer was empty. The international credit rating organizations were quick to down grade India and denied credit to the State Bank of India.
The newspapers said that a sense of paralysis was pervading the Government. They said that the entire establishment was pampering 11 percent working population of India to the extent of self-ruination. They began to write sarcastic articles against the Congress leader. The reason why the media started to oppose the Congress leader could be gauged.
As the President of India was taking firm actions for every letter, the media syndicate ruled out another term to the President.
The industrialists now openly requested the Government to bring the cooperative banks under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India. They said that the banks were not lending money to those who run business.
Now an industrialist said that there was no harm in building relationship with people in power.
When the mass media created such conditions, the Union Government decided to sell 5% of the shares of Maruthi Udyog Ltd (MUL) for Re.1000 crore. On 18 May 2002 the Government sold 26% equity of the IPCL along with its management control to a charge sheeted private company for Re. 1490.4 crore. In order to console the people, the newspapers said that many companies were under investigation and many Chief Executives were being pushed out. Further they cited privatization as one bright spot in a generally lackluster economic policy scenario. They predicted that the public perception would change after privatization. They wanted the Government to hand over the excess money in the public sector banks to them to prevent the money from landing in stock market creating new brokers. They went to the extent of saying that corruption in big buying in the BSNL could be tolerated because the loss due to the delays were several times greater than those arising out of any possible corruption. However, they added that a new class of socialists had emerged in the political horizon of India.
In the meantime, the Government of Andra Pradesh decided to split the State Electricity Board into four autonomous Corporations. This was consistent with the suggestions already given.
On 22 May 2002, a Congress leader said that the leaders of the BJP were indulging in double speak and their mask was slipping quite often.
The privatized VSNL decided to divest Re.1200 crore from the resources of the company, to another private company. A Union Minister described it as a “breach of trust” and “asset stripping”. At the same time, the public sector telephone company approached the Ministry of Communication with the plea that the VSNL be asked to clear its due of Re.600 crore before investing Re. 1200 crore in a private company. What happened to this demand was not known to anyone.
On 31 May 2002, the Government decided to sell four public sector ITDC Hotels. On the same day the Government decided to sell the public sector Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd to a strategic partner. However, this did not materialize.
The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) was replaced by the Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act (FEMA) from June 2002.The criminal cases under the FERA automatically became civil cases under the FEMA. The important beneficiaries were six former executives of a private company.
Now, the Directorate of Enforcement closed a case against a political leader who allegedly received $ 300000 through illegal route for want of evidence. Similarly, a case against another leader who received $ 100000 through illegal route was closed.
On 10 June 2002, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) slapped a fine of Re. 4.75 lakh on a private company for the delay in informing the exchange about hiking its share in another company beyond five percent limit under the takeover code.
In order to placate the people and to ridicule this writer, one or two newspapers said that the Government was undertaking privatization not withstanding the mandate in the Preamble of the Constitution.
10
LEARNING TO LOSE
Now, the letter No.10 was sent to the President of India. In this letter, the President of India was commended for sacrificing one more term in the Presidential Palace. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, P.O. 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India must send a reply to the common man.
1. It was submitted to the President of India that the Supreme Court of India exterminated socialism.
2. It was submitted to the President of India that the extirpation of socialism amounted to the destruction of democracy.
3. It was submitted to the President of India that privatization is a measure opposed to socialism. The Government is doing it because it has the seal of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is allowing it because it has the seal of the Parliament. Nevertheless, no one has the seal of the Constitution. In this connection, it is shocking to note that a retired judge of the Supreme Court, on June 4, 2002, said that the ‘the Chief Justices of India often make initial recommendations for appointment of Chief Justices of High Courts more on account of personal, communal, caste or even kinship considerations and that the framers of the Constitution did not envisage that the concentration of powers of recommendation had the potency of such misuse’. His statement confirmed the worst fears of the common man that the learned judges are, at times, transferred- or benches are being constituted- in bad faith with an eye on acquitting the guilty and punishing the weak and the innocent. It also confirmed the apprehension that the Constitution was broken by a similar fashion. In order to whitewash his guilt the former Chief Justice of India ascribed it to corruption on the part of his colleagues. If the President of India- the only competent authority- points out this truth citing some concrete cases, the system might change for the better.
4. It was submitted to the President of India that the words ‘socialism and secularism’ were inserted in the Preamble to give meaning to liberty, fraternity and dignity of the common man and to protect him from the usurpers of public property. Any attempt to lower the dignity, self-respect or status consciousness of any citizen of India by any state machinery under any guise on any principle would cause injury to socialism. The attempt to inculcate in him a slavish mentality would also offend socialism. Thus, the benefit of socialism shall not be blocked by Supreme Court on any principle because the ‘Constitution is Supreme’.
5. It was submitted to the President of India that all Constitutional functionaries and even the common man have a duty to protect the Constitution. Two learned judges of the Supreme Court recently pointed out that the political parties would suffer de-registration if they cease to have faith and allegiance to socialism. Another consequence of this observation is that a PSU could be closed down or converted onto a playground. Alternatively, the shares of the PSU could be scattered among the workers and the public. However, no shares of any PSUs shall be sold to any strategic partner to give him any strategic control. Further, this observation is applicable to the learned judges of the Supreme Court as well. In fact, the present Chief Justice of India and the learned judges, who succeeded in annihilating socialism, forfeited their moral and Constitutional right to continue in office. If they continue to remain in office they would continue to keep socialism and hence the Constitution in the dead bed. Therefore, they must quit office for the implementation of the Constitution. Alternatively, they could retrieve socialism by taking back all the privatized PSUs forthwith and remain in office with a commitment to work for the furtherance of socialism in words and deeds
6. It was submitted to the President of India that an individual took Re.845 crore from Bank of India to buy a PSU. In this way, he would buy all the nationalized banks and the other PSUs using the funds from the LIC and so on. The LIC itself could be purchased using the money from the privatized banks. At this rate, he and a few similar players would give, say, 5 crore each to all strong contesting candidates of Parliament thereby pocketing all parliamentarians to expunge the word ‘socialism’ from the Constitution. This is nothing but mortgaging the sovereignty and self-respect of the Nation to him. In fact, an attempt is going on to legalize corruption on business and political principles.
7. It was submitted to the President of India that while the banks overflow with money the people suffer from unemployment, poverty and want of money. The money is being handed over to unscrupulous people not for starting new projects but for buying the PSUs, to start industries abroad and for manipulations. The Government, for strange reasons, refuses to take the money for developmental activities or to decrease the deposit rates and lending rates to the required level.
8. It was submitted to the President of India that bulk buying involves big commissions. It is true even for private parties. In this connection, the CBI- if it were sincere in its service- must publish the list of importers and their incomes.
9. It was submitted to the President of India that the Private Sector Undertakings, which use bank funds or public funds, must follow reservation norms. The observation of a retired judge of the Supreme Court indicates that the learned judges of the Supreme Court succeeded in breaking the Constitution so easily because of the absence of proportionate representation for all sections of the people in the Supreme Court.
10. It was submitted to the President of India that his power to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution is an absolute one. The President of India and the leaders of the political parties have denied, through their political skill, the Presidential Palace to the stakes. In this way, they have defeated the designs of the deceivers and ensured a wonderful future to India. It is the greatest achievement of Indian democracy after the forty-second amendment to the Constitution of India. The posterity would remember with gratitude the selfless service of the present President of India and all the leaders in this regard. However, the President of India must hand over the Constitution received by him from his predecessor to his successor. The present Constitution is not the one received by the President from his predecessor. It is said that timely supply of a carrot would save a child from possible night-blindness. Similarly, constitutionally mandated effective steps must be taken to restore socialism to its pre-eminent position either by asking the Government to take over all the privatized PSUs or by other means. It is a possible one for the President. It is not to please or antagonize anyone. It is a small step for the President of India but a giant step for the people. The President of India shall not leave any work in an unfinished state. In fact, three superseded Judges had honestly tendered their resignations in the past.
The letters cost the President one more term. Similarly, everyone must learn to lose his career, even life- rather than committing breach of trust- for the benefit of 1000 million hapless people. Further, it is the Constitutional obligation of the President of India to send a reply to the common man for Constitutional violations, lest it would end as a precedent. Further, even a reply would help restore socialism. Therefore, a reply touching all relevant points is solicited. The President of India must move and help the common man to move until his last day last minute in office.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
24-6-2002
(V.SABARIMUTHU)
11
APARTHEID
In this letter, the President was again requested to give a well thought out reply. Further, it was mentioned that privatization was to favour a section of the people at the expense all others. The objective was to maintain a steady pressure against illegal manipulations. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, P.O.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider some more reasons why the President of India must favour the common man with a reply.
1. India has a written Constitution. It may not be possible for the President of India to remember all the provisions of the Constitution. However, the President of India must always discern the violation of the Preamble of the Constitution. When the Preamble is violated, the President has no alternative but to use his latent powers- without fear or favour- to put the Constitution in place.
2. When a citizen of India, in good faith, points out, violation of the Constitution to the Prime Minister of India, he must take remedial measures. If the Prime Minister fails to do it, the people might approach the President of India for relief.
3. The Supreme Court- the custodian of the Constitution- must have guarded socialism and therefore the Constitution like a watchdog. If any citizen of India points out obliteration of socialism by the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of India must be humble enough to rectify the error. If he fails to do, the people would consider the learned judges of the Supreme Court who destroyed socialism as anti-public interest, anti-constitutional terrorists and approach the President of India to annul the order of the Supreme Court. It must be said that even at present one could discern that some learned judges continue to liaison with the ‘Super Cabinet’ and take an anti constitutional and anti- public interest stand.
4. If, due to some reasons, the President of India faces any difficulty to restore socialism, no one would accuse the President if he shares his views and predicaments with the political parties, parliamentarians and the people at large.
5. It was reported to the CBI that an individual purchased a PSU after taking the entire money from a nationalized bank. Since the CBI did not give any reply, the common man has no alternative but to approach the President of India for remedy. In such a situation, the President of India has every right to know the veracity of the allegation. It is his responsibility to dispel the impression that the Constitution is not being twisted to favour an individual. It must be noted that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 5, 2002 granted permission to the corporate houses- not to the people all over India- to take money from the banks to buy the PSUs. It is a great tragedy indeed.
6. Entrusting the PSUs along with the money in the banks in the hands of an individual while a number of companies go bankrupt is a calculated sinister move to favour certain sections of the people. If it were not worse than apartheid, the common man could be allowed to buy a PSU using the money from a public sector bank. That the ‘Super Cabinet’ could accomplish it while keeping a true representative of the neglected sections of the people as President of India is all the more serious. The Constitution does not condescend this.
7. When the common man smells a rat in big buying and selling, he would inform the matter to the CBI only with great reluctance due to security reasons. If the CBI fails to send a reply, the common man is left with no alternative but to approach the President of India. Therefore, it is imperative that the President of India takes some steps to prevent big commissions, rather than allowing big commissions and catching some people red handed.
8. In order to ensure justice and equality to all sections of the people, time has come for the President of India to watch all the judgements of all courts in India. No learned judge who dares to ‘willfully and in bad faith’ break the Constitution shall continue to enjoy the pleasure of the President of India.
9. It may not be possible for the President of India to watch all human rights violations in India. However, if a specific case- not solved by the National Human Rights Commission- is pointed out to the President of India, he shall not remain quiet. It was pointed out to the President of India that the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission indicted an I.P.S. officer for a human rights violation. The victim of that incident is still being persecuted in a court. If the President of India were ready to act on it, the National Human Rights Commission would come out with a solution. The solution would save thousands of people all over India from illegal prosecution and persecution.
10. It is not necessary to point out the rights, duties and responsibilities of the President of India. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that no past Presidents of India allowed destruction of the Preamble of the Constitution. The Constitution now remains in the hands of the usurpers of pubic property. Ironically, the present Prime Minister of India in November 1962, during a debate in the Upper House, said, “By neglecting national security we have committed a great crime against the nation by leaving our borders unprotected. We are a party to a great sin and should be prepared to atone for it”. Truly, now the Government under him has committed a great crime against the nation by leaving the PSUs unprotected that too by obliterating the Constitution. Therefore, the President of India must restore socialism to its pre-eminent position by taking back all the PSUs before relinquishing office and spare his successor from becoming controversial right from the very beginning. There are so many options before the President. The decision, if any, to remain above controversy shall not be at the expense of the Constitutional rights of the common man. Further, the President of India shall not remain as an impervious iron curtain between the Government and the common man. The President of India must be transparent enough to communicate with the common man on constitutional matters. Therefore, President of India shall not fail to send a well thought out reply before his tenure ends.
Vellicode, Yoursfaithfully,
19-7-2002.
(V.SABARIMUTHU)
In a significant decision, the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to attach political relationship as a condition for purchasing weapons from abroad. Thus, the weapon detecting radars were purchased from the USA even though they were available in much cheaper prices in Europe.
On 1 July 2002, the Union Finance Minister was divested of his portfolio and given Foreign Affairs presumably because of the Re.845 crore deal by the Bank of India. It was a highly positive action. No Government in the past acted like this in deference to the letters of a citizen of India
The new Finance Minister said that he would not act as a policeman but would ensure food for all, money in the hands of the people and bring back the confidence of the investors. The word policeman indicated that the investigating agencies were showing their faces to the discomfiture of the system.
The RBI on 4 July 2002 granted permission to the banks to give advances to the Corporate Houses for buying the PSUs. This was to legalize the withdrawal of money from the banks by the stakes and to enable the conversion of black money into white money. This would be outside the five percent cap on stock market exposure. These decisions would lead to the appropriation of banks on one side and the PSUs on the other side. These decisions were out and out arbitrary and therefore unconstitutional in nature. The Government, apparently, wanted to show to the world that there was nothing wrong in advancing money to the stakes to buy the PSUs. After all, people were unaware of the consequences of these decisions. This was against the word “equality” present in the Constitution. Obviously, the stakes were buying the PSUs using bank funds, public funds or ill-gotten funds. Further, it was clear that the Re. 845 crore deal by the Bank of India had crippled the privatization programme.
On 5 July 2002, the CCD cleared the sale of five ITDC hotels including Nehru Palace Hotel and Kanishka Hotel for Re. 169. 59 crore.
On 11 July 2002, the Government cleared a proposal for privatization of Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL) and National Aluminium Company (Nalco). This again failed.
Disgusted by the developments, a Union Minister came out with a series of three very long articles in newspapers justifying privatization. Supporting his views, many news papers condemned the Government for not privatizing the PSUs including Air India (AI). They informed the public that the AI in 1993 lost half a million dollar while buying carpet for $1.5 million from a US based Company.
The newspapers now disclosed that the President of India had forwarded about 200 letters to the Prime Minister urging him to take effective steps to control the situation in Kashmir. It was an indirect admission that the President was taking effective action on the letters of this writer. With regard to privatization, they said that just as antibiotics should be taken correctly, privatization too must be implemented correctly. They agreed that reservation could be provided to the neglected sections of the people in the private sector too. In order to woo the common people, they requested the Government to curtail the salaries and perks of the Government employees.
On the strength of an ordinance promulgated by the Government, a private bank issued notices to 22 Corporate Houses. Further, there were reports that a company that submitted bid for buying the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) owed Re. 7138 crore to nationalized banks!
The new President of India was sworn in on 25 July 2002.On the next day; the media reported the proposal of the Ministry of Disinvestments to sell 36 percent Government equity in the BPCL and 26 percent in the HPCL.
On 31 July 2002 the Government announced the creation of a Serious Frauds Office in the Department of Company Affairs. Apparently, it was to show to the new President that the Government did not tolerate frauds.
On 2 August 2002 a private company sold its refinery to the ONGC, a PSU.
In the meantime, at the instance of the Government, the public sector State Bank of India gave a loan of Re. 500 crore to the UTI.
A Chief of an Information Technology company said that a private company must put public good ahead of private good. He said this because he was aware of this work.
The Ministry of Railways on August 1, 2002 said that it was not in favour of privatization of Indian Railway Construction Corporation (Ircon).
The opposition parties now slashed the Government for its privatization policies. A former Prime Minister said that the Government had sold precious assets causing great loss to the Government. He cited the deal involving a public sector hotel in Karnataka state.
Now newspapers said that 50 percent of the petrol pumps allotted by the present NDA Government went to the kith & kin of the members of the ruling parties. They wanted the people to support privatization as the Members of Parliament (MPs) misused their official position. In fact, no sooner the Parliament was adjourned sine die, a private company invited application from all over India to start petrol outlets. It was like waging a war against the Government. But the newspapers saw nothing wrong in it. Thus, by pointing out the irregularities in the allotment of petrol pumps, the stakes quite unconstitutionally usurped the power to allot petrol pumps. It is clear that in the name of liberalization, less than ten stakes acquired the power to grant petrol pumps to people all over India including Ministers and Members of Parliament and pre-empted the people from trading in these items. Thus, the system forbade men from doing an activity, which was not at all dangerous to peace.
But a Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum opposed privatization of oil PSUs as their profits were three and half times more than the paid up capital.
A former judge of the Supreme Court said that the conduct of the judges of Supreme Court must reaffirm the faith of the people in the impartiality of the judiciary. Apparently, he was aware of the existence of these letters.
On the occasion of the 55 th anniversary of Independence Day, the Prime Minister wanted the countrymen to forget the past and look forward to the future. He further sought political consensus on all economic issues. He wanted privatization because the theft of electricity was causing a loss of Re.25,000 crore to the nation. The message was that if people all over India steal electricity, everything in India must be handed over to a few stakes.
On 20 August 2002, the RBI directed all banks in India to report cash transaction over Re.10 lakh. It was consistent with the letters of this writer.
The Government now said that the important airports in India would be developed through joint venture. At the same time a newspaper said that the privatization would not be smooth, as the Government could not expect the cooperation from the people.
12
ABSOLUTE POWER
The Union Government on 23 August 2002 decided to invite bids for 29.15 percent stake along with management control in the public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco). This was the first privatization step since the new President assumed charge on 25 July 2002. The Prime Minister, however, was in total confusion as the Cabinet meeting was postponed three times within a span of one week. Then a number of meetings of the Cabinet ensued. Most of the meetings were inconclusive.
In the meantime, a Supreme Court judge, keeping the President and these letters in mind, said that none in India possessed absolute power. These events prompted this writer to dispatch the letter No.12 to His Excellency the President of India. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu P. O. 629167.
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Parliament House,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India must answer some unanswered questions.
1. It is said that the President of India is a rubber stamp. It is out and out true so long as the things go as per the provisions of the Constitution. However, when there is a real threat to the Constitution, the President of India is endowed with some latent powers to protect it. In fact, the degree of the power of the President of India is proportional to the degree of violation of the Constitution. When the destruction of the Constitution is absolute, the power of the President of India to restore it to its pre-eminent position becomes absolute.
From July 25, 2002 to August 23, 2002, there was no news about privatization of any PSUs. The people felt that the new President had stopped privatization of the PSUs tellingly. Now there are reports that the Government has again decided to sell a PSU, Nalco. In this connection, it must be pointed out that the President is duty bound not only to veto privatization but also to take back all the privatized PSUs forthwith. The refusal or the inability to restore socialism would go down as breach of trust and contempt of Constitution. This is because, though private initiatives could be encouraged, the sale of any PSUs under any policy is forbidden by the Constitution. It is mandatory even to ensure justice and equality to all. No one other than the President of India could retrieve the lost PSUs at present. The Constitution would stand by the President to discharge his duties without ‘fear or favour’. It is not to satisfy the ego of anyone. The President shall not procrastinate, even sleep, before fulfilling the demands of the Constitution.
2. Some learned judges of the Supreme Court recently, in a judgement, said that the political parties should have allegiance to socialism lest they would suffer de-registration. Some other learned judges, on the other hand, destroyed socialism in bad faith. Obviously one could discern the worst criminals in India. The President of India shall not connive at the destruction of the Constitution because if the President fails, the Constitution fails. Therefore, the learned judges who broke the Constitution must be forbidden from hearing any case even if they were not brought to justice. If they continue in office, they would continue to remain in contact with the ‘Super Cabinet’ and enact one coup after another. They would never change their traits as they have an agenda of their own. The President would be doing an injustice to the nation if these learned judges continue to enjoy the pleasure of the President.
3. There is an erroneous theory that a few individuals would run all the PSUs more efficiently and honestly than all the IAS officers and the Ministers put together. The protagonists of this theory say that there would be plenty and prosperity when everything in India is owned by them. However, the hard truth is that the Constitution forbids this. Even otherwise, the President must see the number of PSUs that went in the hands of the neglected sections of the people during the last one year. The President shall not revel in dividing the people into blacks and whites.
4. The President of India could now disclose the name of the person who enjoys the absolute power to grant Re. 845 crore to an individual and the modus operandi of buying the PSUs. Similarly, the President must be in a position to tell whether the equipments ordered by the BSNL reached the real destination or not. India is still a country where working men and women stand in long queues for gruel. The common man should not nurse the feeling that the President would remain as a shield to protect some economic offenders.
5. The President of India would agree that the so-called merit is not an index of ones intelligence, ability or capability. Therefore, there was a request to implement reservation norms in the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and in the private sector.
6. The President of India would also agree that reservation in any field is to protect the vulnerable sections of the people. The decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to reserve 5% of the bank funds to brokers is nothing but deception and therefore unconstitutional. Similarly, the green signal given by the RBI to banks to lend money to buy the PSUs is a corrupt practice. These orders must be annulled forthwith to protect the Constitution.
7. The ‘media syndicate’ is a real danger to democracy and socialism. It is strange that the meaning of socialism is not known to anyone including the eminent people. For them fair is foul and foul is fair. This syndicate- for instance- would not murmur if the ‘stakes’ that buy the IOC, BPCL and the HPCL sell 100,000 petroleum outlets to their kith & kin and amass Re. 100,000/- crore within a span of two weeks. This syndicate has succeeded in making the President of India a controversial figure in the name of the Representation People’s Act. The media syndicate must be behind the petition filed against the Presidential election also. Absence of adequate representation in the Press Trust of India, (PTI), is one of the reasons for this. The President must read between the lines and take remedial measures.
8. There was a request to abandon the policy of bulk buying to prevent big commissions. If it were difficult to implement, the President of India should not hesitate to accept full moral responsibility for the big commissions going on in the hands of a few manipulators.
9. There was a demand to split all the PSUs including banks and financial institutions and give them to the State Governments to prevent big commissions. The President of India could prevail upon the political parties to consider this. Here also the President shall not hesitate to accept full moral responsibility for the big commissions and omissions.
10. Eleven letters have been already sent since 1-6-2001.The first five letters were sent to the Prime Minister of India. The latter eight letters were sent to the President of India. All the ten letters are again addressed to the new President although the President must have seen them. The President could go through the letters and do what is right with all his might. Further, the children are innocent and ignorant. The President could teach them at least the dictionary meanings of the words ‘socialism and secularism’ and the solid steps taken to restore all the privatized PSUs. They would then guard socialism and secularism against all odds.
Furthermore, the conversation between the President and the Prime Minister could be a private one so long as things go as per the provisions of the Constitution. If Constitution were annihilated, the President must protect it by opening his mouth, by addressing the political leaders or through other means. Since the Constitution now remains destroyed, the President of India shall not consider it as something below his dignity to give answers to all unanswered questions to the common man.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
29-8-2002. V. SABARIMUTHU
The financial institutions restructured Re. 800 crore-loan component of a private company by reducing the interest rates by about 5%. The company, in turn, said that it would transmit the benefit to the Gujarat Electricity Board.
There were reports that a Union Minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to undertake a review of the privatization policy. This letter infuriated the media syndicate. The newspapers pointed out that he was not expected to do this. The papers also pointed out that he was remaining silent during the privatization of the VSNL and the IPCL. The tone of the papers was that they were the owners of the PSUs and that they were free to do anything with them.
The letter No 12 had more than the usual positive effects. Two Cabinet meetings were convened and both were inconclusive. After the meeting held on 4 September 2002, a Union Minister warned that the row over privatization would derail the economy.
On August 31, 2002, the Union Government decided to split the UTI into twoUTI-1 and UTI-2. Further, the Government announced a bailout package incurring a liability of Re.14, 642 crore.
On September 5, 2002 the Prime Minister declared that there would be no discrimination in the name of caste or religion under the rule of the BJP. Accordingly, the CCD was expanded to accommodate some leaders from different communities. Thus, as a result of the letters, the CCD became a heterogeneous one. The new CCD apparently discouraged privatization as it decided to endorse the decision of the Prime Minister to defer privatization by three months. Thus, about 20 PSUs including the NALCO, HPCL, BPCL, IOC, GAIL, ONGC and the NTPC escaped privatization in one go.
The reconstitution of the CCD and its first decision shocked the media syndicate. The media realized that the letters of this writer were behind the decision. The papers said that the Government had hit a roadblock. The papers warned that the process of privatization would come to a grinding halt. As a result, they said that the Stock Market would dip; the FIIs would run away, the FDI would fall and the PSUs would find it difficult to cope with the competition from the foreign players. They were full of remorse because the sale of the PSUs would require the approval by virtually all members of the Cabinet. They ascribed the small drop in the BSE sensitive index to the angry reaction of the investors to the decision of the Government. They concertedly warned that the reversal of the policy would stifle the privatization plans and plunge the Nation into turmoil and chaos.
The Prime Minister before leaving for the US on September 8, 2002 called on the President of India. There were reports that economic matters were discussed in the meeting.
As a reply to the mass media, a Union Minister said that the privatization would continue. The newspapers immediately congratulated the Government. The papers predicted that the PSU banks “could be next in line” as there was no political opposition to the privatization decision of the UTI. How steadfastly, despite several set backs, the media syndicate directed the attention of the people to the wrong could be discerned.
The newspapers again asked the Prime Minister to empower the reformers in his Government and sideline the rent seeking and inefficient. They described a Union Minister as a highly talented one and requested the Prime Minister to empower him using Prime Ministerial authority to bring the privatization process to its logical conclusion. They advised the Prime Minister to make the economy the center piece of his agenda by putting a team of privatization minded, forward looking, forward thinking, active and agile Ministers with credibility and integrity in charge of economic ministries. However, on the same day- consistent with these letters- a Cabinet meeting presided over by the Prime Minister deferred several matters in the agenda. This indicated that the Cabinet was in disarray and that the Prime Minister wanted to wriggle out.
Therefore, the newspapers again pressed the Prime Minister to continue the process of privatization. The papers said that the privatization once began must continue as in other countries till it becomes clear that the plus points far outweighs the negative ones. In order to show that the privatization had been going on since 1991, the list of companies in which shares were sold since 1991 was given. The actual receipts in Re. crore from 1991-1992 to 2002-2003 were: 3,038, 1913, Nil, 4843, 362, 380, 902, 5371, 1870, 5632 and 4748 respectively.
Further, they said that China, Poland, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico were successful with privatization. They said that China earned $15,000 crore in foreign exchange due to the privatization of their PSUs. They added that tainted leaders only were opposing disinvestments. Furthermore, they said that privatization would spell insecurity only for those who did not work.
In order to console the pro-privatization lobby a Union Minister said that the 90 day review period for privatization did not amount to slow down of the process and that whatever review was taking place was “ in the totality of Indian National interest”.
13
THE DE-FACTO RULER
This letter described an individual as the de-facto ruler of India. Further, the letter demanded the restoration of all privatized PSUs.
Now, the President, presumably keeping this writer in mind, requested the students to send their letters through email and gave the email address. Therefore, unlike the previous letters, this letter was emailed to the President. The letter follows
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagummodu P.O.629167. E-mail; sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India;
Presidential Palace,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India must perform a few wonders.
1. It is said that the Preamble of a Constitution is like a breather-the Constitution breaths fresh air through its Preamble. It is said that the hopes and aspirations of the people lays in the Preamble. It is said that the Preamble expresses the social and political philosophy of the nation. In fact, in the R.R.Delvi vs State of Tamil Nadu case the Supreme Court had struck down the pension scheme formulated by the Government of Tamil Nadu to give relief to the anti-Hindi agitators by reason of the words ‘unity and integrity of the nation’ present in the Preamble. It is clear that the introduction of the word “socialism” in the Preamble shows the determination of the people to adopt socialism. It is the paramount duty of the President to protect socialism and therefore the Preamble.
It was reported that the Government deferred the back door privatization of about 20 PSUs on September7, 2002. It must be due to the intervention of the President of India based on the 11 letters received in one go before the crucial date. If it were true, it would go down as a wonder. It could be construed as a partial success.
2. The learned judges of the Supreme Court should have read and interpreted the Constitution in the light of the noble vision expressed in the Preamble. Instead, they destroyed it in cold blood. The President of India must have already sent the copies of the 11 letters to all learned Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Alternatively, the President must have transmitted the aberrations of the people to them. It is not known whether the President took any step to prevent them from hearing any cases. Even a polite statement would have forced them to quit the Supreme Court. Further, all right thinking people feel that there must be a demand to bring to justice all the learned judges who broke the Constitution.
3. The President of India must have gone through Article 15. This prohibits discriminations on grounds of religion, race and caste. The President must have now seen and analyzed the list of the beneficiaries of privatization and their religion, race and caste. The President could have compared it with the proportion of those in the armed forces and in jail. The list would clearly reveal whether any cognizable offence is committed by violating Article 15 or not. Absence of a reply from the Director of the CBI and the failure of the Chief Justice of India to address the grievances of the common man reinforces the fears that the Article 15 too has been violated. The CCD has been now made a heterogeneous one. However, the President must dispel the darkness and all doubts in this regard because the Government shall not be a cause for instilling in the mind of the people any malice or ill will towards any section of the people.
4. There is a de-facto ruler for India. Otherwise, how could an individual illegally take a trainload of money from the public sector Bank of India and suppress all investigations? The money siphoned off by a broker boy has not been recovered or traced presumably because this ruler also is involved. While thousands of innocent people-dubbed as criminals- are loitering the verandah of criminal courts periodically, not a word has been asked to this individual. However- it must be carefully noted- if the money were illegally given with the knowledge of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister must surrender all the assets acquired through his aid. The President of India alone now knows the truth in this matter and he must share his information with the people.
5. The editorials of some newspapers show that ‘the great conspiracy’ to grab the PSUs was hatched ten years ago. Thus for popularizing privatization, the media syndicate began to brainwash the people. If the Minister of Civil Aviation travels in an Air India, (AI), plane, their remedy is that private parties must be allowed to buy it and the Minister divested of the portfolio made to crawl on the road. If a Minister stays in a public sector hotel, it shall not be even converted into a hospital or a home for the aged. They say they must be sold to private parties. If salary were not paid to employees, their remedy is selling the PSUs. If there were corruption in the allotment of petrol pumps, their remedy is that petroleum distribution must be given to private parties who would reap more money than what the Government would get through all taxation measures. Further, they constantly insinuate that the employees oppose privatization because it would spell doom to those who don’t work. The media syndicate including the public sector TV would not publish even the Presidential activities without the permission from private parties is another matter.
6. The success or the failure of an industry depends on many factors. Decreasing the interest rates would save many industries. Devaluation of currency would save some others. Changes in tax rates would save some more. Hike in import duty on some items would save a few others. Assured orders would save still others. Prevention of flight of capital would save many others. Reduction in commission would save several others. Giving a bad name to the PSUs and selling them to some ‘stakes’ is not the concept of the Constitution. Since the Supreme Court failed to check this arbitrary exercise of power, the President must do his duty without ‘fear or favour’.
7. The Government first said that it has no business to be in business. When it was pointed out that privatization of railways in England ended in fiasco, the Government propounded the theory that the money obtained by selling the PSUs would fetch more interest when deposited in banks. Since there would be no income under a zero interest regime, the Prime Minister later said that privatization was for narrowing the fiscal deficit. Since the fiscal deficit could be annulled through several other ways, the Government refuses to discuss the privatization issue `openly.
8. The task before the President is an arduous one. He has to render justice- social and economic- to all. He must notice that even teen-age girls desert villages due to starvation. He must see that the external remittances of the NRIs do not go in the hands of a few stakes but the people at large. The vicious cycle- the NRI money + public funds-> banks-> Private parties -> Government by selling the PSUs -> again banks- must be broken by him to know the modus operandi of buying the PSUs. For this, the President could personally go through the Income Tax returns submitted by the top ten stakes during the last 20 or 10 years to find out their profit, the tax given and their actual wealth.
9. There is always commission during big selling and buying. If the post offices need computers, why should they be purchased from Delhi? What would the shops near the post offices sell? It has been estimated that Indians siphoned off $100 billion (11billion in the USA alone) in other countries. According to the IMF also Indians held $100 billion abroad. There were reports that Indians deposited Re. 320 thousand crore in Switzerland alone.
10. Indians have a wonderful Constitution because the President, at times, could perform wonders with it. When the ‘Uncertainty Principle’ occurred to Heisenberg, he was too excited to sleep and so he climbed a rock near the sea and waited for the sun to rise. The President could wait for the sun to rise to perform a wonder every day. The first wonder shall be restoring all the privatized PSUs forthwith, the second one could be the abolition of bulk buying & selling and the other wonders would automatically follow.
Vellicode, Yours Faithfully,
1-10-2002. V.SABARIMUTHU
In a message issued in connection with the birthday of the Father of the Nation, the President decried the unbridled avarice of some people. He said that self-aggrandizement was subjugating every other emotion.
As an answer, the Prime Minister on the next day said that it was the Congress, which started the privatization 10 years ago. He warned that the Government was losing heavily due to the delay in disinvestments. Presumably referring to the CCD, the Prime Minister said that there was nothing wrong in a group of ministers discussing and taking decisions. He justified the formation of the CCD on the ground that all matters could not be discussed in the Cabinet. He allayed the fears that the privatization did not come to a close due to any differences in the Cabinet.
On 4 October 2002, an urgent meeting of the Cabinet was convened presumably to discuss the letter No. 13 dated 1-10-2002.The meeting was inconclusive. The public sector TV channel reported a concocted story that the Prime Minister found fault with the detractors of privatization.
On the next day, an emergency meeting of the Planning Commission decided to incorporate Re. 80,000 crore through disinvestments of the PSUs over a period of five years. In the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the planning in India was not a static concept and was not a slave to any dogma. He justified privatization in a big way and approved disinvestments for Re. 78,000 crore during the 10 th five year plan. Due to this work, the above decision remained in the paper alone.
On 6 October 2002, the President called on the Prime Minister at his residence.
On the next day, at Nicosia, the Prime Minister, as a reply to a stage-managed question, said that privatization was an irreversible one.
Addressing the Third Indian European Union Business Summit at Copenhagen, Denmark, the Prime Minister of India said that a democratically elected Government in India could not adopt a “shock therapy” approach to economic reform and had to be sensitive to the vast disparities in incomes and living conditions. Further, he said that India had to be guided by the principles of public accountability and social conscience in its approach towards economic reforms. He added that India was implementing economic liberalization with a “human face”. At London, the Prime Minister, again as a reply to a stage-managed question, reiterated that the privatization policy was irreversible.
Now, some leaders in the ruling coalition began to oppose the policy of privatization. They pointed out the irregularities in the sale of a public sector hotel at Mumbai.
The President, during his visit to Uttaranchal on 19 October 2002, asked the people not to allow wealth or power to over run true character or selfless service to the needy. In the Chief Minister’s Conference held on 18 October 2002, the Chief Minister of Kerala, who had received the first eight letters, said that the nationalized banks mobilized deposits from the States only to lend it elsewhere. In fact, the Chief Ministers, who had received letters from this writer, slashed the Centre in so many ways mainly drawing from the letters of this writer.
14
INHUMAN ECONOMIC TERRORISM
In this letter, the Prime Minister of India was requested to submit his resignation if the Re.845 crore transaction by the Bank of India had taken place with his knowledge.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu P.O.629167,E-mail sabarimuthu @ rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India;
Presidential Palace,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reasons why the system is abetting crime. .
1. Reluctance of the President of India to give a reply to the letter of October 1, 2002 indicates that the President of India now knows the list of people who helped an individual to take Re.845 crore from the Bank of India (BoI) to buy a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). The President may consider the question of consulting the constitutional experts to know whether the non-disclosure of the truth of this murky deal to the leaders of all political leaders, Chief Justice of India, investigating agencies and the people at large would go down as abetting crime in India or not.
In this connection, it must be pointed out, that there could be people, who say that the de-facto ruler of India could take Re. thousands of crore from any bank at any time on business principle violating all guidelines. On the other hand, others would say that Re. 845 crore could have been given to several small entrepreneurs or used to revive sick industries and thereby dissuading at least 1000 youths from taking a terrorist line. Obviously, removal of Re. 845 crore from a public sector bank and buying a big PSU with that money has the effect of killing 10000 innocent people in one go. As it happens without the knowledge of the people, it might go down as the most inhuman economic terrorism in India. Therefore, if at all an individual had taken the money with the knowledge of the Government of India, the Prime Minister must surrender his assets besides tendering his resignation without the slightest compunction to set a decent precedent. It is applicable to President of India as well, if he directly or indirectly helps his friend or relative under any pretext to take ‘illegally’ even Re.10/- from a public sector bank.
2. It appears that most of the members of the Cabinet and other Ministers were also oblivious of the deal of the BoI. If it were not true, it would go down as abetting crime in India because all Ministers in the Union Cabinet have a duty to prevent economic crime in India.
3. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) might require prior sanction to proceed against senior officers of the banks. However, under the Constitution, no Act or Guideline could be utilized to cover up illegal transactions and exploitations. On August 9, 1996 two judges in a case observed, “No sincere attempt has been made by the CBI to conclude the investigation in the case. It should be everybody’s concern that the mystery is solved. It cannot go on. The very nature of the allegation indicates this is the most important case the nation is facing. The investigation has to reach its logical conclusion” These words are applicable to the CBI even today. The Prime Minister asks the CBI to catch the big fish. If the Prime Minister himself and the individual, who removed the money, were the big fish, how would the CBI catch them? Nevertheless, if the CBI continues to keep this matter as a tight secret, the common man would believe that the Director of the CBI is abetting crime in India, as “the CBI is answerable to law and to the law alone”.
4. The CBI even failed to see whether the equipments ordered by a PSU reached the real destination or not. The suspicion about this deal deepens because the media syndicate defended this on business principle. Nothing is coming out of the UTI scam also. The CBI, which chases several small offenders, is conspicuously silent about these matters. President alone knows whether the CBI is abetting crime or not.
5. It is not clear whether the President of India, in good faith, transmitted the copies of the 12 letters to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) for necessary action or not. However, the CVC also must be aware of these large-scale manipulations. Here also, the President of India alone knows whether the office of the CVC is abetting crime or not.
6. The guideline issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to lend money to brokers was described as a corrupt practice. The RBI recently granted permission to the banks to lend money to the stakes to buy the PSUs. This guideline was issued presumably to cover up the transaction of the BoI. This was also described as a corrupt practice. The President alone knows whether the inaction of the Governor of the RBI contributes to abetting crime in India or not.
7. The above matters were duly reported to the Chief Justice of India. He could have accepted the letter as a writ petition or transmitted it to the CBI and the CVC. It seems that the Chief Justice of India has not done so. The President of India alone, after consulting the constitutional experts, could say whether the Chief Justice of India is contributing his share to these deals or not.
8. The media syndicate, which succeeded in discrediting the former Chief Ministers of Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Karnatak, Bihar and at least two former Prime Ministers, has not even a word against these murky deals. Instead, they vie with one another to instill the idle mass to spurn venom on the toiling mass. The President of India could have asked an explanation from the PTI, UNI and other news agencies, as they have no right to black out news and views on one hand and perpetrate plunder on the other hand.
9. When the President of India talks to 1000 children, one among them could be the future Chairman of a PSU like the VSNL. Did anyone burn a drop of midnight oil to buy it? Will it not be a deception, if the VSNL and other privatized PSUs were to remain in the hands of a few stakes? Is it right on the part of the President of India to mete out such discrimination on the children and meet them periodically? The President of India cannot take an ambivalent stand in this matter. He has to either remain as an abettor of crime or he has to remain as the protector of the Constitution. For the latter, he will have to call a spade a spade and enlighten everyone by sharing the truth.
10. Above all, it was represented to the President of India several times that a victim of a human rights violation is still persecuted in a criminal court. It was also represented to the President that a remedy would save several others. The President of India could have talked to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). However, even for this there is no reply. The President alone could tell whether the Chairman of the NHRC contributed to crime in India through his refusal to give real relief to the victims of human right violations.
In 1857 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA in a ruling said, “A black man has no right that a white man is bound to respect” and the system accepted it. Now, in all the above matters the last word must come from the President of India.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
19-10-2002.
V.SABARIMUTHU
As soon as the above letter was sent, the Cabinet meeting slated for 21 October 2002 was cancelled. Perturbed by the letter, a newspaper in its editorial said, “Some dirt had been flung at the prime ministerial institution”. The editorial wanted that all efforts must be made to ensure that the allegation did not stick. The media, therefore, did not report anything regarding these letters as if they were under an oath to maintain secrecy.
In a public meeting organized to celebrate the completion of three years of the NDA rule on 25 October 2002, the Prime Minister said, “the demon had to be eliminated”. He added that that might not happen immediately but they had the resolve to end it. Further, he asked the people to use “decent language” in public life. The word “decent” reminded the word used by this writer in the above letter. The newspapers reported the words “the demon had to be eliminated” and “decent language” under inverted coma as given above. This was a clear threat against this writer.
Curiously, on the same day, the Prime Minister wanted the people to fight against social discrimination. Referring to the killing of five people belonging to backward communities in Jhajjar, Prime Minister asked the Chief Minister whether the people of backward and scheduled communities had no right to live in India.
On 24 October 2002, the Union Government released Re.1100 crore to oil marketing companies in the name of compensating the increased burden being faced by them due to the freeze in the LPG and kerosene prices. As all oil companies showed huge profits during 2002-2003, it appeared that Government gave the money in bad faith to favour some private oil companies.
Now a Union Minister threatened that India would go the way of Soviet Union and end up like Pakistan if its economy were not managed properly. His premonition was that the foreign exchange reserves of India would slip; India would have to turn to the IMF and finally squeezed into submission. He predicted that China would take advantage of the weak points of India. He stressed that there must be political will to deal with the problems of governance.
On 29 October 2002 the Union Cabinet approved the 10 th Five Year Plan, which projected a disinvestments revenue of Re.16,000 crore annually. The newspapers applauded the approval of the tenth plan saying that Re. 80,000 crore in five years could be realized only by selling crown jewels like the HPCL, BPCL, and MTNL. They deplored the decision of the Government to give dearness allowance for bureaucrats at a time when there was massive salary burden. The approval for Re.80,000 remained in the paper only.
While the Prime Minister was in Cambodia, newspapers attributed the dull mood of the Prime Minister to the lack of opportunity to smile back home in India. The reason- according to the paper- was that various ministers in the Cabinet were opposing privatization of the PSUs.
The news papers now deplored that if any banker in India breached the rule to help the businessmen, he would end up in the custody of the CBI. They therefore, made an impassionate plea to the Government to revoke the Non Performing Asset (NPA) rule. In order to justify the demand, they pointed out that the NPA in terms of the GDP of Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and India were26.7% ($1.26 trillion),45% ($600 billions), 48% , 41%,27%, 4%. Thus, the indirect message was that the businessmen could escape with Re. thousands of crore.
On the same day, newspapers reported that the privatization of the Nalco would not take place during the financial year 2002-2003. They attributed the reason to sharp differences within the NDA partners.
Now, a Union Minister said that the process of disinvestments should not give scope for misgivings and apprehension in the mind of the people. He said that a company charged with violation of the Official Secret’s Act was given the public sector IPCL. The statement further pointed out that the IPCL was undervalued and that the privatization resulted in the conversion of public monopoly into private monopoly. However, the law did not take its course even though the accusations emanated from a Cabinet Minister.
The Congress party conducted its second brainstorming session for its Chief Ministers at Abu in Rajasthan on November 8 and 9.The earlier conclave had been held in Rajasthan State six months ago. 12 of the 14 Chief Ministers attended the meeting. Eminent experts including an economist, an educationalist, an expert in infrastructure management and a former Chief of the Intelligence Bureau addressed the meeting. It was the highlight of the meeting.
In the meantime, the Government sought the help of the Congress party to pass 23 finance bills pending in Parliament. The bills included the Banking Regulation Bill, which provided for denationalization by reducing Government equity in banks to 33 percent; Coal Mining Nationalization Amendment Bill; which provided for the denationalization of coal mining sector, Port Trust Bill; which provided for the privatization of ports and National Airports Authority Bill; which allowed the Government to give Airports on long term lease to private companies. A former Union Finance Minister belonging to the Congress party asked the Government to prioritize the Bills and convene an all-party meeting to evolve a consensus. It must be noted that no conclusion could be drawn from the words of the former Union Finance Minister.
Commenting on the Abu conclave of the Congress party, the news papers asked the Congress party to tell what prevented it from making the “reforms” the main agenda of the party. They said that the previous Congress Government could stay in power for a full term in the early nineties because of the consensus on reforms. The editorial wanted the leadership to have vision and not conclaves. Obviously, the message was that the Government would last only if it enjoyed the support of the media.
15
A DEFEAT
Now it appeared that the President of India was also reluctant to act in good faith. Therefore, the letter No.15 dated 16-11-2002 was sent to His Excellency the President of India. The letter follows.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam, Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu P.O.629167. e.mail:sabarimuthu @ rediffmail. Com
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reason why the President of India must act, in ‘good faith’.
1. The predecessor of the present President of India did not defend the Prime Minister of India for the Re. 845/-crore illegally taken by an individual from the Bank of India, (BoI). The present President of India too has chosen not to defend the Prime Minister. The President of India must have acted in ‘good faith’ and revealed the truth to the common man.
It must be pointed out that letters were written, in good faith, to the Prime Minister, long before an individual took the money from the BoI because there were sufficient indications even before June 2001.
2. The individual, who removed the money must be the richest person in India. He apparently owns more property than what the Government of India owns. He must have deposited equal amount in the foreign countries. It is said that his share to the GDP of India is nearly 3%. Some believe that he would relinquish his estates in favour of his plantation workers. Then why should he take money from the BoI to buy a PSU. Do the commoners get bail for small amounts? Is it not the duty of the President to act in ‘good faith’ to show light?
3. Apprehending annihilation of the Constitution, a letter was written to the predecessor of the predecessor of the present Chief Justice of India even before the BALCO judgement. He, instead of showing the right Constitutional position to the Bench hearing the BALCO case, apparently, prevailed upon the judges to quicken the judgement to pre-empt the people from becoming alert. Now, on 2 November, 2002 the predecessor of the Present Chief Justice of India said that in order to carry out globalization the Constitution must be amended. Then, why did he not wait for the amendment? Why did he annihilate the Constitution? Why did he not restore status-quo ante of the Constitution before his retirement? The nature of the bond that exists between the judges and the members of the ‘Super Cabinet’ must be probed in “good faith”.
4. In the past, a piece of paper was sufficient for a court to direct the CBI to interrogate a Congress leader. The court did this knowing well that the then UF Government depended upon the outside support of his party for its survival. However, when a citizen of India pointed out to the Chief Justice of India that an individual illegally took Re. 845/-crore, the then Chief Justice of India was not ready to verify the veracity of the matter. Therefore, if the predecessor of the present Chief Justice of India had collaborated with the individual to take money from the public sector “Bank of India”, he too is liable for prosecution. However, the President must share his knowledge in this matter with the public in ‘good faith’.
5. Though some murky deals were pointed out, that too well before the events to the CBI, it could not overcome its inertia. In this matter also, the President alone knows the actual mechanisms and his limitations. Therefore, he must enlighten the people in this regard in ‘good faith’.
6. The President should have denied or accepted the charges against the Governor, RBI. If the Governor had allowed anyone to steal money from any bank on any ground at any time in ‘bad faith’, the President must act in ‘good faith’ to prosecute him.
7. During the period of the UF Government, the media could say that the Congress office was under the surveillance of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). It could say that the IB was asked by the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) to find ways and means of implicating a Congress leader in a 1993 criminal case On 14 January, 1997 a newspaper said, “The attempt to make it incumbent upon the CBI to seek permission to investigate ministers-past and present- is nothing sort of an outrage. On what grounds the Government think it can justify such audacity will be fascinating to see”. Now the media is defending the murky deals. Shall the media and the investigating agencies work in tandem like this? Instead of showing light on these matters, the media is now canvassing support for curtailing freedom of expression. If the President were ready to act in ‘good faith’, he could find a remedy.
8. Just when the amount spent on the education of the children began to yield fruits in the form of NRI deposits, than the stakes invented an ingenious way to usurp the PSUs. When the banks too are purchased, the stakes need not pay the money taken from the banks. Does none in a country of 1000 million people understand this? Should a common man write 14 letters about this matter to the President of India? Further, as the money is not pumped into the economy by carrying out projects for development, the purchasing power of the people is fast falling below the critical level with disastrous consequences for industries-public and private.
9. It is said that every country gets the kind of Government it deserves. It is applicable to the President of India as well. Naturally, the President must know the way and show the way. At times, dissent would become the duty rather than the right. If he acts in good faith, the entire system would act in ‘good faith’ and the factors that forced this writer to write letters would cease to exist. If he wastes his precious time, India would be ruined.
10. It was reported several times that a State Human Rights Commission found a police officer “specifically responsible” for a human rights violation. However, the Government, instead of prosecuting him, is still persecuting the victim in a criminal court to create a criminal record. If the President acts in ‘good faith’, he could find a remedy.
Now, there is an apparent threat to the life of this writer for writing letters to the President. In this connection, two front-page newspaper cuttings of October 26, 2002 are being sent in a cover. Whether these papers published identically in their Delhi editions is not clear. However, the President could discern the actual position. This is what the common man could do. There were no human rights. Now there is no ‘right for life’. Is it not the duty of the President to make India safe for every one?
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
16-11-2002. V. Sabarimuthu
The Supreme Court on 18 November, 2002 dismissed yet another Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenged the policy of disinvestments. The petitioners said that the policy of disinvestments was against the Constitution, which called for the implementation of the socialistic pattern of society. The PIL was filed by 15 trade union organizations. The petitioners contended that the policy of disinvestments violated article 21 of the Constitution, as it was affecting the livelihood of many people whose jobs were being terminated. Citing the BALCO case, the Bench said that the courts should not interfere in the policy matters of the Government and rejected the petition. The counsel for the petitioner must have informed the court that public properties were being appropriated and converted into private properties in the name of an ill-conceived policy and that the method followed for disinvestments went against equitable distribution of national assets. Therefore, the advocates did not argue the case properly although the learned judges contributed their share for ruining the Constitution.
Not withstanding the above judgement, a Union Minister said that the bidders for the Government equity in PSUs were withdrawing due to a virtual stoppage of the process. He added that the buyers would not keep waiting outside a closed shop. He refused to give answer to any other question from the reporters although he said that only Prime Minister knew about the matter. On the same day, an officer in the Ministry of Disinvestments said that his Ministry was not getting sufficient cooperation from the administrative ministries and executives of PSUs that were put on the block. On the same day, another Union Minister said that disinvestments and the FDI would be pushed forward although he agreed that some problems had cropped up in the disinvestments process.
Consistent with the views of the Union Ministers, a Parliamentary Committee now gave a suggestion to the Government to keep the Nalco as a PSU in the interest of competition and for the removal of regional backwardness. Apparently, the Committee reflected the view of the Prime Minister. This prompted the newspapers to say that the reforms were not high on the agenda of the Government. One newspaper, in fact, quoted the following words. “The only thing that can reverse the corporate takeover is-you”.
Obviously, it was an indirect compliment to this writer.
On 24 November, 2002 two pickpockets were tied to a lamppost for pick pocketing Re.500/- in Tamil Nadu state and were beaten up by the public before being taken into custody by the police.
Coming back, commenting on the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - World Economic Forum meeting held at New Delhi on November 25, the newspapers said that the mood at the meet was quite downbeat. Some papers said that the absence of even the Finance Minister in world Economic Forum was surprising and distressing.
A top official, on November 28, said that there was no threat to the Government from any “corner” of India. It may be noted that the native District of this writer is Kanyakumari, a “corner” of India.
On the same day, there was a sport meet for the polio-affected children. The Prime Minister gave a talk to them. He told them that he too belonged to their category. It was a reflection of his mind. Presumably, referring to the demand of this writer, he told them that the society could change the Government. However, he added that the society could do so only after the completion of five years and nothing should be done in the middle.
On November 29, a Union Minister said that the politicians, just like doctors, engineers, teachers, require training to understand the pitfalls of governing the country. This was an admission that the Government was caught in the Bank of India deal.
On 30 November, 2002 another Union Minister placed the onus of future disinvestments on the shoulders of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. It is clear that he wanted to put the blame on them. He deplored that it would be difficult to achieve the disinvestments target of Rs, 12000/- crore for 2002-2003 in the then prevailing situation. It is evident that the Minister was referring to the letters sent by this writer and that he wanted to disown responsibility for all disinvestments. Thus he accepted defeat for the disinvestments process.
On 1 December, 2002 another Union Minister said that the banks had lost their self-confidence due to continuous scrutiny of their working by central agencies including the CBI, CVC, and the CAG. He deplored that it was not a good sign and therefore not acceptable to him. These utterances gave the impression that some investigations were going on with regard to the amount taken by an individual from the Bank of India and that the Government would abandon the policy of disinvestments. However, the Prime Minister on the same day said that minor differences within the Government would not deter the Government from pushing ahead with privatization. Answering the stage-managed question of news persons, the Prime Minister said that economic reforms were part of the election manifesto of the NDA.
Meanwhile, the leader of a political party categorically said that his party would nationalize the transport buses if the Government in Tamil Nadu State privatized the same.
On 3 December, 2002 a Union Minister said that privatization was to “bring out the hidden potential of the PSUs”. He did not say how the production potential would increase by selling the PSUs. Obviously, it was a theory distilled by the stakes.
. The newspapers now lamented that the Public Sector Banks, (PSBs), were victims of half-baked policies. They commended the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) implemented in the PSBs with amazing speed. They added that the reluctance of the Government to give up control over the resources of PSBs was baffling. Their statements confirmed the impression that the VRS scheme was introduced with the aim of privatization. In other words, the Government wanted to absorb all losses even before handing over the banks to private parties.
On 3 December, 2002 a Union Minister reiterated that the Government was committed to disinvestments of the PSUs to unlock the “productive potential” inherent in the PSUs.
On 6 December, 2002 the Prime Minister called on the President and spent more than an hour with him. Now, the newspapers demanded the Government to unleash the “productive potential” of the PSUs. Their demand was reminiscent of the words used by the Union Ministers. Among other things they said:
1. “The investors in India and abroad were eagerly waiting for the statement of the policy pertaining to the PSUs.
2. The Government owed an explanation on the question of its plans with respect to its companies.
3. There should have been greater clarity on the part of the Government. The Government must have disclosed whether it wanted half-house strategy of disinvestments or ‘full way’ privatization.
4. The Prime Minister must have stood up and told his critics and others to ‘put up or shut up’.
5. The claim that petroleum retailing must have been treated as a strategic one is nonsense.
6. The privatization was done to unlock the “productive potential” inherent in the PSUs. It must have been treated as an important guide to policy. It could not be achieved without changing the management control over the PSUs.
7. Most of the Ministers preferred disinvestments without changing management control because they wanted to distribute patronage.
8. The private enrichment of public servants at public expense could only stop with the outright sale of the PSUs and not with disinvestments”.
Obviously, the media was spreading pernicious and exploitative theories.
Incredibly, a newspaper, quoting from the book, The view from No 11 by Nigel Lawson, said, “The private sector is not used in the sense of transferring to a single private company a block of shares and control as it is understood in India but offer shares to people to encourage share ownership among the people and workers. It was first called ‘people’s capitalism and later Mrs. Thatcher called it ‘popular capitalism’. This scheme prevents any single company or group getting control of these blue chip companies. When the British Petroleum, (BP), was privatized, Kuwait Investment Office, (KIO), a company from Kuwait was asked, (1) not to acquire more than 20 per cent share, (2) not to pass on the shares to any other company without the concurrence of the Government and (3) not seek control or any management role in the BP. When the KIO refused, the matter was referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC). The MMC, in its report said, “There is a high degree of probability that sooner or later situation will arise in which Kuwait’s national and international interests will come sharply with the BP’s and Governments interests”.
Finally, accepting the ruling, the Government gave KIO three years to bring down its shareholding to 10 per cent. In many other cases the Government took White Paper to Parliament and in some cases legislation had to be passed. The newspaper reported this to enable the Government to change the policy slightly.
Later, the article formed the basis of the part of the statement issued by a Minister of Disinvestments on 9 December, 2002. Accordingly, the Minister announced in the Parliament the decision of the Government to privatize the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). The method of privatization envisaged the sale of the HPCL to a strategic partner and public offer in the case of the BPCL. The condition was that the disinvestments would not result in the alienation of national assets or it would result in private monopolies. Further, a certain percentage of shares would be kept for the employees of the two companies. In this way, the Government climbed down a little although the insatiable ambition to appropriate the HPCL could be discerned.
16
THE WILL
Now there were reports that the Government began preliminary work for off loading Government shares in as many as 12 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) including the BSNL and the MTNL. These developments and the demand of the Japanese promoter of Maruti to reduce excise duty by 50 per cent prompted this writer to send the letter No.16 through email. As this work began to take the shape of moulding India, the necessity for equitable distribution of seats in the Supreme Court and in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) also was, for the first time, high lighted. The letter follows.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU,
Thattankonam,
Vellicode,
Mulagumoodu, P.O.629167. E mail: sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India;
Presidential Palace,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India shall not commit contempt of Constitution.
1. Now it is clear that an individual took the money from the public sector Bank of India (BoI), with the knowledge of the Prime Minister of India. In this connection, it must be pointed out that even if the Prime Minister- after touching the feet of that individual- had arranged Re. 845/- crore to “the poor woman” from Tamil Nadu to buy a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), someone in some place would have said that the Prime Minister misused his official position to favour her. Here, the Prime Minister after touching her feet in presence of 1000 million people insidiously bestowed an individual with Re. 845/-crore.
2. The Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the custodian of all the banks in India. He has to handle a deposit of Re.12, 00000/-crore with great trust and responsibility. However, he allowed a theft of Re.845 crore from the BoI alone. Prima fasciae, he shall not remain in office even for one minute.
3. The Managing Director of the BoI and all others, who really abetted this theft too are liable for prosecution.
4. Once, a Prime Minister of India had granted sanction to the CBI to go ahead with the prosecution in a cheating case. He did it to prove that there was rule of law. He did it knowing well that he would end up as a co-accused.
5. Further, it may be recalled that during the period of the United Front Government, at least three cases were filed against a former Prime Minister of India. Some cases were filed against other leaders in the Congress party. A former Union Minister was awarded ten-year imprisonment. A High court issued notices to the kin of the then Prime Minister. The moment the UF Government fell, some of these cases were acquitted and the others went into oblivion. In contrast, when a theft of Re. 845 crore was pointed out to the Supreme Court, CBI and the President of India, no one is ready to reveal the truth. There is not even a murmur in this regard. No one wants to see with which money-black money or accounted money- the stakes buy the PSUs although everyone chases ordinary people.
6. The Supreme Court has now reinforced the judgement on the BALCO by one more judgement. The calamity is that the court, apparently, concluded not based on the Constitution but based on what is happening in China as reported by the media. Two learned judges who wanted the political parties to have allegiance to socialism were also in the Bench. The courts should not abhor the democracy in India because Hitler was a product of democracy. The courts shall not force the Government to adopt the Chinese political model in India for stability, progress and development. It should not allow theft because it is the ‘economic policy’ of the Government. The Constitution of India becomes a dynamic one only when it is amended.
7. As the media blacked out the arguments in the above case for the benefit of their masters, none is aware of anything that happened in the Supreme Court. The speeches of the President too are being blacked out. In fact, the newspapers abhor his speeches. Now, the media syndicate justifies the demand of the Japanese promoter to reduce the excise duty on motor car by 50%. Japanese promoter had given Re.1000/-crore as control premium. At this moment, it is clear that he wants to control the Union government, as he indirectly demands the exchequer to suffer a loss of Re. 1000/- crore every year. The President must have noticed this. Further, the media syndicate has not revealed with which money – hard earned money of Indians or Japanese- the Japanese promoter bought Maruti. The President, who is entitled to all pieces of information, could share the information with the people.
8. The President of India must have noticed that the concept of equality permeates all Articles. The President must have also envisaged the consequences of Article 15. It was passed by Parliament and so long as the Parliament refuses to remove it, it is imperative that the President must protect this provision. For this, the President must love all people-white or black, male or female, young or old, high class or low class, upper caste or lower caste. He shall not hate anyone without any valid reasons nor shall he cause someone to hate anyone. He shall not love anyone for ‘wrong reasons’ permanently to the detriment of others. He should see that the factors that force the people to receive gratis from anyone cease to exist. One way for this is that the Article 15 must be strictly applied for the selection of judges and for the constitution of Benches so that there would be ‘unity in diversity’ rather than ‘unity in homogeneity’. The industrial credit must be equitably distributed among different sections of the people and among different states. The 49 percent shares of private companies also could be equally distributed. This is the dominant theme of the Constitution and it could be extended for the selection of students in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
9. India is still a country where the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission protects the police officer that breaks open the house of innocent people at night. Evidently, he is abetting crime openly. Now, the Prime Minister of India is remaining as a threat to the life of a citizen of India. It could be a presumption because the Prime Minister could have finished the job within minutes. The President of India, for reasons best known to him, remains as a silent spectator in this matter.
10. If the truth were revealed, some right thinking people would hold an individual and a few others mainly responsible for the terrorism in India. Huge amounts illegally taken are nothing but theft. There could be no other euphemism for it. Instead of protecting the interests of that individual with nuclear devices, the President could have written to the learned judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts, senior Officers of the CBI and above all, to the members of Parliament and called for their views severally and collectively. Surely, no one would have requested the President to remain as a silent spectator. In fact, a healthy opinion would have evolved. They might have given a suggestion to dispel the darkness from Delhi. Therefore, if the President were to allow the Government to cover up the theft by that individual under any pretext, all right thinking people would think that the President had committed contempt of Constitution.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
10-12-2002. V.SABARIMUTHU
Now the opposition parties, including the Congress party, stoutly opposed the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL on the ground that the PSUs acquired through nationalization could not be privatized through a notification. To this a Union Minister said that if the Congress Government could sell 49 percent of the shares of these companies through a notification, his Government could sell more than 51 percent of the shares as well. The Congress, in vain, attempted to distinguish the sale of 49 percent from the sale of more than 51 per cent, which results in privatization. The opposition forced an adjournment in the Upper House and staged a walk out from the Lower House. On the next day also, the opposition parties sought a discussion on the matter. The members said that the Government was ‘looting and plundering’ the nation. On the third day, a Congress leader said that the economic policies of the Government were having disastrous consequences.
Now it appeared that the President duly transmitted the letter sent to him on 10 December 2002 to the Prime Minister of India immediately. Thus on 13 December, 2002 a Union Minister ruled out the privatization of the BSNL and the MTNL in the near future because of the enormous size of these PSUs. He admitted that none had the money to buy them. Nevertheless, he said that a panel was set up to study the issues involved.
However, the newspapers condemned the growing weakness within the political establishment for privatization. They criticized the Government for not giving a time frame even for selling the shares in the HPCL and the BPCL. They feared that the bureaucracy would ‘scuttle the dismantling of a carefully built empire’ because they were ‘not ready to give up access to free cars, cell phones, household furniture and subsidized accommodation in five star hotels’. They added that the Ministers were also not ready to give the ‘perks and privileges of public sector patronage’.
Meanwhile, in an election meeting in Gujarat, a Congress leader asked the people whether a Government that ‘cheated people of their hard-earned money ever do any good for Gujarat and it went down well with the people. Addressing a meeting in Himachal Pradesh the Congress leader lashed out at the ‘disastrous’ economic policy of the Government. The Congress leader further said: 1. The PSUs were set up with public money and they were not the property of any political party. 2. The PSUs were providing employment to weaker sections of the society and the youth from poor families. 3. Power was not the ultimate aim of the Congress party and that the Congress would use it to serve the people ensuring their welfare. 4. The Congress party had never compromised on its principles and would never do that. 5. The Congress party was not a party with leaders who change their stand everyday. 6. The BJP, apart from engineering divisions in society, was making the life of the poor, backward, tribal and other weaker sections a miserable one.
In the second batch of supplementary demands, the Government gave Re. 1949 crore to the UTI as bailout package.
On 13 December, 2002 the Prime Minister delivered a memorable speech. The speech was a reflection of his predicament. On one side he wanted to see reason and follow the dictates of his better self. On the other side he wanted to satisfy the stakes presumably to cling to power. He said, “All the regions of India must see progress and development. The gap between the rich and the poor must be reduced as for as possible. Necessities to most modern necessities must reach all sections of our people. This is my ambition. This is why I am giving my personal attention to every aspect of economic reforms.
The steps taken by my Government with the objective of making the nation rich are conveying wrong message to me and to my Government. Some people attribute motives to the actions taken in public interest and criticize me personally. If the poor people were to become rich, there is no way other than rejecting such allegations with the contempt it deserves. That is why, despite several oppositions, I am steadfastly refusing to part with the reforms including privatization.
In spite of all my sincere efforts, the reforms are not taking place as expected. This gives me great pain both as Prime Minister and personally. All reforms must have taken place with great speed. In contrast, they are going on in the speed of a tortoise. Let me confess that I am myself as dissatisfied as any one of you over the slow progress in several areas.
We plunged into economic reform in order to attain 8 per cent growth rate. However, the growth rate has not even reached 5 or 6 percent. I thought about the reason for the stagnation in economic growth. I discussed this matter with the officers and Ministers. I found out a basic truth in this matter. The steps taken for reforms succeeded in displacing the “License System”, “Permit System” and “Quota System”. Nevertheless, it has not fully displaced the “Inspector System”. That is why economic stagnation continues to plague our nation. If we could diagnose the reason for the disease, we could change the method of treatment and cure the disease. Similarly, as it is clear that the ‘Inspector System’ is remaining as an impediment to economic development, steps are being taken to remove these impediments through some reform measures. Many entrepreneurs especially those in the small and medium sectors were routinely harassed and humiliated under this Inspector System. This must end. I expect to achieve higher growth rate as soon as removing these impediments.
The ‘Inspector System’ is remaining as an obstacle for making the nation rich. Therefore, the reforms measures to abolish the Inspector System that block the progress and development of the nation will be announced in the coming budget.
A number of steps are being taken to abolish Government interference in industry. In this connection, orders have been issued to implement a Committee report. When this recommendation is fully implemented many from India and abroad would come forward to start industries in India. When many industries were started, money circulation would increase and consequently the gap between the haves and have-nots as the gap between the developed and under developed regions would be abridged. The fruits of development must reach the poor and the underprivileged. The economy had to produce more, create more productive employment opportunities and help the people lead better lives.
Besides the ‘Inspector System’, there are some other reasons for the stagnation in economic development. The attack on the world Trade Centre, war in Afganistan, Kargil conflict, earth quake in Gujarat, communal disturbances and the wrong policies pursued by the previous Governments in the states as well as in Centre were some of the reasons for the stagnation in economic development. In spite of such factors, our growth rate was not as seriously affected as other countries. This does not mean that I am contradicting my own point. What all I can say is that the economic development is not as fast as I expected. However, I am happy that the damage caused to our economy is minimum compared to many other countries.
Ours is a democratic country. Therefore, no reforms could be implemented instantly. We have to allow all conflicts of ideas. In order to dispel all suspicions we have to talk and discuss calmly all facets of the issues. To take a unanimous decision time is needed. You have seen how we are trying to carry everyone along- through dialogue and consultations, without bringing politics in developmental issues and through a constant effort to expand the areas of consensus on economic reforms. These processes could not be bypassed in a democracy.
However, some people are exploiting the right to freedom of expression for selfish and political ends. They give wrong meaning to reform measures of the government and propagate it relentlessly. This also is contributing to the stagnation in economic development.
The economic development of the nation should not be affected due to selfish political ends. I hope that everyone would behave in a responsible way in this matter.
Political stability also is required for economic development. Our coalition set up has achieved a success in this matter. The NDA Government would continue for five years. As there is no confusion or fear with regard to political stability, we would never withdraw reforms.
Therefore, the industry must repose their faith in our Government and cooperate with the Government for speedy economic development of the nation”.
The above speech was the translated version of that appeared in a Tamil daily on 14 December, 2002. It is clear that the speech was directly related to the 15 letters sent to the President of India. Obviously, the Prime Minister was explaining his predicaments, which were well known to media but not the public. His speech indicated that he wanted the help of the manipulators to run the Government presumably because of the realization that the Government at the Centre might not last without their support. Perhaps fearing this writer, most of the newspapers did not publish this speech.
On 17 December, 2002 a Member of Parliament (M.P) disclosed that four employees of the privatized hotel at Mumbai died of heart attack immediately after privatization and another employee, who suffered heart attack was in a coma in a city hospital. On the next day, the opposition in the Parliament made a blistering attack against the Government for pursuing the policy of privatization. Another M.P. said that the Government was looting and plundering while selling the PSUs. Describing privatization as the most sordid chapter of the Government, he said that people had been reduced to penury while the nation lost valuable assets. He said that corruption was the highest embodiment of privatization. He was sad that the Prime Minister barely made any response when the leaders of 20 trade unions met him on the previous day and was stunned by the total ‘insensitivity’ of the Prime Minister on the question of privatization. No newspaper mentioned the word ‘insensitivity’ although the public sector TV channel mentioned it in its Parliament news.
To this, a Union Minister said that 37 of the 39 PSUs privatized between 1991 and 2000 were profit making. Of the 34 PSUs privatized between 2000-2002, only eight were profit making. He added that if earlier Governments could sell equity in companies acquired through acts of Parliament, his Government too could sell them.
In the meantime, the Joint Parliamentary Committee, (JPC), probing the ‘stock scam’ submitted its report to the Parliament. The report attributed the fiasco of the public sector Unit Trust of India (UTI) to the concentration of power in the post of the Chairman of the UTI without adequate checks and balances to prevent its misuse. The JPC requested the Government to bring under Securities and Exchange Board of India, (SEBI), all the schemes of the UTI. The JPC wanted the Government to probe the Swiss bank account of a broker and the wrong doings by the banks. The report was replete with acts of omissions and commissions by the Ministry of Finance. For instance, the report - consistent with this work- said the capital market manipulated to benefit operators, brokers and corporate houses.
On 20 December, 2002 a Supreme Court Bench struck down as ‘unjustified and arbitrary’ the direction of the Government to cancel and auction all dealerships in petrol pumps allotted after January 2000. The dealerships were cancelled in the wake of media alleging and exposing political favouritism. The Bench, however, constituted a two-member committee to examine the complaints against 417 cases, where there were allegations of political favouritism. None realized that the learned judges were paving the way to hand over petroleum distributing power itself to private parties.
In the mean time, a newspaper, through an article, superficially admitted that the funds for buying the PSUs used to come from the public sector banks. This article was to convince the public that there was nothing wrong in giving money to the stakes to buy the PSUs. The article also carried the message that the Government succeeded in notching up a string of successful sales of some big PSUs. The reach of the stakes could be gauged.
The Prime Minister on 25 December, 2002 said there were certain problems with regard to disinvestments. He, however, added that the problems were surmountable.
The newspapers reported that the Government of India would again give Re. 8200/- crore to the Unit Trust of India (UTI), for the financial year 2003-2004 to tide over liquidity problems. It was the third installment. Thus the Government compensated the amount appropriated by the stakes. The fact that the money was not given secretly must be noted.
The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments (CCD), which met on December 27, 2002 ended in disarray. The HPCL-BPCL privatization issue was deferred. The explanation given was that the Attorney General was not in New Delhi. The CCD also decided to defer the privatization of the public sector Delhi Centaur Hotel. The reason given for this decision was the proposed expansion of the Delhi airport. The CCD further decided to allow the PSUs to bid for National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) and the FAC, another public sector fertilizer company. The newspapers were disappointed by the tame ending of the CCD. In order to console a disappointed Minister, the Prime Minister gave a large number of additional charges to him.
At the instance of the manipulators, a former Union Finance Minister on 31 December, 2002 exhorted the Government to privatize at least two-dozen PSUs, including banks, in 2003. He said, “Why are some people happy with Government control? The reason is it enables rent seeking. Ministers want control, so they oppose disinvestments. Bureaucrats want control, so they write meaningless rules and regulations. Bankers want control, so they put retired bankers on the boards of companies. Judges want control so they enter the field reserved for the executive under the pretext that the executive has failed to act. Government policies must be designed to break this stranglehold of controls. There is no better place to begin than disinvestments in the PSUs and downsizing the central Government. Before the year 2003 is out, the Government must ensure disinvestments in at least two dozen PSUs including some banks and those totally redundant jobs in the central Government are abolished”. The manipulators made this former Union Minister into a powerful Union Cabinet Minister in the UPA Government.
The media obtained this article from him just two days before the crucial meeting of the Cabinet on 2 January, 2003. However, the Prime Minister disclosed that privatization could not be carried out successfully in India. This message did not appear in the newspapers. Only the public sector TV channel in its Tamil news, disclosed it. True to his words, the Cabinet returned a proposal of the Civil Aviation Ministry to privatize the four international metro airports. Instead, the Cabinet asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to take a re-look at the idea and come back with a proposal to restructure the airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to world-class standards in record time. The movements of the files showed that they were reaching the Cabinet without the direction from the Prime Minister; and that the Cabinet rejected the proposals only because of these letters. The Ministry of Disinvestments also decided to remove the public sector Nalco and the SCI from the disinvestments list for the year 2003. It was one of the greatest achievements of these letters because the will of the Government was defeated by the will of the letters. The Prime Minister followed reason for the good although this writer did not acknowledge it then to maintain the pressure. The stakes played down these decisions to keep this writer in the darkness of the night. The BSE index stood at 3324 at this point of time.
The decision to defer the privatization of four airports was a great set back to the players involved in the game. The newspapers said that investing in shares would be perilous. They said that the decision of the Cabinet to turn down the proposal to privatize four airports had sent the wrong signal to foreign investors including consortiums from Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Britain, Singapore and the Middle East. One paper inadvertently agreed that the four metro airports accounted for the 70% profit of the Airport Authority of India (AAI). AAI had 122 airports and it had been cross subsidizing the non-profitable airports. The AAI also, all on a sudden, said that if the profit making airports were to be given to private players on a platter, the AAI would not survive at all.
With regard to the privatization of airports a newspaper said that “a source” had arranged the visit of the Malaysian delegation. This source had told the paper that they were disappointed because the Government had not made it clear which route-whether leasing, or joint funding or Government funding- would be adopted for taking forward the proposal.
The above article showed that the efforts taken by the stakes for years ended without any answer. It could be seen that a section of the bureaucracy did not cave in to the pressure mounted by the Government although none could be blind to the danger of a powerful bureaucracy that supported privatization. It must be recalled that the Prime Minister had talked about the growing rift between the Government and the bureaucracy a few days ago.
17
LEARN TO LOVE
As the privatization of the HPCL, BPCL, SCI and the airports did not materialize; it appeared that the Government had abandoned the privatization plans. However, one more letter -letter No.17- was sent to the President of India narrating the sequence of events. In this letter, the President was requested to give protection to this writer.
Further, as a former Finance Minister of India wanted the Government to pursue privatization with vigour, it appeared that the stakes had deliberately depicted his past budget as “dream budget” in private interest. Therefore, the fate of the “cash rich” enterprise was mentioned in the letter just to discourage privatization. In fact, the article written by the above former Union Minister was the immediate provocation of this letter. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam,
Vellicode
Mulagumoodu P.O. 629167. E-mail: sabarimuthu @ rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace, New Delhi.
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons for writing 16 letters to the President of India.
1. As early as on 31 July, 2000 a few suggestions including the one to abandon the policy of bulk buying were sent to the Constitutional Review Commission. As no serious action was forthcoming, ten concrete suggestions were sent to the Prime Minister of India on 1 June 2001.Then a ‘PIL’ petition was sent to the Chief Justice of India to restrain the banks from lending money to the UTI. The then Chief Justice of India, did not accept the letter as a writ petition.
2. However, the Prime Minister did take a series of positive measures. Thus, the public sector State Bank of India refused to pay Re.2000 crore sought by the UTI. This led to the bankruptcy of the UTI. The Union Cabinet decided to preclude some tainted companies from buying the PSUs. Thus, the privatization of the Indian Airlines and Air India were thwarted. The infuriated stakes wanted to pull down the Government. The Prime Minister in his Republic Day address from the Red Fort said that the corrupt elements would not be allowed to escape the long arm of law irrespective of how high a chair they might occupy. He urged the stakes not to earn money “by hook or by crook”. Immediately, two people were arrested for about 40 crore. The Government told the industrialists its decision to utilize the surplus deposits in the banks for developing the infrastructure. 5% service tax was imposed on certain items and a decision to split the UTI into two units was taken.
3. Suddenly, in November 2001, there was a sea change in the attitude of the Government. Accordingly, some honest officers were transferred. An individual was given Re. 845/- crore to buy a PSU through the back door as the Government resumed privatization. Therefore, the pitfalls of privatization were pointed out to the Prime Minister through a letter on 20 November, 2001.
4. As the Supreme Court did not allow the High Court, Chennai to hear the ITDC case, a letter was written to the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister and the President of India to protect the Preamble of the Constitution. Despite the best efforts by the then President, Supreme Court betrayed the Preamble. Therefore, the way in which the Supreme Court had been functioning since 1996 and the plight of the people were pointed to the President and the learned judges of the Supreme Court. The contradictory stands of the Supreme Court in matters dear to the common man were also mentioned.
5. Since the system refused to correct itself, the consequences of Article 15 and above all, four specific cases were pin pointed. One was the decision of the Government to buy equipments worth Re. 1800 crore in bulk for the BSNL. The way in which the media syndicate immediately defended the BSNL showed that some people must have obtained Re. hundreds of crore as commission and naturally all citizens would have to pay for it for centuries. Re. 845 crore deal of the Bank of India (BoI) was selected to prove that the Government was allowing-in bad faith- conversion of public property into private property. The privatization of the HZL in favour the disqualified company was highlighted to prove the existence of a “Super Cabinet” at New Delhi. The sale of Maruthi was chosen to show that the foreigners would dictate terms to the Union Government. The President must have obtained an action taken report from the CBI on all these matters is another matter.
6. Since the media syndicate is one of the real culprits, the common man had to show their disservice and treachery. In fact, they are capable of deceiving any Government. Thus, during the period of the UF Government, the media syndicate conceived and coined a term called “cash rich PSUs” and wanted the Government to deposit their surplus money in the UTI. The then Minister for Finance readily obliged and, apparently, made the PSUs to dance to the tune of the stakes. The stakes reciprocated by describing his Budget as “Dream Budget”. The loss suffered by the PSUs and the amount gained by the manipulators are known to the CBI and the Minister only. Even the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) suppressed it. Now the media has obtained an article from him and published it to canvass support for the privatization policy. The media would publish in bold letters if a person belonging to the scheduled communities were not allowed to draw water from a well. However, if the banks refuse to give Re. 100 crore to him, the media would black it out. Did any person from the scheduled communities ever get a loan of, say, Re. 100 crore from any bank?
7. The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission is even conniving at the death threats being periodically issued by some prominent people through National newspapers.
8. The President of India demands 20 more years. It is just a question of 2 seconds because it is all a question of changing the attitude. If a decision were taken to part with commissions, the Government could readily abandon the policy of bulk buying & selling. Similarly, the Union Government could split the PSUs and give them to the states. Incidentally, this would curtail regionalism also. The Union Government could proudly monitor the economic activities of the prosperous State Governments. If the Government decides to reserve seats for the OBCs in the IITs, they would get their share in the coming year itself. The President of India must ponder how many OBCs from Rameswaram get admission in the IITs. Is it because they are not intelligent? It is not true. The truth is that the Government is latently but constantly at war with itself. Why should the Government use these deadly missiles against its own people? Is the Government honest in such crucial matters?
9. Due to the dedication of the political leaders, the letters have achieved near impossible social, political and economic changes. Apparently, there is no necessity to write more letters to the President of India. However, the letters so far written should not prove fatal to this poor writer. The letters were written in good faith for the welfare of all. England is protecting even the life of an Indian born writer. This writer too is an author of a high utility book in inorganic chemistry. The book has been described as ‘a valuable addition’ by ‘The American International Publishers’. The review committee of a teacher’s organization described the book as ‘a treasure’ to all libraries and for chemistry students. This book is a recognized reference book in the MS University, Tirunelveli. Earlier a publication on the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) had been distributed to 80 Universities and 700 colleges as a model by the then advisor to the Goverment of India. Evidences are sent in a separate cover to the President. The Government must learn to love at least its own people.
10. The 16 letters lead to the realization that an individual is still holding 1000 million people as his hostages. He has taken not Re. 30 or 40 crore but Re. 845 crore besides a few PSUs as ransom. He still keeps his eyes on the Re. 1200000 crore deposits, foreign exchange and the other PSUs. He could strangulate the Constitution and silence the CBI. The newspapers, armed forces, courts and jails exist only to defend his empire. A Member of Parliament (M.P.) said four hostages have died of heart attack and another one was in coma. Another M.P. said that he was stunned by the total insensitivity. These words have slightly moved him. He would abandon the privatized PSUs but those who stand by him refuse to relent.
The attitude of the system to spare an offender and punish the innocent people would go down as an inhuman crime against human race.
Vellicode Yours faithfully
8-1-2003. V.SABARIMUTHU
The Government maintained a studied silence to the above letter. At this instant, it appeared that the investigating agencies were taking some feeble actions against the manipulators. Therefore, a Union Minister said that the industries must be given a hassle free environment to carry out their works.
Another Union Minister exhorted the banks to emerge from the paralysis caused by the ‘C-3 factor’ –CBI, CVC and CAG- and take bold decisions on lending money. He offered to take the brunt of the consequences if things went wrong due to these decisions. He disclosed that a ‘Serious Frauds Office’ would be immediately formed to tackle the problems associated with corporate governance. This was presumably to pre-empt the CBI from proceeding against the corporate houses.
The Prime Minister said that the gap between the bureaucracy and the Government was increasing to unacceptable levels. He warned that the Government, elected by the people, must be allowed to carry out its agenda lest it would destroy democracy.
The BJP then wanted the Congress to change its “attitude”. It may be noted that the word “attitude” was used in the above letter.
On 11 January, 2003 the President inaugurated the two-day Governor’s Conference. In his opening address, the President exhorted the Governors to provide sage advice beyond any political considerations to the people and the Government. He wanted them to reach the grassroots to understand the problems and focus them to the State Governments and if necessary to the Union Government for fast action. He advised them to convey the aberrations of the common man to the notice of the Government. He told them that all people wanted to live in a safe and prosperous India. Above all, he expressed his desire to treat the year 2003 as the year of action. Obviously, it was a message to show that he had been taking action, subject to his limitations, over all letters.
At this time, the predecessor of the present President of India wanted the people to rise and give a fitting reply to the privatization policy. He said socialism was still alive and the precious state sector assiduously built over the years symbolized the triumph of India. The executive committee of a political party from South India –a constituent of the ruling NDA- also passed a resolution condemning the centre for pursuing an economic policy contrary to the socialist principles enshrined in the Constitution of India. The resolution noted that the five year plans which paved the way for industrialization and technology development, had become a thing of past. Since the resolution was passed by one of the key constituents of the NDA, it shocked the BJP.
In a major economic decision, the Government decided to permit Indian individuals and companies to invest in listed companies abroad and which have at least 10 % shareholding in a listed company in India. Mutual Funds were permitted to double their investment limit to $1 billion in companies listed on overseas stock exchanges. Further, companies having branches and offices overseas were permitted to acquire immovable property.
Now, the newspapers were thoroughly embarrassed by the letter dated 8- 1- 2003. The disappointed newspapers condemned the reactionary people in the BJP for stopping privatization. They threatened that neither investors nor tourists would come to India in future.
A Union Minister now said that the tendency to criticize others is the curse of India. He advised the Chief Minister of Kerala not to give undue importance to criticism because one must be deaf if he wanted to do anything in India. He deplored that those who remain outside deem it their duty to continuously criticize those who remain in power.
The Prime Minister promised Re.10,000 crore projects for the Public Sector Units in Kerala state. This conveyed the impression that the Prime Minister had given up the policy of privatization. However, within two days, the media persons were made to ask a question to the Prime Minister regarding disinvestments. To this the Prime Minister replied that the disinvestments policy had reached an irreversible stage. He pointed out that no political party was opposing the policy of disinvestments. The implied meaning was that some individuals were alone opposing the policy of disinvestments.
Lannan Foundation President on selecting an Indian writer for the fourth annual prize for cultural freedom said the prize was for the fight against world’s powerful Governments and corporations for safeguarding the freedom, justice and cultural diversity of civil societies. The writer in turn said that there were several people’s movements and individuals who see through the charade and were committed to resisting this process.
The President of India on 21 January, 2003 advised the students to be knowledge workers which would enhance their families and thereby the Nation. He asked the scientists to evolve a policy and submit that to the Government. He assured them that he was there to help them. Further, he exhorted the political leaders to place national interest over personal interest and remain prepared for any sacrifice for the welfare of the Nation. The President was, apparently, referring to the wealth of knowledge present in these letters.
The Prime Minister on 24 January, 2003 lifted a young bravery award winner with his own hands. Within two days, the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments, which met under him, flagged off the privatization of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). This privatization too did not materialize till December 2008.
The mass media, as usual, commended the decision. The media syndicate said that the decision was a step forward. Some organizations came to the open and supported the decision.
In the 2003 Republic Day address to the Nation, the President requested the people all over India to contribute their share to the total prosperity of the Nation.
The employees of the oil companies opposed the decision of the Government to privatize the HPCL and the BPCL. They threatened to go on a strike. The Congress party also immediately opposed the decision. The CPI and the CPI (M) too condemned it. A former Prime Minister claimed that the resources in the country were cornered by a section of society. He wanted to know the reason why funds ($21Billion) from India were deposited in the US. He described it as looted money. It must be noted that this writer had been sending the copies of all letters to him also
On 1 February, 2003 the Prime Minister wanted the people to change their “attitude” and shed pessimism. He wanted the people to think that their Prime Minister was working to make their future better.
A Union Minister said that the procedural delays and unaccountability had resulted in massive losses to the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) ‘of the country of Government servants, by Government servants and for Government servants’. He was presumably referring to this writer, as this writer was then a lecturer in a private college. He said that among 1000 and odd PSEs in the country one third were non-functional. He deplored that corrupt officials and ‘trader’s unions’ were perpetrating the faulty system in public enterprises. He added that countries such as China could achieve 10 percent growth rate only because of the change in “attitude”.
A Congress leader, on the other hand - based on the letters- said that the pluralistic tradition of the Nation was under assault.
The Prime Minister on 5 February, 2003 called on the President of India. He was with him for more than an hour.
On 6 February, 2003 the High Court Delhi refused to grant stay to the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL. The Court said the judgement on the BALCO stood in the way of the Court. No newspaper reported anything during the hearing of the case and therefore it could have been a mock case. On the next day, the Government invited bids for 34% stake in the HPCL along with management control. Thus the privatization of the HPCL came a day after the verdict of the High Court, Delhi. Obviously, the Government obtained a legal cover to convince the people.
The Prime Minister now said, “There is only one human race. A debate is going on to see whether we are going through the correct path or not to reach our goal. There may be differences. For that we should not adopt different approaches. We must do introspection. The candidates should not approach the industrialists to meet election expenditures. Instead the party must give money to the candidates”. His speech was a reflection of the letters.
On the same day a Union Minister said that every law in the Indian Constitution must have a ‘sun-set’ (expiry period) and that the executive must be given power to alter it as per the changing needs. Evidently, it was an open admission that the Constitution of India stood in the way of privatization. Now a newspaper said that uncertainty dogged the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL. The reason, according to them, was that “the Government stood defied by individuals’. Obviously, the paper was indirectly describing this writer as an individual.
The Government on 19 February, 2003 in the Parliament ruled out privatization of Indian Oil, ONGC and GAIL and assured all security concerns would be taken care of while divesting oil PSUs- the BPCL and the HPCL.
A Union Minister said that about 80 percent of retail trade of oil would remain with the Government even after the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL. He added that the PSUs including the ONGC were not permitted to participate in the bidding of the HPCL as it was the general policy of Government not to allow one PSU to bid for other PSUs. This proved that the Government wanted to sell the PSUs not to manage fiscal deficit.
Now the entire opposition parties and some constituent parties of the ruling NDA opposed the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL. On 26 February, 2003 about 1 lakh workers from all over the country poured into the capital as a protest to the anti-labour privatization policy of the NDA Government.
18
THE TOMB
Now there were reports that the Airports would be privatized soon. Therefore, the letter No. 18 was sent to the President on 19 February, 2003. The main objective of this letter was to prevent the privatization of Airports. For this, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was requested to identify the Malaysian delegation mentioned in a newspaper. The necessity for equitable distribution of seats in educational institutions was also highlighted. Great importance was given to discourage racism. Further, the media in India was described as the “Tomb of the Nation”. The letter follows.
From
V. SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode
Mulagumoodu P.O.629167
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan, New Delhi.
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the inability of the President of India to prevent grave crimes and rank racial discriminations disappoint the people.
1. When the then Prime Minister of India on 4 March, 1997 disclosed in Parliament that he had cleared the FDI worth $ 7 billion, a member of the BJP asked how much illegal money was involved. The then Prime Minister immediately said he would tender his resignation if he were involved. The present Prime Minister, then the leader of the opposition, realizing the sensitivity of the matter, expressed his regret over the remark. It is clear that according to the Members of Parliament (M.Ps.) also, the PSUs were sold against black money. The stakes pulled down the then United Front (UF) Government because the then Prime Minister did not involve himself with illegal money is another matter.
2. A newspaper on 12 January, 2003 talked of “a source” that arranged the visit of a Malaysian delegation. The President could identify this source, as the CBI must be aware of it. This article leads to the realization that the print media and the stakes are the same entity. The mass media dreadfully black out what is going on in Delhi. They do not publish even vital court proceedings. Instead of remaining as the backbone of democracy and the beacon light of 1000 million people, the media in India is remaining as “the tomb of the nation”
3. Recently, a thief was caught red-handed while pick pocketing Re 500/- at in Tamil Nadu State. He was tied to a lamp post and mercilessly beaten. Now-a-days Magistrates too act ruthlessly. They refuse to give bail for several months even for Re.5000/- received as bribe. In fact, even the stray dogs in India get better treatment than the small offenders.
4. On 6 February, 2003 the High Court, Delhi, declared that the judgement of the Supreme Court on BALCO case stood in the way of hearing a case against the privatization of a PSU. It is the severest stricture ever passed against the Supreme Court by a High Court. If the President were not alert enough to understand the repercussions of this case, what would the High Courts do? The media did not report the proceedings in the above court. Whether it is a stage-managed verdict or not is known to the CBI only.
5. The root cause of the present problem lies in the Supreme Court. It is said that ‘the birds of same feather flock together’. It is well known that the privatization is biased in favour of some communities only. All right thinking people suspect that learned judges belonging to these communities heard the BALCO case and it was the real reason for the subversion of the Constitution. Therefore, all Chief Justices must be forbidden from constituting benches where judges of any one community form a majority. Bigger Benches where Forward Communities (FCs), Other Backward Communities (OBCs) or Scheduled Castes (SCs)/ Scheduled Tribes (STs) were not in a majority must review the BALCO case and a few other recent cases where racism played a crucial role. This is to ensure rule of law and to prevent the Chief Justices from cloning judgements by taking the Constitution in their hands. The Supreme Court shall not lose its credibility in the eye of the right-thinking people. It shall not remain crippled. It shall not become a place of intrigues and conspiracies. It shall not take part in politics. It shall not play ugly tricks on Indians. It shall not practice racism. It shall not retreat from hearing crucial cases or delivering unbiased judgements. The President of India must ascertain the veracity of this observation and do the needful without wasting time.
6. Part of the blame must go to the President of India also. Even if the common man writes to the Chief Justices to maintain heterogeneity in the constitution of Benches to take out unbiased judgements, they would have to obey lest they would be accused of caste bias. What all the President of India could do? The President of India shall not perpetuate racial discrimination by conniving at the judgement on the BALCO case.
7. If equal rights were given to big fish and small fish, the big ones would simply swallow the small ones. Therefore, treating equally the OBCs and the FCs at the Standard XII stage of the students is nothing but racial discrimination because the mark sheet is not the sole index of intelligence. The OBCs must have proportional representation in the IITs and RECs and in all other areas. The gates of the IITs and RECs must be opened to the OBCs to enable them to ‘unleash their productive potential’ so that there would be a few ‘stars’ like Kalpana Chawla in them also. Out of 50,000 IIT-ins living in the USA, not even 1000 are from the OBCs. The FCs should not be aggrieved because all are human beings and as such, every region and every community must get their share in the assets of the country. No one shall aspire for a parasitic life. Waging war against the entry of the OBCs in the IITs and RECs should not be the soul goal of the life of any individual. This applies to the privatization of the PSUs also. The FCs must be broad minded enough to fight for the rights of the OBCs. The UF Government lost an excellent opportunity to uplift the neglected sections of the people. The former President now says that he was helpless. If the present President of India and the FCs who wield power too were helpless, who would come for the emancipation of the hapless people?
8. The former Chairman of the NHRC could not save a victim of a human rights violation from criminal prosecution. Instead, the indicted person was given promotion.
9. The Government pretends to love the children after pre-empting all their chances to become the Chairpersons of the PSUs like the BALCO, VSNL, HPCL, BPCL. The Government condemns them as scavengers or menial servants in the above-privatized PSUs. Is it not racial discrimination? It is all the more serious because a person from an OBC remains as the President of India.
10. 17 letters have been sent. This is letter No 18. ‘Even if the heart of the system were made of stone, the stone would have melted’. For public consumption, the Prime Minister says no section of the people shall be neglected. Simultaneously, he hands over the PSUs one after another to the people of forward communities that too with bank funds. If it were not rank racial discrimination, the President must tell its name to the children. The President also, instead of solving the day to day problems talks of 20 years. The attitude of the system is reminiscent of queen of France who said, “If they don’t have bread, let them eat cake”. “History repeats itself”.
Vellicode Yours faithfully
19-2-2003 V.Sabarimuthu
. The above letter was sent to the President of India through e-mail and the copies of the letter were sent to several leaders all over India by post.
A copy of the above letter No 18 was sent to a senior advocate of the Supreme Court also in the hope that he would give a new twist to a relevant case.
On 21 February, 2003 the President of India paid a visit to Tamil Nadu State. Speaking to children, he said even Galileo was killed for saying that the earth revolved around the sun. Now, there would be opposition to one’s new ideas. However, he wanted everyone to pursue his goal. The President was indirectly motivating this writer to persist with the good work.
On 27 February, 2003 the newspapers explained the consequences of the interest burden on the entrepreneurs in India. They said that loans in India doubled in four years as interest was calculated on compound rates. At the same time, they doubled only in 12 years in foreign banks. They said that several promoters who acquired Re. thousands of crore by way of loans were living as NRIs after acquiring assets abroad. On the other hand, they said that only idiots worked hard and stayed back in India.
The Budget for 2003-2004 gave a small tax relief to the employees.
On 3 March, 2003 a newspaper said that the PSUs should not be shed without the authority of law. Therefore, the paper gave a suggestion to promulgate a Privatization Act laying down the ground rules for privatization. This indicated that the privatization process was badly hit by the letter sent by this writer on 19 February, 2003.
Speaking at a private function at New Delhi the President on 2 March, 2003 said that no religion or any individual should be allowed to endanger the nation because the nation was more important than any individual, party or religion. He said a nation of billion people should not think like a nation of million people. He pointed out that whenever there was a crisis to the nation, the Indian leadership blossomed to overcome it. He slightly modified his earlier demand for 20 years and said, “The nation needs young leaders who can command the transformation of India into a developed nation embedded with knowledge from now to 20 more years”.
Now a Union Minister said that the Government was not in a hurry to sell the HPCL and the BPCL.
The newspaper reported that the net profits of the PSUs rose by a huge 66 percent during 2001-2003 and reached 26,045 crore, with a return of 24.58 percent on equity capital. They, however, added that five private companies expressed interest to buy the HPCL.
On 16 March, 2003 the Prime Minister called on the President of India. It was a one-to-one meeting. There were reports that internal matters and the Iraq crisis were discussed. The reports could have been concocted stories is another matter.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 24 March 2003 announced that the commercial banks could finance special purpose vehicles (SPVs) set up by companies to participate in public sector disinvestments. Thus, the RBI decided to give public funds to the corporate houses to buy public sector undertakings. Thus, the NDA Government decided to legalize the appropriation of public funds to appropriate public assets. It was an arbitrary decision. An arbitrary decision is an enemy of equality.
The President on 28 March, 2003 described the justice for all as the basic principle of democracy. On the next day, he said that India stood second in the list of corrupt countries. He wanted everyone to contribute his or her share to see a corruption- free nation. To a question, he said that he would have to face problems although he did not face any problem after becoming the President. He advised children not to allow problems to become one’s master.
The 30,000 strong employees of the BPCL and HPCL went on a three-day strike from 25 March, 2003.The High Court, Chennai declared the strike as an illegal one as the conciliation talks were going on. The workers, however, ignored the order of the High Court.
On 30 March, 2003 The National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation advertised through newspapers that it would provide loans at minimum rates of interest to Scheduled Caste (SC) entrepreneurs for all types of projects of self-employment. The interest rates were from 5 to 8 percent. This was to console them.
With regard to privatization, a Union Minister on 1 April, 2003 said, “In India anybody could block anything at any time”. He said that the general lesson learnt from the process of disinvestments was that there was a need for governance in India. The message was that the Prime Minister was not ready to trust anyone in the Cabinet. This conveyed the impression that the letter No. 18 dated 19-2-2003, in combination with earlier letters, effectively blocked the privatization process. Therefore, no letters were sent during this time.
The President on 5 April 2003 said, “We should not forget the historic role played by the PSUs in the post independence era. We have drawn our economic and industrial strength from the shop floors of these PSUs. As many industrial complexes are in the red due to the absence of technology up gradation, proactive measures must be taken for their resurrection. In many areas like hospitals and computers, large parts of equipments are being imported. Very few are being manufactured here and the industrial growth is ‘crawling upwards’. Therefore, the PSUs should work together and help one another to achieve world class manufacturing facilities in India. Technology and knowledge should play an important role in value addition to our core competence of natural and human resources, a must for achieving our vision of 2020”.
The above speech was a reflection of letter No.3 and other letters. This clearly showed that the President of India accepted the views of this writer.
On 5 April, 2003 a Union Minister said that power had eroded the credibility of the party. On the same day, a Chairman of a private Information Technology Company said that it took years of efforts to build trust, but only a few acts to destroy. Once broken, it would be even harder to rebuild it. He wanted the leaders to create a culture of values. He said that true leadership would allow the people to experience these values. He pointed out that developments in the past one year in the form of financial and business scandals had caused losses of astronomical proportions, which far out weighed the losses owing to incidents following 9/11, and therefore there could not be any leadership without values”. The effects of the above letters could be gauged.
It must be noted that no financial scandals surfaced during the last one year to the knowledge of the public, as the people were not aware of the work of this writer. However, the above Chairman must have been aware of this work.
In the mean time, the Parliament panel opposed the disinvestments of fertilizer PSUs to prevent ‘monopolistic evils in the industry. Such reports come out only with the permission of the Prime Minister. Therefore, the Prime Minister of India, due to these letters, might have secretly requested him to oppose the disinvestments of fertilizer PSUs.
The Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 9 April, 2003 demanded the Government to make public files and noting relating to the limited mobility issue. The Government said that it had reservations about showing internal noting to business rivals. The Government compared the noting to defense contracts. The tribunal said that in the telecom sector, the Government had no enemy nations to contend with. It had no business rivals either. As such the Government must maintain neutrality. Therefore, the tribunal demanded the Government to bring the documents to justify its actions.
The newspapers now said that sensible economic reforms had ended. They deplored that the Congress too was flirting with “neo-socialism” and harkening back to its policies of the 1970s that brought India to fiscal ruin. They lamented that the BJP too would postpone decisions due to the impending election. They were shocked to note that everything from starvation deaths to poor health was attributed to the reform process although nothing impeded the state from distributing its food stock or spending more on health. They agreed that the reformers failed to win the battle of ideas in the Indian literate public sphere as the Left economists were far more active in courting the public than the reformers. According to them a nervous middle class, risk-averse politicians, reluctant economists, and a politics that refused to engage with the intricacies of a complex economy were conspiring to take the reforms off the agenda. They concluded that India was set to acquiesce in the status quo than thinking about the future.
It is obvious from the above, that the news media accepted defeat in its attempt to brainwash everyone in India and that the Government had abandoned the policy of privatization. One could also discern that the newspapers were aware of the contents of the letters sent by this writer.
Surprisingly, even at this stage, some newspapers reported that the Government began the process of selling 74 per cent of shares in Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC).
On 14 April, 2003 a Supreme Court Bench issued notice to the Centre on a petition from the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). The CPIL assailed the decision of the Government to privatize the BPCL and the HPCL on the ground that the decision had been taken without the approval of Parliament.
Further, the newspapers reported on 15 April, 2003 that the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments(CCD) would discuss, among other things, relaxation of bidding norms for the public sector Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to woo foreign bidders while taking the AI and the IA off the disinvestments list. Apparently, the stakes wanted to sell the SCI to foreigners to slash huge commission. Alternatively, a foreigner, presumably a NRI, was poaching for the SCI. What ever happened, the stakes in India expressed their inability to buy the SCI. The utter confusion prevailing then could be easily discerned. Further, the papers reported that the CCD would consider the question of privatizing six other PSUs.
As reported, the CCD withdrew the AI and the IA from the disinvestments process. Besides, the CCD decided to cancel the process for ten more PSUs the names of which were not given. Curiously, the CCD decided to restart the privatization of the SCI by raising the FDI ceiling to 51 percent. The lukewarm response to the sale had been attributed to the 25 percent ceiling on the FDI. Further, the CCD decided to reduce the Government equity in the PSU from 92.5 percent to 51 percent through the so-called strategic sale. Furthermore, the CCD cleared a package of concessions to the State Governments to sell the public sector Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) hotels.
In this connection, it must be noted that the CCD had taken a decision to remove the SCI from the disinvestments list on 2 January, 2003. Therefore, removing the IA and the AI from the disinvestments list and restarting the privatization of the SCI could have been due to the fear that the Government would not last without the support of the media and therefore the stakes. Further, the Government might have wanted to control the stock prices. However, one could discern that a Union Minister was stumbling for words to report the decision. Apparently, the Prime Minister was not cooperating with that Minister in the matter of privatization.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet had preceded the meeting of the CCD. A Union Minister pointed out that the Cabinet discussed for more than three hours his proposal to waive a year’s interest on crop loans to provide relief to farmers badly hit by drought. Even after that, the Cabinet “passed the buck” to the Prime Minister who later announced a 20 per cent waiver. Similarly, the Government released Re 3000 crore for the worst ever drought since independence after propounding funny arguments. But the Government sanctioned Re.13500 crore to bail out investors in the UTI schemes without hesitation. He added that car loans were given at 8.5 percent interest but tractor loans were given at 14 per cent interest. The media admonished him for revealing such things to the public while functioning as a Union Minister.
Again the stakes enforced a Cabinet meeting on 23 April, 2003 to discuss the privatization of some PSUs. This report was baffling because the proposals sought to reverse certain earlier decisions taken by the Cabinet. The report showed that a lobby was relentlessly working to promote privatization through the backdoor and that it was looking for an opportunity to take a decision in favour of privatization by bypassing some members of the Cabinet.
As reported, a Cabinet meeting took place on 23 April. But the meeting ended in disarray. This showed that the agenda came before the Cabinet without the direction, permission or consent from the Prime Minister. Evidently, a parallel administration was functioning under a powerful section of the bureaucracy to the discomfiture of the Prime Minister and to the danger of the society.
The April 24 issues of the newspapers did not report anything about what happened in the April 23 Cabinet meeting. However, they condemned the inability of the Government to take decisions. The important points they mentioned were:
The Government appeared as a reform minded entity. However, when it ‘came to the crunch, it suffered from a bad case of nerves’.
‘A notorious history was repeated all over again on Wednesday as the Cabinet failed to increase the FDI in several sectors including telecom, civil aviation and petroleum’.
‘The Cabinet suffered from a fatal flaw of indecision’.
‘The Government was not prepared to stand by its commitments’.
‘It was too-easily influenced by various lobbies’.
‘It trimmed its political vision to suit the political moment’.
‘Why should the Government bring the issue before the Cabinet, if a view on it was not evolved?’
‘The stalling had become so embedded in the political system, that a span of 30 days would make no difference’.
All other newspapers came out with similar editorials. The title of the editorial of one daily was, “Wednesday Massacre”.
On the other hand, some editorials conveyed the impression that Government had abandoned the privatization process because of the impending election. It appeared that some members of the BJP belonging to the backward and the scheduled communities began to express their discontentment over privatization. This writer felt that the Prime Minister was very reasonable and magnanimous and as such he would not allow the stakes to dictate terms to him. Naturally, this writer felt that no more letters would be needed.
As the Government, apparently abandoned privatization, the opposition parties became vociferous. They, in Parliament condemned the Government for surreptitiously going ahead with the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL without informing the Parliament. Some members of the Congress party went to the well of the House and sought a categorical assurance from the Government that it would not privatize the HPCL and the BPCL. They contended that over 300 members were opposed to the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL and that it would be an insult to the Parliament if the Government failed to act in tune with the stand of the Parliament.
The newspapers admonished the Congress party for not supporting the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL. The salient points were:
*Some members of Congress party behaved like habitual opposition leaders.
*The Congress party should not forget that it was the ruling party in many states.
* The Congress party should not have allowed traditional backbenchers to hijack the party on crucial economic policy issues on the floor of the House.
*The stand taken by the Congress party on the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL was nothing but irresponsible.
*The Congress Prime Ministers never allowed Parliament to perform the functions of the executive. As such, the Congress party should not have changed the rules of the game.
*The solicitor-general had given the opinion that the Parliament need not be taken into confidence before privatizing the oil PSUs.
*The Congress ruled states had privatized PSUs without seeking permission from the legislatures.
*The petroleum retailing was not connected with national security.
*There were neither security issues nor issues of principle or Parliamentary privilege involved in the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL.
* Congress party should have allowed its better-informed leaders to define policy on economic matters.
*The tactic of opposing while in opposition what was proposed when in Government would not do any justice to the nature of a national party.
*The Congress party had every right to air its differences at party forums. However, when articulating its views in Parliament, it must show consistency and responsibility as rabble-rousing would do little for the image of the Congress.
The above reports clearly showed that the news media was trying to distinguish the views of some Congress Members of Parliament from the views of its leaders. It was also apparent that the media was confident of wooing the frontline leaders of the Congress party for its privatization policy. The media described them as better informed leaders. The attempt to cajole the Congress leaders also could be noticed.
The print media was very stubborn in the privatization of the BPCL and the HPCL because the corporate houses felt that these two companies would sustain their growth and development by the subtle manipulation of the prices of petroleum products. In fact, at least one daily confessed that the industry, just like the Government, was short of funds.
The President of India on 26 April, 2003 said, “India must be rescued from corruption. If we cannot make India corruption free, the dream of making India a developed nation by 2020 could not be achieved. Awareness of the people is rising round. They demand probity in public life. They now demand a clean and corruption free public life. In fact, conduct and behaviour in public life are, like never before, under very close scrutiny. Therefore, it is essential that the three pillars of democracy-Legislature, Judiciary and Executive- are strong in structure, pure in form and uncorrupted and unblemished in conduct. It is imperative that the members of the judiciary must become inviolable role models, the perfect incorruptible ideals of a civilized society. I request the Judiciary to start a movement to make India a corruption free country. It could be similar to the one started by our forefathers to free India from foreign rule.
Further, the Judiciary has a duty to defend the rights of our people.” The Prime Minister, as if to give a reply to the President, in a mild tone said that he was being scrutinized by his colleagues.
Not withstanding such developments, the newspapers said that the Shipping Corporation India (SCI) would be sold immediately. On the next day, i.e. on 8 May, 2003 the Prime Minister called on the President. The meeting lasted 40 minutes. Then the Prime Minister said that there could be differences of opinion but that should not develop into personal grudge.
A report of the CAG showed that telecom equipment worth Re.hundreds of crore were lying unutilized. It pointed out that faulty equipment passed quality tests and orders were placed without any justification. The report also showed that purchases of several kinds of equipments were decentralized in the recent past and as a result mini-scams had proliferated all over the country. Just four checks in different parts of the country showed that equipments for nearly Re. 100 crore were lying unutilized.
The newspapers now reported that 11 million investors had lost more than Re. 10,000/- crore through fake companies. The report said that 2750 of the 5651 listed companies of the Bombay Stock Exchange had disappeared after collecting Re. thousands of crore. The papers narrated the story of an individual who hived off more than Re. 3000 crore by exploiting more than 24-lakh investors. The reason for reporting this long after the event remained unknown. This writer too pointed out this on 3 January, 2001.
On 27 May, 2003 the newspapers moaned that the corporate houses were not benefiting from the cheaper interest rates mainly due to the reluctance on the part of the bankers to meet the fiscal demands of the industry. However, with regard to the stock prices, the papers said that the PSU share prices remained in the forefront due to optimistic developments in the disinvestments front. The reason for the optimism was not known to anyone.
India, on 2 June, 2003 decided to stop taking bilateral aid from most of the countries except the US, UK, Japan, Germany, European Commission and Russian Federation. A decision was also taken to prepay Re. 7490 crore worth of external debt from 14 countries including Canada, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during 2003-2004. The decisions were due to the ballooning foreign exchange reserves of over $ 80 billion. Within a few days on 7 June, 2003 India decided to write off Re. 95 crore debts of poor countries. They were: Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Guyana, Nicaragua, Ghana and Uganda.
19
“ACT ARIGHT”
The Indian TV on all on a sudden announced the decision of the Union Government to sell 25% shares of Maruthi Udyog Limited (MUL) to the pubic through the Initial Public Offer (IPO) route. The Government said that the rest of the shares in the hands of the Government (20%) would be sold after a lock in period of one year. The sale was slated to start from 12 June, 2003 on the “roads” of Mumbai and Delhi. The public sector TV channel also announced that the privatization of Shipping Corporation India (SCI) would be completed within a span of 4 months. The announcement came as soon as the Prime Minister told the stage-managed reporters at Berlin that reforms would not be pushed through but introduced through a process of consensus only.
On 4 May, 2003 there were reports that that few companies submitted their willingness to buy the SCI. The public sector TV channel further reported that the privatization programme of the BPCL, Nalco and a few other PSUs would start immediately.
In order to justify the sale, the newspapers said that the Prime Minister successfully settled the differences between the Union Ministers.
As the Government did not do anything concretely, no letters were sent for three months. However, as the sale of the SCI appeared imminent, one more letter was sent to His Excellency the President of India. Naturally, it was a hard-hitting letter because the letter clearly stated that the President had no moral or constitutional right to harbour anyone connected with the manipulations in the Presidential Palace. Similarly, the letter clearly stated that the President of India also suffered from such limitations. Further, the letter emphasized the problems faced by the so-called “creamy layer”. This was the letter No.19. The letter was sent by email on 5 June, 2003. The letter follows.
5 June 2003
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu P.O. 629167. E-mail: sabarimuthu @ rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India must do justice to the papers before him.
1. President of India need not obey anyone. In fact, none shall obey anyone. However, the President must be “Rational”. The President must read aright and take his own decision for the nation. In order to pre-empt cloning of judgements to the extent possible, the President was requested to ensure heterogeneity while constituting Benches. People do not know what the President did in this crucial matter.
2. The President was requested to use his good offices to open the doors of the Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT-s) and Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) to the Other Backward Communities (OBCs) and others through reservation. Similarly, the so-called creamy layer of the OBCs could in no way compete with the creamy layer of the Forward Communities (FCs). Therefore, a separate reservation- even if it is 1%- is required for the creamy layer of the OBCs although it is desirable to transform “creamy layer” into second-generation category. Each State and all communities in every State must get proportionate number of seats, particularly when large numbers of seats are at stake. The President could have done fruitful service in this matter.
3. Even in the sale of minority shares of companies, the President must have ensured equitable distribution of shares among all States and among the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs), OBCs, FCs and minorities through reservation. Selling the shares to the foreigners is also akin to selling them to the forward communities. Apart from the fact that the value of shares is a function of the subsidy extended by the PSUs like the LIC to sustain share prices, throwing the shares of companies on the roads of Mumbai and Delhi that too against black money and bank money is forbidden by the Constitution. President could have effectively pointed out that a written Constitution limits governmental powers.
4. Defying the President, the Chief Justice of India said that merit could not be sacrificed in the appointment of four judges to the Supreme Court. As the appointments were perverted by private interests, the President, on 28 November, 1998, said that judges were not ‘superhuman’. Truly, judges even refuse to receive letters from the people. On 5 December, 1998, the former President openly said, “Social philosophy could not be separated from the social origin of those who dispense justice. It has to be said that those who live differently think differently”. Obviously, the same ‘merit’ is playing havoc to the nation. The intuition of the former President to detect viciousness must be noticed.
5. When the Supreme Court acted contrary to the trust reposed in it, the former President went there. One more visit by the new President to take back the lost PSUs would have forced the judges to review the judgement on the BALCO through the aid of a larger Bench with adequate heterogeneity. Instead, the President is calling on students. The media syndicate highlights this alone to trivialize the Presidency.
6. A former Chief Justice has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by the new President without a murmur. As expected, the victim of a human rights violation by an IPS officer did not get - despite several letters to the President - even the right to apply for a passport. Further, this writer had pointed out, in vain, the threat to his life to the President.
7. When a late Union Minister addressed a letter to the then President, the latter immediately sent a reply in the form of acknowledgement. In fact, all Presidents must be broad minded enough to send a reply- at least through his officers- to the weakest of the weak. The present President tells the children that he would send a reply within three days although he has not sent a reply for 18 letters. Will any President act like this? Will it do well to anyone?
8. The media syndicate is deceitfully transforming private interests into public interests. It is now blacking out what the President shares with the Government. During the Presidential election the newspapers said that “the nation had been let down by the political leaders”. On 17 June, 2002 they said that the Republic lost by choosing the present President. Now, they have nothing against the President because no controversy would be in the interest of the stakes.
9. Several illegalities affecting all sections of people were pointed out to the President, the Director, CBI and the learned judges of the Supreme Court. Apparently, none has taken any action. Therefore, it must be very reluctantly said that if an individual had illegally taken Re. 845 crore from Bank of India to buy a PSU, all right thinking people would think that the President has no moral or constitutional right to harbour anyone connected with this deal- including some learned judges of the Supreme Court- in the Presidential Palace. On the other hand, if the silence or inaction of the President were helping the Government, the CBI or the learned judges of the Supreme Court to cover up this deal from the people, they would think that the President too forfeits the moral and Constitutional right to enter the Presidential Palace. The feeling that the people of India are too poor, ignorant and helpless to harbour such a President in the Presidential Palace should not occur in the mind of the people.
10. In his address to the nation from the Central Hall of Parliament on 15 August, 1998 the former President said, “ Public office was regarded as a sacred space. Today it is regarded by an increasing number of welders of it, as an opportunity to strike gold, and enjoy the loves and fishes of power. A cynicism prevails in the public mind about politics and the administration…” The people in the nook and corner of India failed to understand the reason why the President used such harsh words in Parliament. In fact, none ever used such ruthless words against any system. Now, one cannot but marvel at his premonition, duty consciousness, innocence, selflessness, rectitude and open mind.
Various State Governments are denying lawful salary and pension benefits mainly because of the policy of the Union Government, which gives the money to the UTI in the name of bail out package. An alert President would consider the question of forgoing part of his salary until the last employee gets his full salary. In such a situation –according to Plato- the power should remain in the hands of those who “act aright”. The President could not be an exception to it. Therefore, the President too must consider the question of doing justice to the papers before him.
Yours truly
V. SABARIMUTHU.
The letter was sent through email at 10 P.M on 5-6-2003. This letter had an electrifying effect on the Prime Minister and the top leaders of the ruling coalition. An important Union Minister had to postpone his 11-day foreign tour by one day. News medium, as usual, blacked out everything that went behind the curtain. The copies of the letter were sent to some important leaders immediately.
The media syndicate blacked out the actual reason for the delayed departure of the Union Minister and portrayed this as a fight between him and the Prime Minister. People could not understand what was going on in Delhi. An exasperated leader of the Congress party said that when a premier expressed his private pique publicly, it became the property of the nation. The leader added that it was unbecoming for the Prime Minister to go into public sulk and requested him to put an end to this circus and try to come to terms with the job he was elected to do. Obviously, the leader was unaware of the developments. The media, however, concocted a story and portrayed that the Prime Minister was angry because some Ministers were demanding money for transfers.
In this connection, it must be stated that what transpired between the President and the Prime Minister was not known to anyone. However, it was obvious that the President transmitted the letter immediately to the Prime Minister with a stern note endorsing the views of this writer. Now the Government decided to put the details of all forthcoming tenders of the BSNL on the website to ensure transparency. There were reports that the Government further decided to decentralize purchasing.
Now the President of India addressing a meeting of the teachers said, “Knowledge should not be for “knowledge sake”; it should contribute to the economic growth and enhancement of the society. What is the knowledge you have provided for enhancing the economic growth of the state? Are you having sufficient autonomy so that you are empowered to do things that you think are appropriate? Other than rigorous routine of teaching and examinations, do you have any special mission which you are cherishing but not in a position to deploy? The teachers are the role models of the students. You are creating India. Problems will be there; you should demand what you want”.
Now, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State went to Delhi to finalize the plan document. The Planning Commission gave the entire Re. 7000 crore sought by him. Further, the Chief Minister accepted the demand of the employees to give full gratuity in cash. Earlier, the Government had issued a Government Order (G.O.) to give 50% of the pension benefits in cash and the rest as bond. In Kerala State, the Chief Minister accepted all demands of the employees even without calling them for talks. As the Union Government gave a huge amount to the UTI, it could not turn down the demands of the Chief Ministers. How the nature of the economy changes could be discerned.
On 19 June, 2003 the President, during his interaction with the members of the teaching faculty of a University, said, “Teachers must develop in students the capacity for research and inquiry; capacity for creativity and innovation; capacity to use high technology, capacity for entrepreneurial leadership; and creativity and moral leadership. These five capabilities are central for economic development and nation building. Through this, we can produce autonomous leaders, which democracy requires. Any teacher who is an embodiment of these five qualities would fit the description of a “role model”. It is only role models who can help others face failure.”
Talking to students, he exhorted them not to be disheartened by failures. Apparently, the President was encouraging this writer to write more letters. .
The initial public offer (IPO), of the Maruthi Udyog Ltd (MUL) was oversubscribed nearly 146 percent within three hours of the opening of the offer. The papers reported that many banks gave loans to retail investors so that they could subscribe to Maruthi shares. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), earlier had permitted the banks to lend money to individuals to buy shares. This had been done to cover up the deal by Bank of India.
The media syndicate wanted the Government to go the Maruthi way on the BPCL. They suggested the strategic sale –cum-IPO route rather than the planned IPO route. They said that the latter would only serve the manipulators. Finally, the IPO was oversubscribed by 9.03 times. The Government approved a price of Re. 125/- per share.
The media syndicate described the over subscription level as overwhelming and that the investors had money. Obviously, the money in the public sector banks transformed itself into the money of the investors. The media syndicate, therefore, wanted the immediate privatization of the BPCL and the Nalco (also called NALCO) through similar methods.
On 30 June, 2003 the copy of the above letter was sent to some political leaders.
The public sector ONGC showed a profit of Re. 10,529.2 crore during 2002-2003. Other oil companies and the PSUs also recorded huge profits. The newspaper disclosed that as many as 100 IPOs were in the pipeline to raise a phenomenal Re.22,000 crore.
20
AN ETHICAL INSTITUTION
On 5 July, 2003 the newspapers reported that the Government was re-working on economic agenda. They said that contentious issues, for the moment, were on the backburner. However, some newspapers reported that the privatization of the airports and the BSNL were on the anvil. The sequence of events showed that the Government was deceitfully going ahead with its privatization plans.
Now, the Government of Tamil Nadu State dismissed about two lakh employees for striking work. The employees were demanding, among other things, restoration of pension benefits. All those who participated in processions and public meetings in connection with their demands were arrested and imprisoned. The employees watching the processions were also identified and arrested. The employees loitering on the roadside were arrested and imprisoned as if they were the real enemies of the public. Even the women employees were sent to jail. One or two of them died everyday due to shock. New hands were recruited to manage day–to-day work. The public, as usual, supported the Government in this matter. “With which money the Government would pay salary to the employees?” they asked. The public, in fact, believed that the striking employees would lose their jobs and loiter in the streets.
It appeared that the Government of Tamil Nadu State wanted to show to all others that the public could be turned against the employees and the privatization could be carried out as planned. As a Bench in the High Court, Chennai was hearing the dismissal case; the letter No. 20 was sent through email on 8 July, 2003 at 10.30 P.M. to His Excellency the President of India. The letter did not mention anything related to the strike or the matters before the Court. However, anyone could discern that the letter reflected the feeling and agony of the employees. The letter follows.
8 July, 2003
From
V. SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam, Vellicode
Mulagumoodu PIN. 629167. E-mail: sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace, New Delhi.
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the brief history of the conversion of public property into private property in India in the name of privatization.
1. During 1990s, the stakes decided to usurp the PSUs. As the word “privatization” is anathema to the people, they coined the word reform to mean privatization. The newspapers acknowledged this on 14 December, 2002. They set up “Think Tanks” and advertising agencies. They enlisted the full support of the news media including the public sector TV channel to create a wave of public opinion in favour of privatization. Tutored questions were asked to the leaders and some leaders began to give tutored answers. They censored every news and views. Even now, they work like a mafia gang. They have ready-made solutions to the agitation by trade unions and to contain the Parliament. Their disservice is such that a Government that tortures the employees would get a thumbing majority in the elections.
2. In the initial stages, the stakes disseminated the view that by selling 49 percent of the shares of the PSUs, the Government could retain their identity and at the same time, it could garner huge amount of money for developmental programmes. People measured this as a novel idea. People believed that a broker was the originator of this idea. They exploited the break down of the then USSR and the changes in China to carry home their point of view. They manipulated the banks and the stock exchange to siphon off Re. thousands of crore to other countries. One broker boy alone could transact more than Re. 2.7 lakh crore in one year. This was more than the amount transacted by all the States in India put together! In the absence of these manipulations, India would have remained, as the fastest growing economy in the world during the last ten years is another matter.
3. The stakes then ensured the support of the political leaders in all political parties. At times, they tried to split political parties or to infiltrate the political parties with their own men. All latent supporters of privatization were depicted as intelligent people worthy of adulation and deification. They even described them as honest, sincere and dedicated crusaders. Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) was introduced to hand over trimmed PSUs. Banking Service Recruitment Commission was abolished. The manipulators sent their men to all PSUs for the so-called due diligence exercise. Men were detailed even to the Aavadi Tank Factory. The PSUs were made to shelve all their expansion plans. This conveyed the message that the privatization of all PSUs was imminent.
4. As the privatization could not be carried out without circumventing the Constitution, the stakes appointed a number of committed judges through a series of culpable maneuvers in the High Courts and in the Supreme Court and at one stage the Supreme Court collegiums comprised mainly the nominees of the stakes. This practice continued until December 1998. Then they placed their men in all key positions against suitable favours from the Government and from the stakes. A former judge of the Supreme Court did talk about the racial discrimination practiced by the Supreme Court. However, he too could be silenced by offering a placement.
5. The stakes successfully destabilized the United Front Government.
6. When the present NDA Government assumed power, several Cabinet Committees were ingeniously constituted. Thus, the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments (CCD) was filled with chosen men and no Cabinet reshuffle could alter its composition. All right thinking people smelt a rat in it.
The media then succeeded in diverting the attention of the people from the dominant theme. Further, the stakes on 24 October, 2002 said through their newspapers that “no dirt would be allowed to stick” against the Prime Minister and they proved it tellingly.
7. As it is the duty of the people to make their Government fat and virtuous, 10 concrete suggestions were sent to the Prime Minister on 1 June, 2001. Though the Government took several positive measures, things began to move insidiously and this “carried within itself the seeds of its own destruction”. Thus, the Re. 845 crore deal of Bank of India, and the sale of some PSUs to charge sheeted companies crippled the privatization programme. If these deals had not been pin pointed, all the PSUs including nationalized banks, LIC, AI, IA, SAIL, ONGC, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL, BSNL, MTNL, SCI, and the NALCO would have by now gone in their hands.
The shares of the Maruthi were sold first to the Japanese promoter and then through the IPO route in a hurry, as its retrieval would make it sick.
The Governor, RBI, had issued a guideline to the banks to lend money to buy shares. This was done to cover up the deal by an individual. Some people must have utilized this guideline to buy the shares of Maruthi. Thus within 3 hours Re. 800 crore were collected. Within four days, the amount became Re. 8000 crore! In sharp contrast, despite a court order, the Government of Bihar could not garner Re. 50 crore in three months to pay to its employees! Now, despite 19 letters, there is a move to privatize airports and the PSUs like the BSNL with vengeance. This proves that “where the Prince is virtuous laws are unnecessary; where the Prince is not virtuous laws are useless”.
8. The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found an IPS officer “specifically responsible” for illegal detention and false implication. The victim never got real relief, as the system is immune to pain. In fact, the toiling mass starves and perishes in jails and those who rule vie with one another to present a pleasant picture.
9. During 1980s, the Supreme Court decried the back door nationalization. In 2000, it allowed back door privatization. The people believed that the Court “in bad faith” turned private interest into public good. People believed that “the court was preying in secret to all the passions which in public it denies”. The BoI deal to convert a PSU into private property was pointed out to 22 learned judges of the Supreme Court on 3 February 2002. Some of them must have demanded action taken report from the CBI. As none was punished, the system proved that “justice is simply the interest of the stronger” and the “State exists to secure the largest possible private good” and greatest possible political advantage. At the same time, a Court at Nagercoil sentenced a Village Officer for one-year rigorous imprisonment for accepting Re.500/- as bribe! The decision was quick. However, several big cases are remaining as rigmaroles. Thus “while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. This perhaps prompted the President on 22 July, 2002 to say to the Members of Parliament that there must be a limit for committing mistakes.
The learned judges of the Supreme Court must be “Supremely men”. They must be “noblest of natures, the most rational souls, quick to understand, eager to know, of great intellectual power, indifferent to external goods, courageous, self-controlled and a friend and Kinsman of truth and justice”.
10. The President must have noticed that in a year when the 12 oil PSUs got Re. 22,000/- crore profit, the Union Government gave Re. 1100 crore as subsidy to them. The CBI must have told the real reason to the President. Further, while the Union Government sits on a mountain of profit, the employees languish without salary and pension benefits. It is said, “even tyrants must be resisted with respect”. However, “the right to think one’s own thoughts, the right to speak them publicly, the right to act according to conscience so far as the welfare of others allows are the most precious of rights”. A strong allegation against any system, unless otherwise immediately denied, becomes a national property. Through the refusal to disclose it, great damage has already been done on the system. Now “the only safeguard against abuse of power lies in the character and mind of those who exercise it” particularly the President of India. Thus, the President now stands between emancipation and total enslavement. Therefore, the President must consider the question of disclosing the truth in the interest of the whole to prove the point that the “State is an ethical institution with a moral end”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
The letter, as usual, had an electrifying effect. There was no direct evidence to show that the President transmitted the letter to the Chief Justice of India or to the Chief Justice of High Court, Chennai. However, apparently, the letter reached the hands of the Chief Justice of High Court, Chennai at 3 P.M. on 9 July, 2003 either directly from the President of India or through the Chief Justice of India. This could be discerned from the fact that the Chief Justice, who was twisting the case in so many ways to the disadvantage of the employees, suddenly asked the advocates of the petitioners to give arguments as a written statement, reserved the judgement and left the Bench. His Excellency the President of India was very sensitive and duty conscious in this matter presumably because he had been a public servant before becoming the President of India.
Immediately the State Government sent four of its Cabinet Ministers to New Delhi. They returned empty handed.
Therefore, the learned judges were constrained to give a judgement in favour of the employees. Due to intense consultations, the judgement was delivered on 10 July, 2003 at 8 P.M. only. In order to console the Government the Bench upheld the dismissal orders. At the same time, the Bench permitted the employees to join duty after giving an explanation to the respective appointing authorities. The Bench directed the Government to finish all appeals before the one man Tribunal within one month. The Bench further directed the Government to release all the arrested teachers and employees before 12 A.M. on the next day. Earlier, the State Government had seized all Attendance Registers from all schools, colleges and offices. The Government had to cut a sorry figure as it had to return everything as a consequence of the judgement. Thus, this work thwarted the attempt of the Government to hand down an unjust punishment to the employees. However, the people were not conscious of this work.
The stipulation of one month gave a chance the Government to torture the employees. In fact, the Government continued with suspension and dismissals again. Therefore, some interested parties went to the Supreme Court. There was considerable speculation about the nature and composition of the Bench. Finally, the Bench constituted was biased in favour of the employees. As the case was a very serious one, this writer sent the copies of the letter No.20 to all the Judges of the Supreme Court on 14 July, 2003. The Bench declared the dismissals illegal. However, as the punishment awarded was very harsh, it asked the Government of Tamil Nadu State to reinstate all employees forthwith after obtaining an apology from each employee. The apology letter was demanded because the Constitution - according to the Court - did not confer any right to any employee to strike work. However, as all employees were not reinstated immediately on various grounds, 52 more employees died of shock and starvation.
Further, a full Cabinet meeting was held on 10 July, 2003 presumably to annul the importance of the above letter. At the instance of the manipulators, the Cabinet again decided to privatize several PSUs including the Nalco. However, within five days, the Prime Minister said, the Nalco would not be privatized for the present. The newspapers described this as “Nalco blip”. They wanted the Prime Minister to boost the capital market through the rejuvenation of the privatization programme. They further demanded the Prime Minister to pursue vigorously the privatization programme to end the patronage kingdom of Government officials and non- working employees.
In the meantime, there were reports that the RBI Governor, decided to resign from his post and in his place a retired IAS officer was to be posted. It was a highly positive decision because this conveyed the impression that the Re.845 crore deal of the BoI took place without the knowledge of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister of India taking actions in deference to the letters of a common man must be commended.
The President, during his visit to the U.P.State on 12 August, 2003 exhorted the students to start a second freedom struggle.
On 22 August ,2003 the President went to the Supreme Court, met the Chief Justice and other judges, and exchanged views on several important legal issues. The meeting lasted for nearly an hour. Apparently, something was burning in New Delhi.
21
“STAKECOCRACY”
On 29 August 2003, the newspapers reported that a private company would buy the HPCL, a public sector oil company, within days. In fact, the officials from the company visited the data room of the HPCL in New Delhi for scrutiny of company books. The above development prompted this writer to send the letter No.21 dated 28- 8-2003 to the President. The letter showed how the news medium twisted the facts to their own selfish ends. The letter conveyed the message that Indians have no political freedom. The word “stakecocracy” was coined to explain the situation. The letter follows.
28 August 2003
From
V. SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, INDIA. PIN: 629167.E.mail: sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi.
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why India is not a ‘Democracy’ but a ‘Stakecocracy’
1. The President of India on 12 August, 2003 exhorted the students to launch the second freedom struggle. Apparently, the President was expressing his helplessness to the papers before him. However, most of the newspapers did not publish it.
When the Spartan mother who, on rushing to the runner to ask news of the battle and being told of the death of her five sons, answered, “Vile slave, was it this I asked thee?” The reason for her outburst was that she was not given the expected news. Now, in India, the stakes have issued orders not to give the expected news- even the words of the President of India. The public sector TV channel also obeys this. This has the effect of “trampling freedom and laughing at rights” because “the people is never corrupted; but is often deceived”.
2. It was submitted to the President and many learned judges of the Supreme Court that privatization was diametrically opposed to socialism and as such, an amendment to the Constitution was needed to sell the PSUs to private parties. However, the “you sold, I sell” policy still prevails in private interest.
3. It was pointed out, in vain, to the President of India, that the privatized PSUs went in the hands of people belonging to forward communities offending Article 15 of the Constitution.
4. A suggestion to split the financial institutions was ignored. As a result, the UTI became bankrupt and later, it was split into two. Now, the banks and the LIC are in great trouble. They must be split and made into state level units so that the bankruptcy in one or two units would save many other units. The LIC allured the people all over India assuring three fold and four fold incomes to the policyholders. All their monies would vanish if the LIC were not split immediately. All the private insurance companies also must be nationalized, split into state level units and handed over to the states as the monies disappear through these companies. In this way, the Union Government and the Supreme Court could partially ensure lawful wages and pension to the employees and prevent the economic deprivation of the rural people. This suggestion is for the “general good” although the stakes would never agree.
In this connection, it must be noted that the states are not paying salaries and pension benefits promptly due to lack of funds. The crisis is obvious.
5. When a stake (X) took Re. 850/-crore from the Bank of India (BoI) no one murmured because the X is a big employer and a great income generator. A letter was written only when the X utilized the money to buy a PSU. Why did not the Government take the money from the BoI and retain the PSU? The answer is simple. The Union Government is simply the governing wing of the X.
Accession to power places a great limitation on one’s friends and relatives because someone in some place would attribute the wealth to those in power. In the above case, it is not clear whether the X acquired the wealth through the aid of those in power or not.
6. It was pointed out that another stake (Y) was disqualified from bidding any PSUs by the Union Cabinet. Yet, a PSU was handed over to it. This was immoral if not unconstitutional. The learned judges know that “when the nation acts immorally it is denying itself and is no true nation”.
Similarly, when the bulk buying in the BSNL was mentioned, the stakes came out with some stories. When the Re. 1100/- crore subsidy given to the oil companies was raised, no one reacted. This shows that the subsidy also could have been given in private interest. However, the President and the learned judges of the Supreme Court alone know the truth.
7. A man working in a workshop or institution would not spell the name of his master lest it would be construed as an act of ingratitude. Unfortunately, stakes are in a position to make or mar the fortune of anyone in India. For these reasons, the officers of the CBI-instead of maintaining ceaseless vigilance- would retreat on seeing X, Y or any other stakes. The learned judges of the Supreme Court- instead of creating a new India by safeguarding the Constitution- would go on spending their energies to cover up the papers before them. The President of India-instead of protecting the Constitution- would remain silent on etiquette principle. Newspapers-instead of allowing the people to see reason- would suppress the proceedings, if any, against the stakes.
Now, there is a legislation- though unconstitutional- to receive money from the stakes for canvassing purposes. There were reports that the X removed about Re. 1000/- crore from a PSU. Therefore, the X would not hesitate to give 2 to 3 crore to every probable winning candidate. This would continue until the X transfers most of the assets acquired through manipulation to other countries. The tragedy is that “the moment there is a master; there is no longer a sovereign”.
8. 20 letters have been sent. There must be a limit for sending letters. However, this letter No.21 is sent due to supremely national interests as the letters lead to the realization that the Indians have no political independence. Now, as the President expresses his helplessness, the learned judges of Supreme Court could give political independence to the hapless Indians. The learned judges must be endowed with all virtues and talents. They cannot be deceived but corrupted only. They can give political independence to all Indians if they see reason, as “reason is the sovereign of the world”. Further, the learned judges “owe their talents to their country in every way in which they can be serviceable”.
9. In the matter of human rights also the act of “willfully and intentionally” arresting innocent people in their sleep must cease “because public safety is nothing unless individuals enjoy security”.
10. It is said, “so long as the General Will is sovereign it does not matter if the Government were a democracy, aristocracy or monarchy.” ‘Stakecocracy’ introduces a new dimension hitherto unknown to political science. In ‘stakecocracy’ the people would know the Yoke but not the master. The stakes are the “permanent” in the “changing” Governments. As the media is associated with them, they deceive the people and as such, the Will of the stakes would appear as the General Will. The Government exists by collecting taxes but the stakes multiply their assets essentially through manipulations. Thus, the 10 suggestions casually given to the Prime Minister to strengthen the nation on 1 June, 2001 accidentally led to the realization after 20 letters that India is a ‘stakecocracy’ and not a democracy. The letters changed the course of India in the most critical two years in the post independent era although the future alone would tell whether the letters contributed significantly to human knowledge or not.
It must be noted that the inability of the various State Governments to undertake poverty alleviation programmes and to pay salary and pension to its employees is a repercussion of the manipulation of the stakes. A ray of hope is that the leaders committed to selfless service far outweigh the leaders associated with the stakes. If the President were ready to disclose the truth, the people would also see “reason” to create a new India by securing Political Independence-a theme dear to but unknown to Indians.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU.
Curiously, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs met on 31 August, 2003 presumably to discuss the economic aspects of the above letter.
On the eve of the “Teachers Day” on 4 September, 2003 the President made an address to the nation. In that address, he said that the nation depended upon the teachers for progress and development. Further, he said that the teachers must give shape to a new India. On 6 September, 2003 he told the students that hard work and perseverance would bring success to them. He said that they should not be frightened while pursuing their goal. Clearly, it was an indirect message to this writer. A few days later, he talked to the students highlighting righteousness. His speech again showed that he was encouraging this writer to write more. However, the newspapers showed the photograph of an industrialist who was on his way to meet the Union Minister for Finance. On seeing this photo, this writer decided not to mention his matter, “as pressing anything beyond a point would produce opposite effects”. Further, these letters were not for attacking any particular individual directly or indirectly.
Again on 6 September, 2003 a new man became the Governor of the Reserve Bank (RBI) of India for a five-year term. The new Governor said that the RBI believed in continuity. His predecessor had to leave the place presumably because of these letters. The decision to appoint a new Governor must be commended by one and all because men usually cling to great blunders with disastrous consequences. They do this to prove that they were correct in certain points. The action conveyed the message that the BoI deal took place without the knowledge of the Prime Minister. All must commend the Prime Ministers of India taking such positive actions without standing on prestige. The President of India too might have played his constitutional role is another matter.
On 11 September, 2003 the Union Cabinet cleared the privatization of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. The newspapers said that the decision made good a promise made five years ago. They were happy because they succeeded in usurping the airports. However, this decision presumably drove the Prime Minister to think of the premature dissolution of the Parliament. Apparently, he was not prepared to sacrifice his reputation any more. Therefore, the Prime Minister did not implement the above decision.
On the same day, the newspapers said that the Government was not willing to part with any revenue as subsidy to oil companies. Apparently, the Prime Minister did not want to give tribute to any private company in the name of subsidy. It was clear that a section of the bureaucracy was engaged in manipulating the system for the benefit of the stakes and that the files reached the table of the Ministers without their consent or direction. It may be recalled that this writer questioned the Re. 1100/-crore subsidy given to the oil PSUs. None in India other than this writer might have noticed it. The fact that the Prime Minister began to apply brakes on manipulations could be again discerned.
Consistent with the mood of the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court on 16 September halted the privatization of the HPCL and the BPCL. It directed the Government to get the approval of the Parliament before privatizing them. This judgement was a vindication of the facts submitted by this writer. It showed that the learned judges of the Supreme Court were divided and they could no longer be taken for granted. The stakes were shocked by the Judgement.
A Union Minister deplored that the judgement would have far reaching consequences. The newspapers said that “the people who parade as pro poor intellectual were the true culprits”. They were upset because several other PSUs escaped privatization. They wanted the Government to annul the judgement through an ordinance. As the Prime Minister was not convinced, the matter slipped. After all, it was the Prime Minister who had been facing the President for every letter.
In order to satisfy the manipulators, a Union Minister, described the HPCL/BPCL judgement as an obstacle in the path of the Government. He said that one would have to circumvent it or manoeuvre to find a way out. He consoled the stakes by saying that his Government was committed to economic reforms.
Another Union Minister, out of desperation, said that the Government would split the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) into two and sell them to private parties, as an Act of Parliament did not form it. As the Prime Minister, apparently, was not enthusiastic, this plan, which originated from the stakes, also slipped.
Disheartened by the HPCL/BPCL judgement, a retired Supreme Court judge from Kerala State said that the people were entitled to know the truth about the functioning of the judiciary and the other agencies of the Government.
22
HUMAN EXCELLENCE
Now there were new reports that the Government was trying to privatize the public sector oil companies by circumventing the Constitution of India. Therefore, the letter No.22 was written. The learned judges who directed the Government to seek the approval of the Government to privatize the BPCL and the HPCL were commended.
30 September 2003
From
V.Sabarimuthu
Thattankonam
Vellicode,Mulagumoodu, 629167 E.mail : sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India,
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the President of India must allow a Constitution to grow in Indian soil.
1. Though the Airport Authority of India is capable of constructing world-class airports, the Union Cabinet on 11 September, 2003 decided to privatize Delhi and Mumbai airports offending forty-second amendments to the Constitution.
While the first 41 amendments made changes in remote corners of the Constitution, the forty-second amendment changed the Preamble. It is said, “King is not subject to civil laws, although so long as he does not repeal them he is bound by them”.
2. It is disturbing to note that the newspapers on 12 January, 2003 viciously disclosed that a “source” had been secretly poaching to usurp the airports for more than ten years. This was reported to the President on 19 February, 2003. This source has fielded hundreds of writers to “transform selfish interest into public good”. Can the airports be privatized before identifying this “source”? The President, if not the CBI and the learned judges of the Supreme Court, owes an answer to this crucial question. Further, as “corruption and viciousness degenerate men”, this “source” must be identified in public interest.
3. It was submitted to the President that privatization injured Article 15. The President must have also noticed that the absence of reservation for the OBCs in the IITs is doing immense benefit to the people of forward communities. The President must have considered the question of approaching the learned judges of the Supreme Court to know its ramifications because it is said that “hedges are set, not to stop travelers but to keep them in their way”.
4. One individual is sufficient to spoil a PSU. The profits of the public sector BSNL were affected presumably due to the Re.1800/- crore illegal bulk buying. The employees of the BSNL are not aware of this. Instead, the employees say that their employer is not protecting them. They feel that “they owe no obligation to an authority that fails to protect them”. On the contrary, the stakes, using the ill-gotten wealth, say that the fear of stick alone works in India. The remedy is to split most of the PSUs into relatively smaller units. But the stakes would not allow any real “reform” in India.
Further, now it appears that a subsidy of Re.1100/- crore was given in private interest to private parties. In villages, people do not allow anyone to usurp even one cent of Government property. People do this not for their children but for the children of India. Yet, “the distressed in the villages are left to the charity of private persons”.
5. 21 letters have been sent. This letter is necessary because of the new developments. In continuation of the previous letters, a letter was sent to the President on 19 October, 2002. The stakes concealed the existence of these letters. Instead, they talked of annihilation. On the same day, as a concerted effort, “The Hindu” said the people must use decent language. The Hindu put the words “decent language” under inverted coma because the word “decent” was used in the letter addressed to the President on19 October 2002.This must be a non-bail able offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It was informed to the President on 16 November, 2002. “The newspapers are under no man but they are under the law”. The President must have allowed the law to take its own course. However, no step was taken to book the culprits. These national newspapers are the real terrorists in India. All other terrorists are created mainly because of these newspapers. These papers –while claiming truthful reporting- do not allow any good news to reach the people. They do not allow other newspapers to publish it. No publisher in India is prepared to publish anything that reveals the manipulations of the stakes. This amounts to strangulating news and views. Thus, people knew what happened to mankind 2000 years ago. However, a man in India does not know what is happening in India today. Therefore, it is imperative that the President must consider the question of demanding the appropriate authority to take action against these newspapers as per law. The President “must be truthful to himself” in this matter. It is a question of human rights as “Nothing is made for men to spoil or destroy”.
6. In the name of so-called reform, India lost precious last ten years of the 20th century. First three years of 21st century also has been wasted. At this rate, there would be no “industry” on the part of anyone for another 17 years because “force has become virtue”. Therefore, green signal must be given to the PSUs and the private industries to grow rapidly without wasting the precious time in the name of selling or buying the PSUs.
7. Privatization is against 42 nd amendment. It is against Article 15 and many other Articles. Above all, it is against the “Basic Structure” of the Constitution. It takes place covertly and overtly. It bestows benefit for a few for generations. It involves public money. It involves conceit, craftiness, cunningness, wiliness, illegal manipulation, favoritism, concessions and commissions. This affects industry. This creates payment problems to the States. This creates regional imbalances, unemployment and economic deprivation. This has the effect of corrupting the CBI, judiciary and the Presidency. It undermines sovereignty. By this, “India does suffer”.
8. The recent judgement on the HPCL / BPCL is a turning point. The Constitution has been brought on the rails quite ingeniously. This shows that everything in the Supreme Court depends on the nature of the Benches. “Though the field is lost”, the stakes say, “All is not lost”. They now say that the Supreme Court overstepped the limit. They openly described the judgement as a bigot one. The stakes must abandon this policy, part with the privatized PSUs very gladly, start new industries and set the Government, CBI, judiciary and the people free.
9. “The human reasoning is fallible”. If, however, the Constitution was spoiled because of a ten-year plan, it must be probed. Further, the Supreme Court must consider the question of debarring the advocates, if they put forward weak or mock arguments.
10. Now “the fresh critical outlook of the judges and their humanism” has come to the open”. It is said, “The Constitutions are not born of oak and rock but grow out of the characters in each city”. It appears that some learned judges through their Excellence would try to give justice and political independence to Indians because “Human Excellence is equivalent to Justice”. The President must allow it to “grow further in the Indian soil” through his vigilance. Then none would hide anything and justice & truth would prevail.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU.
The newspapers, realizing the predicament of the Government, criticized the proposal of the Government to split the IOC but deceitfully said the Ministry of Petroleum “may confine IOC disinvestments to divesting Government equity of 15 to 20 percent shares”. Obviously, the newspapers were discussing the question of selling the PSUs as if they were their family properties. Therefore, the copies of the letter No 21 and 22 were sent to about 20 judges of the Supreme Court. This was to widen and deepen fissures within the Supreme Court for the benefit of 1000 million people.
Participating in a function, the President of India on 3 October 2003 said, “God has created the human being with brain and thinking faculty. He has commanded his creation that the faculty be used with reasoning to reach his message. This is the mission of human life. Oh Almighty! Create thoughts and actions in the mind of the people of my nation so that they live united. Oh Almighty! Bless my people a path of life with righteousness as righteousness gives strength of character”. The newspapers immediately said that the President broke the protocol as no speeches were arranged. The speech of the President was an indirect tribute to this writer on one side and an advice to the Government on the other side.
Addressing the Members of Parliament on 11 October, 2003 the President said that even students ask questions about corruption. He wanted everyone to tolerate dissent. Then he recited his usual divine message, “Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is a beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation there is peace in the world”. The President was complementing the efforts of this writer in this way.
On the next day, most of the newspapers did not publish his above words at all. In this way, they continued to treat him as a person sitting in jail.
On 18 October, 2003 the newspapers reported that that the Union Government had been forced to defer privatization due to the adverse verdict from the Supreme Court on the HPCL / BPCL case. The Government further said that the verdict would affect 30 privatization related cases in the courts. THUS THE GOVERNMENT ULTIMATELY ACCEPTED DEFEAT. In this connection, it must be noted that no newspaper had earlier reported anything about the existence of these cases in so many courts.
23
HUMAN EXCELLENCE IS PEACE
In spite of the HPCL/BPCL verdict, the newspapers reported that the Government decided to sell its 9.2 percent shares of a public sector company. Therefore, the President of India was requested to take back all the privatized Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Further, he was requested to reveal the truth. The newspapers were also criticized. This was done to dissuade the Government from proceeding with the privatization programme. The letter was consistent with the developments taking place then. The letter follows.
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode
Mulagumoodu. 629167. E. mail : sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India
Rastrapathi Bhavan, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why Human Excellence is Peace.
1. The President of India must have noticed that a former judge of the Supreme Court on 19 October, 2002 justified all the points present in these letters. He could have stopped privatization by directly talking or writing-in good faith- to the learned judges of the Supreme Court.
2. Recently, the former Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), described the Planning Commission as a white elephant as the privatization is in progress. It is clear that the Planning Commission is sitting without any plan in the hope of privatization. He had been functioning as the CVC !
3. In the past, the newspapers portrayed a former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as an immaculate, non-corruptible, honest, straightforward officer. People believed this. Hence, he could sow the seeds of suspicion in the mind of non-corruptible Indians by suggesting various ways for investigating the “Bofors Case”. Recently, he gave a clean chit to a former Prime Minister. Will any man in India now know this? They contradict their own words for manipulation purposes. Thus, the newspapers are the most disruptive forces in India. They revel in death. They relish destruction. In fact, “half the pleasure of the newspapers in the world arises from malignity and manipulations, and little of the other half is free from their encroachments”.
4 Two national newspapers concertedly threatened this writer with elimination. The threat was a specific one and it was never a vague or general comment. Is it good? There is a brain or a syndicate common to several newspapers. The President must allow the law to take its own course “because law is command, it must be the command of a supreme authority. Indeed it is only when such an authority is habitually obeyed; one would admit the existence of a civil society”. “The newspapers would cling to their privilege of absurdity” is another matter.
.5 It was clearly informed to the President of India, that an IPS officer was indicted by the State Human Rights Commission for breaking a house, in bad faith, at night. The victim has not obtained any relief from persecution. The President could have found a remedy for it. Even if the letters had been transmitted to various State Governments, Inspector Generals of Police, the learned judges and other functionaries, such incidents could have been prevented. These are days when police enter the houses at night and kill people at point blank range. The words, stories and even prayers would never bring back the lost souls. Can a President allow it? Is it good? “Men know what is good by intuition”.
6. Due to “the innate and unchangeable selfishness of man,” many PSUs have changed hands. Even now, it is deceitfully going on. It is not a question of absolute equality. However, “social equality-liberty itself- is unlikely to survive long if equality”-an avowed quality of the Constitution- “is treated with too cavalier contempt”. “The legislative will be acting against the trust reposed in them when they endeavour to invade the property of the subject”. Is the President not duty bound to prevent it by citing the Preamble?
7. Further, based on the new judgement and the Constitution, all the privatized PSUs must be restored forthwith. This will restore peace in many areas as it would restore the confidence of the boys in the system. The learned judges of the Supreme Court know that “it is the liberty of ambitious men to pull down well framed constitutions that out of their ruins they may build themselves fortunes”. Yet, they cover it up. Is it good?
8. People all over India donate their hard earned properties for public purposes so that the posterity would be benefited in one way or other. The stakes have several opportunities to flourish. The stakes themselves must realize that they shall not overrun public properties. They must remain happy. They must make the people happy by giving political independence to them. They must make the country sovereign because “it is the hallmark of a sovereign State that nothing it does shall be illegal”. They must make the Members of Parliament (M.Ps) and people sovereign. They must strive for the “greatest happiness of the greatest number”. “Stakecocracy” and “Mediacracy” are not good. They must gladly come forward to relinquish the occupied properties.
9. Mumbai Stock Exchange, Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and even the Supreme Court are practicing segregation on racial grounds. When England introduced reservation for backward communities, Indians resorted to fasting to abort it by saying that the England was trying to divide Indians on caste lines. As a result, those who must have been in the IITs disrupt peace, and those who remain in the IITs support manipulations. Is it good?
10. People look forward to the President to bring peace and prosperity. The Supreme Court and other Courts could be watched on a daily basis to bring out the truth. The public sector TV channel could be watched. Something could be done to those affected by the “creamy layer” concept. The headquarters of the banks could be equitably distributed among all States. The LIC could be split into State level units to know its real shape. Bulk buying could be stopped and commissions curtailed. The distribution of petroleum products and telephones could be left to the States. Several other suggestions given to prevent flight of capital and economic deprivation would bring peace to the boys. The learned judges through their Excellence have proved that “the superior will is not superior reason”. The President too must prove his Excellence by restoring the lost PSUs without any delay. A simple open demand by the President would do wonders.
Even after 22 letters, the President is not disclosing the truth. Is it good? The disclosure of the truth would save many precious lives and lead to peace and prosperity. Truth is Peace. Human Excellence is Peace.
Vellicode, Yours faithfully,
27-10-2003.
Embarrassed by the above letters, a prominent advocate of the Supreme Court on 9 November 2003, said, “Too much of good thing is not good”. It was an indirect threat against this writer. The effect of the letter could be gauged.
24
“MERIT” AND “INTELLIGENCE”
Now the newspapers reported that the Common Admission Test (CAT) question papers were leaked. Therefore, this fact was utilized to convey the message that the Entrance Examinations for Business Schools had lost their credibility and State wise reservation was a necessity. Further, the Union Government was requested to apportion the shares of the PSUs among various States. This letter was sent on 1-12-2003. In the mean time, a lecturer said that this writer richly deserved the Nobel Prize for Peace. Therefore, his opinion was also included. The letter follows.
1 December 2003
From
V. SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu P.O. 629167 E.mail :sabarimuthu @ rediffmail.com
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider some incredible disappointments and achievements.
1. The system is still abetting crime as no action is taken against the two national newspapers, which threatened to eliminate this writer. “Man is so noble a being” to be finished like this. It is clear that a civil society does not exist in India.
2. The system is segregating on racial grounds as is evident from the stubborn opposition to make Supreme Court, Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and the Mumbai Stock Exchange truly heterogeneous. It is worse than apartheid. The recent Common Admission Test (CAT) question paper leakage shows that half of all the officers owe their positions to prior information regarding the question papers. The position of the other half sparingly scattered all over India also is doubtful because they might have got the question papers through their relatives in Delhi or Mumbai. This is the reason why half the officers of the CBI breed corruption and the other half reluctantly fight corruption. This is partly the reason why the so- called merit is not an index of one’s intelligence. The castes, religions and regions could be cleverly used not to divide the people, but to apportion the seats and assets of the nation equitably. This is the demand of the Constitution. However, the system remains unmoved.
3. Similarly, the Members of Parliament granting permission to start petrol pumps was described as naked corruption. However, the distribution of the same through private parties is described as a noble policy. A parallel Government has been allowed to function to amass wealth and to destroy the remaining oil PSUs. In this respect, 80% breed corruption and the other 20% remain passive. In this way, the stakes annihilate the Constitution and perpetrate rank irregularities. Now they say that the way to prevent corruption in the PSUs is to hand over them to private parties. This shows that the media would again succeed in mesmerizing the people. Now they black out everything. They do not publish court cases. The stakes consider even the President as a person sitting in a jail, as they now do not publish his words.
4. Further, the President of India is the custodian of all the assets of India. He might have noticed that the stakes, in order to buy the PSUs, utilized the monies from the banks, LIC and the UTI. Did the people of Kerala, Bihar, Assam or Jammu and Kashmir get any PSU or the money? The Constitution forbids even throwing the minority shares on the roads of Mumbai but must be reserved for all States and for all sections of the people equitably. No one shall continue to construct castles on the ruins of the Constitution. Reluctance of the system to liberate the occupied PSUs is a disappointing one.
5. “Robbery affects the robbed man. It is the “primary” evil. The suggestion that robbery is easy, which may affect the conduct of others is the “secondary” evil”. The secondary evil, according to political scientists, is more important than primary evil. This is the reason why the newspapers have concealed 23 letters. Thus, they are denying the rights of 1000 million people. This is the most heinous crime. The people must know the contents of the letters because “only knowledge would supply answer to all man’s problems”. This is the reason why the newspapers want to eliminate this writer. This is the reason why the truth would save the life of this writer. However, the system does not respond. This is the greatest disappointment.
6. On the other hand, the first letter saved the AI and the IA. Further, the privatization was delayed by about five months. The effects showed that the leaders wanted “to know what was good in order to embrace them”. The second letter showed the “sinister interest of privilege in every path” and revealed that the people in power were against real reforms. The third letter prompted the then President to express the hope that “the common man would save India”. That letter quickened the judgement on the BALCO. Then a suggestion enabled the Government to mobilize resources. The letter No.6 exposed the working of the Supreme Court and the CBI. Consequently, both the Presidents had to visit the Supreme Court frequently. The Supreme Court gradually changed its colour and the present Chief Justice, through the excellence of two learned judges, finally brought the Constitution on its rails.
7. When the Government persisted in its sinister ways, some manipulations going on with private interest had to be pointed out to the President, CBI and the learned judges of the Supreme Court simultaneously. An unhelpful President and the attitude of some learned judges crippled the privatization programmme. Thus, either the LIC, BSNL, MTNL, ONGC, IOC, BPCL, HPCL, NALCO, nationalized banks and a host of other PSUs were saved or their privatization aborted or delayed. The SCI and the airports escaped narrowly. Many State Governments shelved all their privatizations plans. If all the letters had been sent to all Chief Ministers and the learned judges, all the PSUs sold by the various State Governments could have been saved.
8. The letters effectively denied Presidential Palace to the representatives of the stakes. The selfless service of the leaders of the opposition parties contributed to this. It was a great achievement as this paralyzed a few - not all- sinister moves of the system.
9. In the hands of the Presidents, the letters were more devastating than nuclear devices. In fact; the letters led some leaders to total depression. At the same time, the letters gave great hope to the leaders committed to selfless service and thus saved them from total despondency. The latter leaders reversed the policy and perceived that they have a goal to achieve. They realized that the political parties are for public service and they owe their talents to the nation. They are now fully aware of the manipulations of the media, which works in private interest. This is the greatest achievement of these letters. Obviously, the letters have made India a better place to live and many more changes that are positive could be expected.
10. Perhaps, as a tribute, the present President said “God endowed man with thinking faculty to serve the people”. On seeing these letters, a lecturer said that this writer richly deserved a Nobel Prize for Peace. The course of nature cannot be prevented. The letters were written not with the aim of hurting the feelings of anyone or with an eye on Nobel Prize but they were simply human responses to a sinister plan. All people contribute their share one-way or other to prevent the privatization of the PSUs. However, achievements of these 23 letters are simply incredible. If the system does not relapse to its sinister ways, the Prime Minister and the President will be protecting India from total enslavement and thereby ensuring a Nobel Prize to India.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
A Cabinet meeting was convened on that day. The Prime Minister postponed his visit to Ghana.
On 2 December, 2003 some newspapers said, “Truth is dangerous”. This was a reply to the letters of this writer requesting the President of India to disclose the truth. They pointed out the fate of an engineer who, instead of keeping quiet on the manipulations going on in the National Highway Authority of India, alerted the Prime Minister’s Office. The paper said that he was killed for the same reasons. The message was that this writer also could be killed in a similar fashion.
On 18 December, 2003 the President of India said that he liked teachers.
25
EVERYBODY CONTROLLING EVERYBODY
On 2 January, 2004 the letter No.25 was sent to the President of India at 10 P.M. through e-mail. This was sent mainly to open the eyes of the learned judges of the Supreme Court. The letter follows.
2 January, 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam, Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the Supreme Court is committing grave crime and breeding rank corruption and malpractice.
1. On 26 October, 2002 two newspapers issued a death threat to this writer for the letter sent to His Excellency the President of India on 19 October, 2002. It was duly reported to the President of India. As no action was taken, a copy of the letter was sent to the Chief Justice of India with the newspaper cuttings on 3 December, 2003. The letters from 9 to 19 that were not earlier sent to the Chief Justice also were sent to enable him to know the sequence of events. Even then, no action has been taken.
2. The President of India was requested, through a series of letters, to divide the “assets and seats” equitably. If the system abhors castes and religions, State-wise, District-wise and rural area-wise reservation could be introduced. During the sale of minority shares of any PSU, the President of India is duty-bound to ensure at least State- wise reservation. It is the duty of the President to show the Constitutional path to the Government and the Supreme Court.
3. The petrol pumps were reserved for ex-servicemen, handicapped and the Members of Parliament. Now, everyone embraces the soldiers and kisses the handicapped after effectively removing the petrol pumps from their hands. The ex-servicemen and the handicapped want petrol pumps exclusively for them and not physical embracement.
4. The people say that the banks are giving very big amount to the stakes for each petrol pump in the name of equipment worth a small amount. The owners of petrol pumps would have to pay the amount to the banks in many years. If it were true, stakes are siphoning off Re. thousands of crore through these manipulations everyday and the entire system, including the learned judges of the Supreme Court, is involved in this. The money thus obtained will be sufficient to buy all the PSUs and the entire country. Therefore, the President and the Chief justice of India are duty-bound to inform the Indians the amount transferred to the stakes through banks and the actual amount spent by them since the judgement.
5. The President of India has adequate security. But the position of the people extracting such pieces of information from the Government is perilous because they have no protection.
6. The President of India must read aright the manipulations. Then only righteousness would flow from the President of India. The moment righteousness flows from the President; India “would make steady progress in happiness and wisdom”.
7. Ninety percent of the conflicts in the world are due to economic reasons. Ninety percent of the court cases are also due to economic reasons. However, after saying that the court would not interfere in the economic policy of the Government, the court cancelled the allotments of petrol pumps just to perpetuate “Stakecocracy”. Thus, the court, in bad faith, foisted an unconstitutional and perverse concept on the public. It now appears that an employee of a bank taking Re.845/- from the bank would be a misconduct warranting dismissal. But the act of a judge that facilitates the stakes to take 100,0000000/-from banks everyday would not be a misconduct. “The intentions or motives of the learned judges of the Supreme Court are of greatest importance in determining these secondary consequences of their actions and must therefore be taken into account by the President”. The judgement is not a question of conscience because “there are moments when conscience itself is uncertain”. It is not a question of justice either because “what justice is this is what on every occasion is the greatest matter of dispute”. “A decision of the Supreme Court is to be accounted good not because of its immediate happy consequences but because of its general or long time happy consequences”. “One may say that it is difficult to determine what sort of judgements is good and what bad”. “The accumulated experience of mankind will tell men what the probable consequences of certain kinds of actions will be, will provide a rough, general rule whereby whole class of actions can be judged”. This rule in Political Science is more important than Newton’s laws of motion in Physics. This is the reason why the right thinking people believe that crime, manipulations and commissions originate from the Chief Justice of India. This is the reason why a learned judge of the Supreme Court said that the consequences of bad judgments were disastrous. By remaining as a strong sheath, the learned judges of the Supreme Court are now allowing the Government, CBI, CVC, RBI and the newspapers to breed crime, corruption and manipulation. The President of India must note that “whatever evil it is possible for the Chief Justice of India to do for the advancement of his own private and personal interest at the expense of the public interest-that evil sooner or later he will do, unless by some means or other, intentional or otherwise, he be prevented from doing it”.
8. On 11 December, 2003 the Government gave a chance to the President of India to address both the Houses of the Parliament. On that occasion, the President said that even children talk of corruption. The public sector TV channel was asked to telecast the function live. On the next day, the newspapers did not mention anything about his speech. In this way, the newspapers treat the President as a person sitting in jail. The newspapers are not reporting important court cases also. If they do not report the court cases, how would the President, people and the learned judges of the Supreme Court monitor the trend of various cases? Is it not a crime against 1000 million people? Why does the Supreme Court fail to understand it?
9. “A man aims always and only at his own personal happiness”. One may think that this letter is for personal happiness alone. The truth is that the perverse situation demands this letter. This writer has no intension to write more. By digging deep into past political thought and correlating them with the present, this writer could produce wonderful results. The benefit of this letter No. 25 also cannot be estimated at all provided the President takes necessary action and brings this to the notice all judges in India. However, if the learned judges of the Supreme Court, Government and the newspapers join, India cannot be saved by a citizen of India or by the President of India. The depth of the present manipulations reveals this. Therefore, it is the paramount duty of the President of India to reveal the truth. Then, even if the newspapers eliminate this writer, all people would remain alert to protect their rights. This is because “ it is not the State that moulds the citizens, it is the citizens that mould the State”. If this writer were a choice for the Nobel Peace Prize, then also these letters would reach all habitable places of India. Otherwise, the letters would go into oblivion and the learned judges would destroy all values and make the people to live by gratis. The destruction would be complete; the moment the President of India also joins the learned judges and the Government.
10. Having failed to notice the undercurrent, there is uphill task before the President. Some learned judges would “endeavour to swell their power to its outmost possible pitch”. Hence, the President of India is duty bound to enforce every constitutional device to distribute the petrol pumps to the ex-servicemen and to the deaf and dumb. It must be noted that “if everybody controlled everybody else, nobody would predominate; everyone’s self-interest would be suppressed except when it coincided with the interest of all; and whatever was done would be that which all approved”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
Due to the above letter, the scheduled visit of the Prime Minister to Pakistan to attend the SAARC Summit was delayed by at least four hours.
Not withstanding the above letters, a Union Minister on 9 January, 2004 adamantly said that the sale of residual shares in the IPCL, VSNL, IBP and Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) would be completed before mid-February. He added that the Government would also come out with a public offer for offloading equity in Dredging Corporation of India. With regard to the other PSUs he said that 14.2 crore shares of the ONGC would hit the market on March 2, 2004 and 84 million equity shares of the GAIL would be filed with the SEBI by January 23. He informed that road shows would be held at London, Singapore, Hong Kong and a couple of places in the USA in the last week of February. He said that even the opposition was saying that the people’s wealth should be returned to the people. Ironically, according to the Minister, the act of appropriating the UTI and the PSUs was to return the wealth to the people.
The above statement of the Union Minister gave great pain to the Prime Minister of India. Apparently, the Union Minister said everything without his concurrence. In fact, the message of the above statement was that the Prime Minister must allow manipulation or quit office. He chose the latter. Thus, unable to bear the harassments from the manipulators on one side and the incessant letters from this writer on the other, the Prime Minister announced that the Parliament would be dissolved immediately.
The announcement regarding the dissolution of Parliament was nothing but the decision taken by the Prime Minister to abandon power. Apparently, he wanted the manipulators to amass wealth through the aid of some other leaders and not at all through him. This could be gauged from the fact that he did not resort to any unethical methods like creating tension in border or any other populist measures to win the electorate.
The question of convening of the Parliament also became a perilous job, as this writer used to send letters to the Members of Parliament, whenever the Parliament was in session. This also hastened the election.
The concealment of the letters showed that the leaders who act in private interest could deceive the people.
26
A BELIEF
Now the new Chief Justice of India constituted a Bench to hear the BPCL/HPCL appeal case. There was a fear that the Bench would give one more deadly blow to the Constitution of India. In order to avert this, the letter No.26 was sent to the President of India on 19 January, 2004.
This letter produced unimaginable wonders because it prevented the Chief Justice of India from hearing the BPCL/HPCL appeal case. In fact, a citizen of a country preventing the Chief Justice of its Supreme Court from hearing a case has no parallel in history. It must be noted that this writer had to take on the stakes, their newspapers, investigating agencies, unfaithful Ministers in the Union Cabinet and the learned judges of the Supreme Court simultaneously to save the PSUs. The crucial letter follows.
19 January, 2004
From
V.Sabarimuthu
Thattankonam,Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the attitude of the system injures human race.
1. Two national newspapers threatened to eliminate this writer on 26 October,2002 for writing letters to His Excellency the President of India. The President of India might have sought the decision of the learned judges of the Supreme Court in this matter. Yet, no action has been taken. Apparently, the Chief Justice of India is protecting the newspapers. It is like the Chief Justice of India firing a fifteen-inch bullet on a citizen of India. It gives the impression that the Supreme Court is made for and by the newspapers.
2. “No man could ever desire anything but personal happiness. If men seek happiness, it will not be found. When they seek other things, it will be inhaled in the air they breathe”. This writer started the journey not to catch anyone red-handed or to offend anyone with letters. However, the newspapers want to eliminate this writer and conceal the letters trampling meanwhile with considerable recklessness upon the rights of individuals. The stakes may not get happiness by eliminating this writer although it is very easy to carry out the job. This letter No 26 too is sent very reluctantly in “good faith”.
3. “If men’s environment represents the accumulated inequality of the past, then, they do not start equal in the race of competition”. Therefore, the “seats in the IITs” must be apportioned equitably among all States. A father would divide his assets among his four children equitably. Similarly, the President must see that the “assets and the minority shares of the PSUs like the ONGC, SAIL, GAIL” must be reserved for all states equitably. Apparently, the system defies even the President mainly because the stakes are aware that no judge would be found in India to redress the error.
4. By making the 42nd amendment to the Constitution meaningless, the Supreme Court is helping the stakes to amass wealth from the ruins of the Constitution. The Chief Justice of India must be prevented from giving one more deadly blow to the Constitution through the review petitions and the writ petitions on the verdict given by two judges. The convention is to ask the same Bench to hear the case. Disturbing this convention can only be to the advantage of mankind in the hand of a good Chief Justice. However, as the present Chief Justice has apparently taken a decision in favour of the stakes even before hearing the case, the same two judges alone shall hear the present case. Another judge could be added as the third one, if necessary. The two judges chosen by the Chief Justice at present are relatively new and they, in presence of the Chief Justice, could not be free. The Chief Justice must be made to trust the integrity of the former three judges in this matter, as it appears that the complete legal system in India has become a monopoly of a small minority.
5. The President of India must have noticed that the CBI, RBI and the CVC also are the monopoly of a few. This could be discerned from the fact that the CBI, RBI and the CVC are not coming forward to stop the manipulations despite several letters to the President.
6. Money from all parts of India is flowing daily into the hands of a few stakes due to a verdict of the Supreme Court in the petrol pump case. The stakes would utilize the money to perpetuate “stakecocracy” by influencing the electorate. Then, there may not be too great liberty but too ready submission; not anarchy but servility. The stakecocracy, in fact, might be but the prelude to a new era of slavery. Therefore, President could have demanded the Supreme Court to undo the unconstitutional concept foisted on the public.
7. The learned judges do their duty by hearing cases and delivering judgements. However, it must be deemed that all judgements have the latent approval of the President of India. It must disturb the President when a judge gives 7 years for, say, one lakh and 6 months for, say, one crore. Many learned judges would never agree with this contention is another matter.
8. The President of India must have noticed that many learned judges of the Supreme Court are against the Constitution. “It is now clear that public duties and responsibilities cannot be logically derived from private rights and interests”. Some learned judges are the most competent to judge. However, “one learned judge with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests!”
9. It is disturbing to note that the learned judges of the Supreme Court, despite twenty-five letters to the President, surround the system like an iron sheath and protect the newspapers from legal action. It conveys the impression that the Supreme Court unchecked is as unjust, tyrannical, brutal and cruel as any dictator is or Parliament possessed of uncontrolled power. The President could dispel this impression.
10. “It is man’s mind that changes society and that only free discussion can nourish fruitful ideas. All mankind minus one lacks the right to coerce the single dissentient”. Twenty-five letters have been effectively shut out from the national scene, as if they were under formal disqualification. “The opinion suppressed may be true and if not suppressed forever, it may be thrown back for centuries. It may be partly true, in which case it is a necessary correction to the accepted body of truth. It may be false, but controversy will strengthen true conviction”. Therefore, the President of India could have asked the Supreme Court, Indian TV, CBI and the newspapers to publish these letters or the contents of the letters. Further, the suppression of the letters injures the human race because “the passion of the majority, it is sure, is needed to conquer the self-interest of the few”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
Whatever happened, the Government did not file 84 million equity shares of the GAIL with the SEBI on 23 January, 2004 as announced. In order to wriggle out, the Government asked the SEBI to relax certain norms like announcement of price band. The SEBI readily obliged. With regard to the question of offloading the residual shares of Maruthi Udyog Limited, a senior official of Maruthi, said that the Government had not taken a decision. Thus the Government had to make a hasty retreat. Further, the Government granted permission to the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to go ahead with its expansion plans. It must be noted that the Government had been shelving all expansion plans of the SCI for more than four years in the name of impending privatization.
Curiously, the President now said that everyone must endeavour to transform India into a beautiful and economically developed nation with righteousness and education with value system.
On 25 January, 2004 the President reiterated that even children talk of corruption. He talked of righteousness and even used the word “honest”. He further wanted all political parties to give their plans in their election manifestoes. Obviously, the President of India wanted the political parties to, openly, clearly and unequivocally, tell to the people whether they would privatize the PSUs or not. However, no political party paid any attention to his words.
On 2 February, 2004 the newspapers reported that the ministry of disinvestments had decided to defer the public issue of the GAIL by one month. The sale of the residual equity in the IPCL, CMC, IBP and Dredging Corporation was also deferred by one month. This was the repercussion of the letter sent on 19 January, 2004. By deferring the privatization, the Prime Minister was trying to wriggle out from the clutches of the manipulators.
The Union Cabinet met on 4 February, just two days before the dissolution of the Parliament. There were just two items on its agenda. The stakes apparently pushed the agenda forward without the direction from the Prime Minister. The important item was the new civil aviation policy to permit the private domestic operators- Jet Airways and Air Sahara- to fly abroad. The Cabinet did not take up this matter. The news media immediately concocted a story that a Congress leader had opposed, through a letter to the Prime Minister, that no policy decision should be taken on the eve of the election. The truth was that the Prime Minister did not want to take any concrete action at the behest of the stakes just before the general election.
The newspapers on 6 February, 2004 disclosed that the Disinvestment Commission had recommended privatization of Kolkata based Andrew Yule and Co Limited set up in 1863.They,further, reported hat certain interests successfully blocked the expansion plans of the BSNL during the first half of 2003.
Talking to children after giving away the National awards to 42 children for years 2002 and 2003 at Presidential Palace, the President told the awardees to have a goal, work hard and have the sense of perseverance in order to succeed in whichever field they wanted to pursue.
27
FALSE DEMOCRACY
On 7 February, 2004 the letter No. 27 was sent to the President at 7 A.M. The letter requested the learned judges not to dwarf the President of India. The letter follows.
7 February, 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam,Vellicode,Mulagumoodu 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reason why the Supreme Court is making freedom impossible for everyone else.
1. The Prime Minister of India rejected the bids for the AI and the IA based on the first letter sent by this writer on 1 June, 2001. In disgust, the newspapers on 25 July, 2001 beseeched the Congress party not to allow the “whale” to get away with the “misdemeanors”. They further wanted the Prime Minister “to step down to save his reputation”. Similarly, they gave a suggestion to change the “presiding physician”. Such metaphors and hard words are unknown to this writer. Yet, the same newspapers are lying low to eliminate this writer because the Prime Minister lost his incorruptibility and self-control because of them. “The leveling apparatus of the Supreme Court ought to go incessantly backward and forward, cutting off all that rises above the line prescribed”. However, it is not ready to take action against the newspapers. Thus, the learned judges of the Supreme Court use the freedom accorded to them to make freedom impossible for everyone else. This is the logical extension of the destruction of the Constitution. .
2. The Chief Justice of India could even now undo the harm done to the Constitution. For this, “he must rescue reason from pride just to remain uncorrupted, to follow the right and leave the wrong, lead the learned judges to virtue, fulfilling not distorting their capability. The capability for the learned judges must be, ahead of not behind political developments. Apparently, the Chief Justice of India is now warping the latent capabilities of the learned judges”.
3. The Supreme Court is still canalizing all monies from all over India in the hands of a few stakes through the verdict of the petrol pump case. It is clear that “man’s self-love which satisfies his real needs is only too apt to become pride which creates imaginary and utterly insatiable needs, and which is incompatible with man’s gregarious instinct. It is said that from pride all evil has grown and gone ranging round the world devouring men. Pride seduces reason and proves the most reckless and irresponsible of judges.” A learned judge of the Supreme Court should not be a slave to his appetites and bondage to his pleasure especially when his decision affects the people.
4. Though a learned judge of the Supreme Court could develop himself to the highest level of which he is capable, he can have no real private interests. The learned judges are parts of the Supreme Court and the parts can have no real interests themselves. However, there is an intrinsic relationship of the parts to the whole. Therefore, all judgements of the Supreme Court must enjoy the latent approval of the majority of the judges besides the President of India. As it is lacking, two-judge Bench had to set aside the wrong verdict of the three-judge Bench and five judge-Benches had to overrule the wrong rulings of the eleven-judge Bench.
5. The Government on 9 January, 2004 announced its decision to file 84 million shares of the public sector GAIL in the Mumbai stock exchange by 23 January, 2004. It did not materialize. This must be due to the effective intervention of the President of India based on the letter No.26 dated 19-1-2004. It is clear that the President could check all unconstitutional actions of the Government. If, however, the Government succeeds in unloading the shares in March 2004, the President would be doing an injustice to the nation, as there is no scheme to reserve the shares to various States. Similarly, the seats in the IITs could be distributed equitably. In this connection, it must be stated that even the President of India would not get a seat in the IIT under the present system; if the clock were turned back.
6. The President must have noticed that there is a tendency to make even the Election Commission the monopoly of a few. As “exclusive Government by a class is False Democracy”, the Supreme Court, CBI, RBI, CVC, Election Commission and Human Rights Commission shall not be a monopoly of a few. “True democracy will give due weight and influence to all different elements of society and will thus obviate the undue preponderance of any”.
7. As soon as receiving the first letter, the Prime Minister had a series of meetings for over three months. The bureaucracy gave an excellent suggestion to utilize the surplus deposits in banks for the large-scale development of Roads, Railways, Ports and the PSUs. The Prime Minister formally accepted it and informed this to the Advisory Council on Trade and Industry. Had this decision been implemented, India would have developed rapidly. A Union Minister torpedoed the suggestion by openly opposing any massive public investment programme. Instead, he wanted private investments, disinvestments and downsizing. The stakes wanted to preserve the deposits in the banks for utilizing as their own money for buying the PSUs. As the letters of this writer effectively thwarted it, the surplus funds in the banks began to rot and the PSUs began to languish without funds. However, the co-operative banks escaped as the Government abandoned its efforts to bring them under the sole control of the RBI. The petrol pump case and the support of the Supreme Court came in handy for the present manipulations.
8. One of the present judges in the Supreme Court had been the vociferous of all judges in India during the period of the UF Government. Now he has silently bestowed maximum benefits to the stakes. No wonder that a former Chief Justice of India is functioning under a multinational company after his retirement. Ironically, the newspapers had said that the sale of state asset to preferred buyers was for a price. They had disclosed that several corporate houses absconded after collecting several crore through mega issues. They had also said that the industrial houses systematically abused the banks. The Members of Parliament had said that a particular industrial house had stranglehold over the Government. In this way, the “socialists” had opposed the capitalistic encirclement. Now, the newspapers and the learned judges vie with one another to amass wealth through manipulations presumably to contest in the US elections.
9. The President, the Government, CBI, CVC, RBI and the Supreme Court must have now obtained information about the exact amount transferred to the stakes from the petrol pumps. Similar policies are affecting the revenues of the states, salaries of the employees and the ability of the Governments to undertake poverty alleviation programmes. Many states would not have even collected the sale tax for the equipments supplied to petrol pumps. Many State Governments have not granted D.A. to its employees for the last two years. Some have affected a cut in the retirement benefits by about 30% with the indirect approval of the Supreme Court. Thus, these policies make the people and the employees lean but the stakes, newspapers and some judges fat. Yet, none is stopping the manipulations.
10. All the letters remain concealed. However, there is no reason to believe that the President would not have got the opinion of the Supreme Court for the 26 letters. This is letter No.27. The former President visited the Supreme Court. The Present President visited it several times. Did they visit in private interest or selfish interest? Is there no judge to rectify the error? The Supreme Court owes an answer because a Supreme Court that dwarfs the President of a country, “in order that he may be more docile an instrument in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can be achieved”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
As a result of the above letter, the Prime Minister had to postpone his visit to the UP State by at least 4 hours.
The newspapers on 12 February, 2004 reported that two hundred Mercedes Benz cars transported guests from Lucknow airport to the sprawling 120-hectare venue of the wedding of an industrialist.10500 guests included Prime Minister of India, film stars, political leaders and business tycoons.
The Chairman of a private bank on 14 February, 2004 said that the Government should keep out of the banking business. He said that the withdrawal of the Government should be abrupt and not gradual. Obviously, the stakes wanted all the deposits in all banks for their investments abroad.
A Union Minister on February 19, 2004 exhorted the Indian entrepreneurs to go overseas and acquire companies. He said that the foreign exchange reserve could be used for this purpose. He promised that the Government would be their facilitators. This indicated that the NDA Government wanted to siphon off thousands of crores to foreign countries. It also showed that the stakes encouraged the FDI because India would allow them to take money abroad. The words of the Union Minister were arbitrary and therefore unconstitutional.
On 19 February, 2004, a Union Minister slammed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for the allegation that the Government incurred a “notional” loss to the tune of Re.145 crore in the public sector hotel sell off.
28
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
Now, the Union Government, apparently defying the wishes of the Prime Minister of India, sold the residual shares of the IPCL. The newspapers on February 21 reported that the 23.98 per cent residual shares in the IPCL received an overwhelming response on the very first day on 20 February, 2004. This prompted this writer to send the letter No.28 to His Excellency the President of India.
February 22, 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam, Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why “The Constitution is not for slavery but for salvation”.
1. Two newspapers concertedly threatened to eliminate this writer for writing letters to the President of India. It was duly reported to the President of India. This writer had to write letters to the President of India because the learned judges of the Supreme Court, motivated by private and selfish interests, destroyed the Constitution. Therefore, the Supreme Court is duty-bound to take action against the newspapers. Apparently, the learned judges of the Supreme Court are keeping their fingers crossed to know the death news of this writer. In this matter, the learned judges of the Supreme Court must be true to themselves to make their way to the stars because “only they can give full meaning to the freedom of action, which is man’s, can turn independence into true liberty”. The learned judges of the Supreme Court must note that the sovereignty of the Supreme Court and the liberty of the individuals are not opposed. Therefore, the inaction of the Supreme Court and other competent authorities including the National Human Rights Commission in this matter is a sacrilegious declaration of war against human lives and human rights.
2. In this connection, it must be noted that the strongest judge on earth is he who stands most entirely alone on the right point and not on the wrong point. Though they are independent, they depend on the society. They must live among the people and become part of the society. However, they must grow and develop from within the Constitution. They may have rights but they can never have rights against the people and their assets. They must beckon men to a greater freedom and higher culture than they have ever known. If the Supreme Court were critical of the Rights of Man, who will come for the salvation of Man?
3. The President was requested to apportion the seats in the IITs and class I services and other similar seats in an equitable way. The idea is that when the President of India lands in a remote District in India, there would be a boy who got admission in the IIT, a girl in class I services and so on. It is the true meaning of our Constitution too. It must be noted that even a seat for the M.B.B.S. is becoming elusive to ninety per cent of the people, particularly rural people; and it is imperative that the trend must be reversed.
4. The PSUs are national properties and even the sale of minority shares is forbidden by the word “socialism” present in the Preamble. When the minority shares are sold, there must be a universally acceptable but equitable scheme for selling the shares. Firstly, the shares must be divided and reserved in an equitable way among all States. People of the respective States shall trade the shares so apportioned only. The various State Governments could apportion the shares among various districts. In this way, the concentration of the shares among a few could be obviated and the demand of the Constitution fulfilled. Whether the shares could be sold before the people became aware of the Stock Exchanges and their deceitful ways is another matter. It is shocking to note that it became “impossible” for the President to stop the sale of the residual shares of the IPCL on 20 February, 2004 mainly because the President failed to convince the learned judges of the Supreme Court in these lines.
5. The Prime Minister actually agreed with all the ten points given in the first letter dated 1-6-2001 and opposed all manipulations. When the Prime Minister was holding highly positive discussions based on the letter- some discussions lasting for more than four hours -the newspapers ironically revealed that companies were manipulating the policies and rules in the economic ministries. Not withstanding this grave accusation, the Prime Minister in his Republic Day address from the Red Fort said, “Profits earned by hook or by crook should not be the sole criterion for judging the success of a business”. He added that the Government would not turn a blind eye to corruption how high a chair they might occupy. Whatever happened, some manipulators were arrested. This action backfired on the Prime Minister proving the point that the stakes are above the law and that prevention of manipulations is far more desirable than taking action against them. Now, there is a warring within the Prime Minister so that “too often he does what he would not and what he would he does not”. Thus, he would like to stop the sale of the shares of the GAIL, SAIL, ONGC and a few other PSUs slated for 26 February, 2004 but he does not. However, “only when one acts according to his better self in matters affecting the people of a nation he can most truly be called man”.
6. The then Chief Justice said that the “Constitution is Supreme”. He, utilizing the privilege to constitute Benches, destroyed the Constitution. Thus the people say that he and the judges who heard the BALCO case would get Re. hundreds of crore. People say that he was the embodiment of corruption but he said that corrupt judges must be dismissed.
7. The Present Chief Justice on May 2, 2002 said that the political parties would suffer de-registration if they cease to have faith and allegiance to socialism. He knows that cornering public properties for more than a certain maximum through manipulations offends socialism. However, he has pre-empted the learned judges of the High Courts from hearing 30 writ petitions against privatization. People believe that he would also get money or goodwill worth Re. several crore.
8. The stakes opposed “License Kingdom”. But, the Supreme Court indirectly handed over the license granting power itself to less than five stakes. All right thinking people believe that those who facilitated this would also get a suitable reward.
9. The toiling hands send Re. thousands of crore - in foreign exchange- every day. Yet, all State Governments remain bankrupt mainly because of the above false and wicked doctrines, which cause economic deprivation. Thus, when State Governments affected 30% cut in retirement benefits, the Courts acted in a way resulting in the death of 52 employees. Now, some State Governments have granted D.A. and taken back 999 dismissed employees presumably due to the intervention of the President, Prime Minister or the Chief Justice of India based on the letter dated 7-2-2004. It is a half hearted step. The truth is that the moment the Supreme Court decides, the manipulations would cease and the states would become rich enough to take care of its employees and the people.
10. This is letter No.28. The views of the people are contradictory to the above doctrines of the Supreme Court. Though finite things are contradictory in themselves, according to a principle in Political Science; “two contradictory propositions cannot be true at the same time”. It is equivalent to the Uncertainty Principle in science. The President could have endeavoured to remove these contradictions to protect the Constitution. If the President were to allow the unconstitutional sale of the shares of the GAIL, IBP and the ONGC on January 26, 2004 without even a murmur, the President would be shirking his responsibility of protecting the Constitution. Men of another stamp gave the Constitution. A former Prime Minister, apparently, developed a little. The sinister privilege of a Chief Justice destroyed it. Men of another stamp will be needed to bring it back on its rails for the salvation of the people because “political institutions are the work of men”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
29
STATE INSTINCT
The Prime Minister on 23 February, 2004 said that all the decisions of the Government were collective decisions.
On the same day, the Chief Justice of India said that he had no powers to control the situation. The reason for the above remark was that the letter No.26 dated 19 January, 2004 prevented him from hearing the BPCL/HPCL appeal case.
On 4 March, 2004 the letter No.29 was sent to the President of India. The letter wanted the Prime Minister to clear his name from the charges to function as care taker Prime Minister of India. This letter follows.
March 4, 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam,Vellicode
Mulagumoodu 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace
New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the system is working against the Constitution.
1. The editors of two newspapers threatened to eliminate this writer. Why are the editors of the newspapers aggrieved? This offence has no bail. However, despite several letters, the CBI, Government, Supreme Court, President of India and finally The National Human Rights Commission are not ready to take action against these national culprits. Where will an ordinary citizen of India go for remedy? Why does the system build on false grounds?
2. The Prime Minister on 23 February, 2004 said that all decisions of the Government were collective decisions. This must be the reply of the Prime Minister to the letter No. 28 sent to the President of India through e-mail on 22 February, 2004. In this connection, it must be noted that a person offered to pay the Government Re. 2500/-crore for MH2 of spectrum. This amount was about five times greater than the amount offered by all other similar players. Immediately, an officer connected with this matter was shifted from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Planning Commission. In September 2002, the CBI submitted in a Delhi Court that a particular industrial group gained more wealth in India under the previous Congress Government than in their 30 years of business activity. A Member of Parliament recently said that a Union Minister and his relatives were responsible for certain irregularities in the public sector Unit Trust of India (UTI).
3. In this connection, it must be noted that a Union Minister said that the domestic firms must try to become multinational companies. Another Union Minister also recently exhorted the businessmen to utilize the entire foreign exchange to buy industries abroad. Another Minister successfully sought a Court in Delhi to conduct an in-camera hearing for his case. One Union Minister disappeared from the Union Cabinet after resigning and reappeared in the Supreme Court in August 2002. The present Chief Justice of India recently revealed that there exists a nexus between the judges and politicians. One cannot reach any definite conclusion based on the above utterances. Further, the decision to sell two important Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestments (CCD) when the Prime Minister was on a foreign tour. Thus, the decision to give money to the stakes to buy the PSUs was apparently not a collective decision of the Union Cabinet but a decision taken by the Prime Minister and a few others in private interest. In fact, whenever the Prime Minister received guard of honour in another country one or other decision on disinvestments was taken in India.
4. Prime Minister, apparently, did not discuss the question of giving money to the stakes with the coalition partners. If so, they would not have granted permission for the same. Similarly, the Prime Minister would not have discussed this matter with party leaders.
5. Now, the crucial question is whether the Prime Minister could continue as the caretaker Prime Minister without clearing his name. If the Prime Minister were not involved in the manipulations, the criticism against him must be an unjust one. The Election Commission of India, the Supreme Court, the CBI and The National Human Rights Commission know the answer to this question and therefore they or any other competent authority must disclose it. The system will not see a catastrophic collapse if a reply were given because everything that is true in the present order will persist.
6. The Government, with ruthless determination, sold the minority shares of six PSUs including the GAIL on 26 February, 2004.The duty of the Union Ministers is to watch and supervise the administration. In this case, by refusing to recognize the limits of authority, they apparently administered everything. There is a radical distinction between controlling the business of Government and actually doing it. Yesterday, a decision regarding the price band of the ONGC was taken. The Election Commission should have asked the Government and the PSUs to desist from taking such decisions as the election schedule has been announced.
7. This is letter No. 29. The letters are a devastating exposure of the forces opposing real reforms in India. As the Supreme Court openly works against the Constitution, these letters do not see the light of the day. The Supreme Court and The National Human Rights Commission should have directed the Government to publish these letters at the national expense.
8. The newspapers are not publishing the court cases adequately. The Supreme Court would like to see that its voice is heard all over India but it does not do anything to achieve it. The people also want to hear them because “judges must be understood not only by what they are but also by what they are not”.
9. The Chief Justice of India observed in the open Court on 23 February, 2004 that he had no power to control the situation. The Chief Justice of India is the most powerful person in India. He can veto any manipulation or big commission. However, whereas the people and even employees die of starvation due to economic deprivation, the Chief Justice of India is facilitating manipulations worth Re. thousands of crore everyday. He would like to allow two particular judges to hear the HPCL/BPCL appeal case but he would not. This is where the basic flaw lies. The Chief Justice of India is not ready to annul the unconstitutional manipulation of his own creation. He is not ready to solve the problems of the people and the employees. Then where will the people go?
10. In this connection, it must be noted that even the Greeks had observed that “anything if pushed too far would tend to produce its opposite”. Further, it is said that “even drunkards are divinely guided and reel always in the direction of home”. Therefore, everyone fervently hopes that the Chief Justice of India would think not of his own interest but of the interest of the whole to which he belongs because by doing this he would be revealing “State instinct” which is co-operative.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
30
THE REAL WILL
In this letter, the learned judges were requested to fulfill themselves for the benefit 1000 million people.
12 March 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam
Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace, New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the Nation is acting knowingly against its own interest.
1. Two newspapers threatened to eliminate this writer for writing letters to the President of India. This matter has been brought to the notice of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC is the final embodiment of human rights and human lives in India. The NHRC knows that it is its duty to take action against these national culprits. It knows that its actions must be more serene than savage. Apparently, the “Human Rights” are being reconciled by the NHRC in the light of some higher interests. Thus, the NHRC too is crushing to pieces human rights in India. Obviously, the NHRC is treating its autonomy only as a formality as is evident from its refusal to send even a reply.
2. Newspapers fabricated several stories to carry out their sinister plan. For instance, they said that Government would have to pump in Re.10,000 crore to keep the Indian banks healthy and stable and wanted them to raise capital directly by diluting their holdings. Everyone believed this. Now, anyone can see even loss making banks are showing huge profits even without diluting their holdings.
3. It is said that man, as man, is free. It is said, “The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of Freedom”. However, in India a man can find Freedom only if the Supreme Court acts in “good faith”. The learned judges of Supreme Court may think that it is not possible for them to ensure Freedom to everyone in a country of more than 1000 million people. However, the Freedom of man in India is consistent with the Freedom of the learned judges of the Supreme Court. One can safely assume that when the learned judges of the Supreme Court enjoy Freedom, a common man in India also enjoys freedom. If, however, they accept slavery, it must be considered as a proof of their failure. The tragedy is that when they fail, the hapless Indians fail.
4. A learned judge of the Supreme Court is capable of acting selfishly as in the BALCO case, with no thought for others, following the instincts of the brute. When he acts in such a manner, he is out of relation with the scheme of things. In such situations, he is not “FREE” but a slave to error and desire. When he refuses to send a reply to 29 letters of a citizen of India coming through the President of India, he is not acting according to his “Real Will” but according to several finite momentary desires. The human experience shows that when one fails to fight against injustice due to his reluctance to take a conspicuous role or otherwise, greater injustice very often befalls on him.
5. How shall a learned judge of the Supreme Court know what his “Real Will” is? How can he identify himself with his Real Will when the Chief Justice of India is led astray by brute desire and selfish interest as in the petrol pump case? The Real Will of the learned judge of the Supreme Court is the Will of the Constitution. This Real Will in India is nothing but the Will of the Nation. That is the reason why that in the Constitution lays the hopes and aspirations of the Nation. A learned judge must identify himself with this Real Will to obey the dictates of the Nation and therefore the Constitution. “Indeed, the dictates of the Nation are his Real Will. Thus, the commands of the Nation give the learned judge his only opportunity to find Freedom. He may not utilize the opportunity to find Freedom because he may be afraid of the consequences. If, however, he obeys the demands of the Nation because of fear, he is not free; he is still subject to alien force. But if he obeys because he wishes to, because he has consciously identified himself with the Real Will of the Nation, because he has convinced himself that what the Nation demands he would also desire if he knew all the facts, then he is subject only to his own Real Will and he is truly FREE. The Nation is that form of reality in which the learned judge has and obeys his Freedom provided he recognizes, believes in and wills what is common to the whole or what the idea is”.
6. This is letter No.30. The Nation helps the learned judges through these letters to fulfill themselves. However, only when the learned judges fulfill themselves, the Nation itself will develop. The Nation is necessary to make the judges FREE. However, the learned judges are necessary to make the Nation Free and perfect. The Freedom of the learned judge is not opposed to the voluntary obedience to the Chief Justice, for the Chief Justice himself is bound by the Constitution. However, the learned judges shall not be misled by the “Personal Feelings” of the Chief Justice because the Nation must be Constitutional and not “Arbitrary”. By obeying the Chief Justice, a learned judge obeys the dictates of the Constitution and not the Personal Feelings of the Chief Justice like safeguarding the interests of a few. In fact, many well built institutions crumble because the Heads of the Institutions themselves torpedo the very objectives of the Institutions by infusing Personal Feelings and False Notions. Discretionary powers are very essential for maintaining order but it shall not become a sinister privilege because even the Chief Justice has the smallest right against the Constitution that enshrines the rule of law. In other words, the Chief Justice can never have the right to resist what the other judges consider unjust.
7. All facts are now known to the learned judges. When the learned judges fulfill themselves, the people will also know how some stakes multiplied their assets as submitted by the CBI in a Delhi Court; how the money went to the stakes from the banks to buy the PSUs; how the amount went to the stakes from the cash rich enterprises; how the PSUs went to stakes and so on.
8. The Chief Justice of India must be the creator of morality in India. He must promote the sense of dignity in man. All false arts deform the capability of the judges and corrupt them. In such situations, the learned judges cannot reach their full stature. The Supreme Court must endeavor to substitute “justice for mere instinct” which will give to “man’s actions and moral character which lacked before” which will change man from “limited animal” into an intelligent being and a man”. Therefore, the Chief justice must come forward to annul those false and wicked doctrines enunciated by it, which affects the common man because “it is never right to harm 1000 million human souls for the benefit of a few”.
9. Some may consider these letters as an impediment to their comforts. However, the letters saved the Nation from for greater manipulations. The manipulations consists in placing chosen people in key positions, turning the public against employees and workers, giving all PSUs to the stakes through giant manipulations, giving gratis to people and ascribing plenty and prosperity to such policies. Due to these letters, the sinister plans slipped as 99 percent of the PSUs have been saved. Therefore, the letters silently averted a collapse, revolt and chaos.
10. The letters at the same time convey an idea. Surely, India with numerous corporations in all nook and corners would be far more beautiful than under a select group. Consider the plight of the people when the monies from all over India- a country of 1000 million people - flow into the hands a few. The Nation is acting knowingly against its own interest.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) in April 2004 decided to buy ships worth Re.1100 crore. It must be noted that the SCI had been shelving all plans for buying new ships in the hope of privatization.
The BJP in its election manifesto clearly said that it would broaden and deepen reforms. However, the meaning of reform was not given. The Congress party, in its vision statement released in connection with the general election, said that it would not privatize any profit making PSUs but would privatize loss making PSUs provided they could not be revived or restructured. The newspapers on the next day clarified that the Congress was not opposed to disinvestments of the PSUs. The Indian TV also said that there was not much difference between the stand taken by the Congress party and the BJP. The people did not understand the reason why the mass media gave an explanation like this. Apparently, the mass media-in this way- divulged the understanding reached between the manipulators and the Congress party. This is the reason why the Congress party did not repudiate their clarification. Thus the mass media cleverly succeeded in making privatization a non-issue during the election.
A prominent advocate of the Supreme Court rebutted a point in the letter No. 28 of 22 February, 2004. He said that human rights violation and the tendency to bend laws take place during war time as that happened in England during II World War. He said that the US Government had knowingly withheld vital information from the Courts in 1985. He further narrated that RED-TAPISM IS “APPARENTLY” UNIVERSAL. Apparently, the advocate was in total control of the system and a green signal from him would be needed for the new Government to remove the disqualification of these letters.
The newspapers now said that India would never shine for the intellectuals because they simply love to run down their country. They said that intellectualism had become synonymous with a bizarre form of liberalism. They added that the intellectuals view with contempt those who either generate wealth or possesses it. They complained that intellectuals loathe business, despise capitalism and repose faith in almost anything that goes with the prefix “alternative”. They even said that the intellectuals were traitors to their own country.
31
A VETO
The letter No.31 was sent to His Excellency the President of India on 15 April 2004. In this letter, the system was described as “the squanderer of not only flesh and blood but also nerve and brain”. Further, the President of India was requested to pay one more visit to the Supreme Court to restore constitutionalism in India.
Vellicode, 15 April 2004
From
V.SABARIMUTHU
Thattankonam, Vellicode, Mulagumoodu, 629167
To
His Excellency the President of India
Presidential Palace
New Delhi
Your Excellency
Kindly consider the reasons why the “Super Structure” shall not deceive the people.
1. The inaction of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to the letters shows that it too acts the part of oppressor. Sufficient freedom has been accorded to the NHRC to preserve human rights in India. However, the members of the NHRC use the freedom accorded to them to convert the NHRC into a repressive instrument.
2. For the human rights violation of an IPS officer, the NHRC in its case No.920/22/1999 said that the matter was “sub judice”. The appeal was rejected by citing another reason. Thus, the NHRC chose not to give any real relief to the victim of a human rights violation.
3. A judge of the Supreme Court had refused to accept the letters sent by this writer. Now, a member of the NHRC refuses to accept the letters. People pre-suppose the learned judges not like the present man in the street. Further, these learned judges are public servants. People send letters to them because they determine the destiny of the nation. If they do justice to the papers before them or transmit the copies of these letters to competent authorities, some positive changes would occur. As economic position determines the social eminence in India, these learned judges are ignoring the letters of the common man. It is clear that some men desire power more for the satisfaction of their pride and self-respect than for serving the people. For some men power must be regarded as an end in itself. It is said, “some fulfill the most servile, the most sordid and the most ignoble offices”. These learned judges must think it possible that they be mistaken.
4. One fourth of the learned judges think that these letters are not necessary. However, a Union Minister- presumably referring to this writer- on 17 September 2003 said, “In India everyone has a veto”. The newspapers reported it on 18 September 2003, without disclosing the name of the Minister. Is it not a wonder? If an individual could veto the privatization, what all the learned judges could do? The letters not only uncovered vital truths and naked self-interests but also foresaw important developments and plans that were hidden by the media. Further, letter No. 25, 26 and 27 dated 2-1-2004, 19-1-2004 and 7-2-2004 respectively effectively prevented the Chief Justice of India from hearing the appeal against the judgement delivered by two judges. Is it not another wonder? The present Chief Justice may be waiting for an opportunity to strike is another matter.
5. The older one becomes, more clearly one sees that the learned judges of the Supreme Court fashion three fourth of the manipulations in this miserable country. The appropriators continue to maintain their position by using the Supreme Court. Now, the High Court, Delhi apparently gave clearance to the public sector BSNL to import cell phones worth Re. 5000 crore. The BSNL and therefore the Government would show the seal of the High Court for this bulk buying. People believe that the manipulators approached the High Court with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), defended the deal by fielding another advocate and got a favourable order after a mock argument. Now - according to the manipulators- none could accuse anyone.
6. When urea worth Re. 130 crore was imported, India lost Re. 130 crore only. Now, people believe that the loss must be more than Re. 1300 crore because there would be no one even to count the number of cell phones and metal pieces imported by the BSNL. The misfortune is that this money goes to conceal the letters of this writer, to eliminate such writers, to buy the PSUs, to manipulate elections and to enslave the Courts and the Indians. The remedy is to split the BSNL into State level units and allow them to compete with one another. However, the system is inclined to give the BSNL to private parties through manipulations than to the State Governments. In this way grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, pension cuts and exploitations. In fact, poverty and cut in pension benefits and salary grow as the manipulation grows. Had the Prime Minister or the Supreme Court vetoed the policy of bulk buying, 22 women and children would not have died in the constituency of the Prime Minister on 11 April, 2004 while receiving free cloths at all!
7. The letters revealed that the Supreme Court, CBI, RBI, NHRC and the entire news media have become the monopoly of a select group. It is natural that at every stage of society a particular group gets control and exploits the rest. The corporate houses dominating all others of a small country is also common. However, a select group dominating 1000 million people is uncommon.
8. The letters show that “the whole super structure is reared of various peculiarly shaped feelings, illusions, and habits of thoughts and conceptions of life. This is not to say that men consciously or unconsciously act from economic motives alone. It is only to say that while other motives might exist they are subordinate to the economic factor”.
9. The real and crucial issue in this General Election is whether the nation needs privatization or not. The BJP, in its “Election Manifesto” said that it would broaden and deepen reforms. The Congress, in its “Vision Statement” said that it would not privatize any profit making PSUs. The Indian TV and the news media proclaim that there is no distinction between the economic policies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress. In fact, the newspapers said that the economic policies of the Congress and the BJP were matching. In this way, they deceive 1000 million people partly by removing the true distinction and partly by making the privatization policy a non-issue. Viciousness of the media indicates that appropriators would assassinate or contribute to assassinate anyone who is a potential threat to privatization and big manipulations. The system also knows that they would do it unless they were prevented from doing this. Now, one could reasonably conclude that the past assassinations were provoked or catalyzed by the media by invoking various sentiments. On 11 April, 2004 the Indian TV showed a gun shop. The message is not a clear one. However, Government and the Election Commission must see that no individual in India possesses a gun.
10. This is letter No. 31.The system is not ready to retrieve socialism to its pre-eminent position. It is not ready to recover the lost PSUs. It is not ready to annul the false and wicked doctrines of the Supreme Court. It is not ready to trust two judges to hear the privatization case. It is neither ready to stop the manipulations nor ready to ensure lawful wages to the employees. Though the visit of the President to the Supreme Court of a country has no parallel in history, the Chief Justice is not ready to rectify the error. Above all, the system piously abides by the secrecy of these letters. It is clear that the “system”, despite the best efforts of the President, is remaining as “the squanderer of not only flesh and blood but also nerve and brain”. However, a strong human instinct instills every judge in a country to obey its President on constitutional matters. Therefore, one more visit to the Supreme Court would instill the Chief Justice to reveal the truth by doing justice to the papers before him. This will go down as a service because “people are never corrupted but deceived only”.
Yours faithfully
V.SABARIMUTHU
The newspapers profusely used the words -commonly used by this writer- in their articles. Thus a newspaper on 16 April, 2004 in its editorial used the words such as instinct, quintessential, rigmarole to write about the cloth distribution in the constituency of the Prime Minister. Other words such as “apparently”, “presumably” were frequently used. This showed that the newspapers were aware of the contents of all the letters.
During the election canvassing for the 14 th Indian Parliament, a leader of the political party said at Nagercoil –a place near the native place of this writer- that his party decided to part with the NDA to save the people from becoming slaves. A leader of another political party from Tamil Nadu State said that there was nothing wrong in making a Congress leader the Prime Minister of India. A prominent leader of the Congress party, in turn, said in a meeting in Assam that Assam would be made as prosperous as Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Congress leader wanted the people to vote the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) for social justice and for a prosperous India where all Indians have an equal share. The DPA was renamed as United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the election to the Parliament.
