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| Deceptive face practices deceit on Parliament | | Congress MP from Tezpur comes under fire | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, MARCH 7
The Congress high command appears in a fix, unable to take on the main political foe, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) within and outside Parliament. A piquant problem has been created for the Congress leadership following the startling revelation about Moni Kumar Subha, Congress MP from Tezpur, being a Nepali citizen.
Subha has fooled authorites in India for 16 years and managed to set up a business empire and hold public office in this country. Well-known television channel, CNN-IBN, has just claimed to be in the possession of vital documents showing that Subha is a Napalese citizen and that he has lied about his age, place of birth and education.
Over the years, there have been allegations that Subba was convicted in Nepal and was imprisoned from 1971 to 1973 before he escaped to India. After settling down in India, Subba set up a successful gambling and lottery business and systematically erased his Nepali past. He first became an MLA in Assam and is now serving his second term in Parliament.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition challenging Subba’s claim to be an Indian, has given him time till April 20 to prove his Indian nationality. However, what is most embarrassing is that for close to three decades, he has held several high profile posts in the government. Just how did Subba hoodwink the law enforcing agencies and is there any premium on who is an Indian citizen in this country were some of the issues discussed by a panel comprising BJP MP, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer, R K Anand.
When asked if, as a Parliamentarian, he would now refuse to recognise an MP as Subba, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad was quoted as aying: “As a Parliamentarian and a political activist, I am embarrassed and hang my head in shame over the quality of Parliamentarians”. While agreeing with Prasad that the revelations were indeed a matter of shame, Congress leader R K Anand posed: “When a person is held up in a corruption case, like Bangaru Laxman is, where was the BJP at that time?“The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. They have to go into the details and then come to a conclusion whether Subba is an Indian citizen or not,” said Anand.
Meanwhile, if one were to go by official records, Subba was born thrice—in 1946, 1951 and in 1958—and at three places: Tezpur, Darjeeling and Mongolpuri (Delhi). There have also been allegations that Subba was, in fact, a murder convict in Nepal, and he was imprisoned from 1971 to 1973 before he escaped to India. In light of the evidence against him, does Subba not deserve to be an MP anymore?
Ravi Shankar Prasad agreed that such violations should not be tolerated and strict action should be taken against the offenders. "I would expect the Honourable Speaker to take cognisance of the conclusive report and refer the matter suo moto to the privilege committee. The Supreme Court has already stated that Parliament can take cognisance”, he said. He argued that being a citizen was a pre-condition for being an MP and since Subba did not qualify, he deserved to be sacked immediately. “The matter may be in the Supreme Court, but that does not injunct the Parliamentary Privilege Committee from taking notice of it and proceeding accordingly because Parliament is Supreme”, Prasad said.
Subba has also been a member of the Consultative Committee on Home Affairs and the CBI’s functioning comes under that very committee. How was it then possible for investigative agencies and the political fraternity to have turned a blind eye to something so serious for over three decades?
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