Opinion The RSS’ terror taint

denial mode. The lead editorial in its journal,ML Update argues the RSS and the BJP cannot evade the “terror taint” since material evidence independent of Aseemanand’s confession also points to close linkages

between top RSS leaders like Indresh Kumar,BJP leaders like former MP B. L. Sharma “Prem”,as well as senior army officials,with Hindutva terror groups like Abhinav Bharat.

It alleges groups like Abhinav Bharat share ideological moorings with the RSS and BJP and their acts serve the political agenda of the BJP which use bomb blasts and terror as fodder to foster communal prejudices. “By themselves orchestrating acts of terror and then implicating Muslims in these blasts,groups like Abhinav Bharat and other shadowy outfits of the RSS helped to feed fear and prejudice against the Muslim minorities — while the BJP reaped this fear and hatred

in the political arena,by posing as the champion of nationalism against ‘Islamic’ terrorism,”

it says.

It also points out that had Aseemanand not confessed,“the communal profiling and scapegoating of minorities by the investigative agencies and a pliant media would have continued unquestioned.” What

Aseemanand’s confession laid bare,it argues,is the “dangerous extent to which terror investigations are tainted by majoritarian communal prejudice.” Raising questions about the credibility of our investigative and judicial process,” it calls for a judicial probe into the “enormous miscarriage” of justice which resulted in scores of

Muslim youth being jailed,tortured and branded as terrorists for crimes to which

Aseemanand has confessed.

The article is heavily critical of the media too. It says the media in its responses to Aseemanand’s revelations has displayed uncharacteristic hesitation,that contrasts rather starkly with its irresponsible and emotive coverage of the very same cases when Muslims were accused of terror without sufficient evidence.

Debunking Kapil

An article in the CPM’s People’s Democracy tries to debunk

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal’s argument that there was no real loss to the exchequer in allocation of 2G spectrum licences. Noting that some of Sibal’s

arguments are not new,as A. Raja had been advancing them ad nauseum,it says some of his claims are novel and call for new refutation.

Sibal’s argument that the prices 3G auction fetched in 2010 cannot be used for 2008 when the 2G licences were awarded as the value of money has changed in these two years as also the subscriber base and the annual revenue is interesting. “However,he seems to have no such problem in arguing that 2001 licence prices be used for 2008. This is,in spite of there being only four million cellular subscribers in 2001 as against a 75 times increase in subscriber base by 2008 — and a seven year gap!” it notes.

“The reason that CAG did not differentiate between 2010 and 2008 prices is quite simple — the market prices in 2007 and early 2008 would have been higher than 2010 as the financial crash took place later and the markets had not fully recovered even in 2010,” it argues. To debunk Sibal’s argument that the efficiency of 3G spectrum is more than 2G and since the former will be used for high value-added services it should have a different price,it quotes the Trai recommendation on spectrum management and licensing framework which it said had analysed why the efficiency of the 2G and 3G spectrum is not very different. Trai had also pointed out that “it is not just efficiency of the spectrum but also the size of the market and supply-demand position that determines the price,” it argues.

Price words

In an article in New Age,CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan slams the government in the context of rising food prices. He says none of the ministers has a clue about what is happening and what is to be done. In a sarcastic tone,he adds,“Some smart guy like Kapil Sibal may get up tomorrow and declare that all these stories of high prices,job loss,corruption and revenue loss are illusions spread by the opposition.”

Occasionally the PM,he says,expresses concern. “But expressing concern is not a solution. Nor does it give comfort to the aam aadmi. The best some of them can do is to reassure the people that prices will eventually come down within the next two months,and if not,then at least by the next season,”

he says.

Bardhan also raises questions about the fate of the Food Security Act. “How long are we to see the PMO and the National Advisory Council (NAC) lobbing the ball back and forth into each other’s court,discussing how many are the poor and how much the budget can afford? The point about food security for all,about universalising food security has already been lost in the din,” he says.