Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The drama continued all through the day.

After being away from sight for about 24 hrs, the former Finance and Home Minister, P Chidambaram surfaced at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi for a press conference. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has listed his bail plea for being heard on Friday. A lookout notice was already issued, in the meanwhile, since his whereabouts were not known!

And this is the gist of what he'd said at the press conference:-

   * "Our Constitution grants us life and liberty. If asked to choose between the two, I'd choose
      liberty.
   * Lies, about me, are being spread by pathological liars.
   * I've received interim protection, from being arrested, for about 13 to 15 months.
   * Yesterday, after the High Court had rejected my plea for anticipatory bail and immunity from
      arrest, my lawyers had approached the Supreme Court to list my plea for bail and immunity from
      arrest for an urgent hearing. It has been listed for Friday.
   * There has been a canard, that was spread, that I was running away from the law but since last
      night I and my lawyers were working on the related papers.
   * Today, too, I was engaged with my lawyers in pursuit of my liberty.
   * Between now and Friday, I shall respect the law and await the decision of the Supreme Court".

And he didn't take any questions.

He returned to his residence at Jor Bagh, New Delhi and had created unwanted scenes which were avoidable. Two teams of the CBI and a team of the ED, had reached his gates which were locked. After the teams had scaled the boundary wall, the Investigating Officer had entered the house for conversation with the former minister and a decision was taken.

And after about over an hour's drama, P Chidambaram was whisked away by the team to the CBI's Headquarters. The time was around 2200 hrs!

My take.

* Why didn't the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul or Priyanka present themselves at the press
   conference and give him moral support since the latter two were very actively supporting him
   through their tweets?
* Or are they aware of his involvement in the scam and by their standing by him will put them in
   a difficult situation, as the case proceeds?
* Why did he have to go through that one hour-drama before courting arrest?
* After wielding enormous powers in government, it is essential that one's wrongs have to be
   explained and punishment, commensurate to the error, accepted with grace!
* Or did he feel that he was invincible, with the backing of his political party?


Tailpiece.

A quiet day and it was just the two of us as we went through the chores. The maid was attending an engagement ceremony in her family.      

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