Black Friday for democracy: Harin Pathak, BJP MP

As many as 11 members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) have decided to submit a dissent report within two weeks, said Harin Pathak, the BJP MP from Ahmedabad.

They were completely taken aback when the JPC gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram of any wrongdoing in the 2G spectrum allocation. The JPC, on Friday, adopted its report by a majority vote and put the entire blame on former telecom minister A Raja in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation issue.

According to sources, the report also refutes the assessment of then comptroller and auditor general (CAG) Vinod Rai that losses worth a whopping Rs1.76 lakh crore were incurred in the allocation of these licences.

Calling it a black day for democracy, Pathak said the Congress has saved the PM and the finance minister by voting in favour of adopting the report. “It is a black Friday for democracy. This has never happened in the history of Parliament in which JPC had come to a conclusion without considering the report. The chairman heard us for around 30 minutes and suddenly came to a conclusion on the basis of votes,” he said.

According to Pathak, JPC chairman PC Chacko asked how many were against the report and how many in favour of it.

“Of the 30-member panel, 27 were present of which one member from NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) had gone to the washroom. At that time, 16 members raised their hands favouring the report while 11 were against it. On the basis of that vote, Congress dictated JPC and came to this conclusion,” he said.

Giving example of the Harshad Mehta case in 1992, Pathak said four members of the current JPC were also members of that committee that lasted for six months. “At that time, we held several meetings and discussed each and every clause, each and every point written in that draft. However, in the case of 2G spectrum allocation, Congress declared the result without discussing any point, clause and reference of the report. They have spoilt parliamentary democracy,” he charged.

Two JD(U) members and BJP leader Gopinath Munde were not present at the JPC meet on Friday. “Munde could not come as he was unwell. Now, we have decided that six panel members from BJP and five others will prepare a dissent report in which we will mention that we do not accept the decision of the JPC. Our dissent note will be ready in two weeks and we will submit it to the speaker,” said Pathak.