Judicial probe against Central agencies "unfortunate", says Rajnath Singh
Union DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the Kerala governmentsdecision to recommend a judicial inquiry against central probeagencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probingthe gold and dollar smuggling cases, was “unfortunate” andamounts to challenging the federal structure of theConstitution.
Singh, who is in Kerala to campaignfor the BJP-NDAcandidates in the April 6 Assembly polls, also said theUniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented only after takingall the communities into confidence.
The UCC is there in the BJP manifesto.
“We will take all the communities into confidence andgo forward. We are firm on that decision”, Singh toldreportershere.
On the rising fuel prices, he said the Centre hadrequested all the states to reduce the state duty on petrol.
On the smuggling cases, he said: “I came to know thatthe case is being probed by the ED and then a judicialcommission has been appointed against the central agency. Itsvery unfortunate. This means the state government ischallenging the federal structure of the Constitution. This is100 per cent against the constitution.” The CPI(M)-led LDF government had recently decided toorder a judicial enquiry against the central agencies,including ED, for allegedly “derailing the probe” in the goldsmuggling and dollar scams, days after the Kerala Crime Branchregistered an FIR against some ED officials.
While the gold scam relates to the seizure of about 30kg gold worth Rs 14.82 crore from a diplomatic baggage atThiruvananthapuram Internationalairport in July 2020, thedollar smuggling case pertains to alleged smuggling of USD1,90,000 (equivalent to Rs1.30 crore) by a former financehead of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat inOman.
Besides the ED, the Customs and the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) are also inquiring into the scams.
Attacking both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and theopposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), Singhsaid even with 100 per cent literacy, Kerala is behind otherstates in various sectors.
“The main reason is that even after seven decadesafter independence, the state cannot come out of the clutchesof LDF and UDF. The state needs a new political alternativeand only BJP can give it. UDF and LDF are playing friendlymatches. Either the LDF or the UDF win the match but thepeople are getting defeated. In Kerala the Congress andcommunists are fighting but 2,000 km away, they are fightingus together,” Singh said.
Both the fronts were giving false promises and failedto understand the aspiration of the people of Kerala.
TheLDF should come with an action taken report ontheir promises rather than giving false hope to the people, hesaid, adding the appeasement policies of the two fronts hadtaken Kerala away from the path of development.
Theminister also attacked senior Congress leaderRahul Gandhi and said he always assures to form a separateministry for fishermen in Delhi.
“Perhaps he doesnt know that Modi ji has alreadyformed a ministry back in 2019,” Singh said.
The Union Minister, who held a road show at Varkalathis morning, will be campaigning across Kottayam, Thrissurand Ernakulam districts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)