CBI officials have arrested Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an excise policy case and as expected, there have been reactions to it from across the country.
Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has always maintained that his government is honest. He has referred to his deputy chief minister as honest and capable minister. Then why is the honest minister facing charges? For that, one will have to come across what the accusation is all about and why did the CBI arrest him.
The reason behind all this is the capital’s now scrapped liquor sales policy. Sisodia has been accused of taking commission while giving licenses as per the policy and that money has been used in the Punjab elections. That has been the centre of the probe launched by the CBI. Although Sisodia was arrested on February 26, the inquiry began in July last year.
Delhi’s Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar had presented a report to Lt Governor V K Saxena with accusations directed towards Sisodia and that was the beginning of this whole episode. Of the 15 names mentioned in the FIR filed by CBI, Sisodia’s is on top. The FIR by CBI citing the statement from the Lt Governor’s office has said that Sisodia, Delhi Excise Department Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and two other Excise officials played a crucial role in bending the rules to provide undue liquor vend licensees. The FIR also states that some of the licensees are also issuing credit notes to the retailers, which is benefitting the government and the department has done some foul entries.
The CBI had already carried out a raid on Sisodia’s residence in August 2022 for inquiry of the same. However, they did not find anything suspicious. The new liquor policy included some changes, which allowed home delivery of liquor and permitted the shops to remain open till 3 am.
Licencees could also offer unlimited discounts under the policy. These changes were given approval at the cabinet meeting held on May 2, 2022. The chief secretary was required to examine the changes before implementing the policy. After examining, he pointed out the procedural errors and the irregularities. However, he did not stop just at that, but also sent the report regarding the same to the excise minister Sisodia and sought answers with regards to some irregularities.
A copy of this report was also sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Saxena. The chief secretary also informed Delhi’s Enforcement Directorate regarding the irregularities, monopoly in the policy, arbitrary approach by one group and asked them to investigate.
What was the need for him to do so? He was chief secretary of the Delhi government and so, should have brought the shortcomings to the notice of the government. But instead, he took it directly to ED.
His behaviour was suspicious. The whole shebang is about the right of the government to decide on the new policy and its implementation. The government changed the liquor policy to increase the revenue of Delhi. The biggest and the most crucial change in the policy was the privatisation of all the liquor shops in Delhi, which meant that the government had nothing to do with regards to sale of alcohol anymore.
They had also decided on where these shops would be. The intention of the policy was to stop black marketing, increase government revenue and improve the consumers’ experience.
The reforms increased the revenue by 27%, generating Rs 8,900 crore in the government’s treasury. This means the reforms initiated by the government were successful. Obviously, this was a success for the government, but the reforms were opposed by the opposition.
However, the opposition has to accept the decisions taken by the government, which has been elected to power with an ultra-clear majority. For example, the opposition may not agree with the decisions taken by the Central Government, but they will have to agree with them anyway.
The same is with the Delhi government. If the opposition is not on the same page with the reforms, then they can change it once it is elected to power. However, why is there an FIR over reforms? In that case many governments would face such offences.
There was a recruitment scam in Goa and the process was later scrapped. Neither any complaints were filed against anyone nor any inquiries held. A case was filed against Mauvin Godinho when he was in the opposition and the chapter went on for long.
However, things changed when he entered the BJP. This was nothing, but politics of convenience. Kejriwal has claimed that Sisodia is innocent and has accused the BJP of playing dirty politics.
Majority of the people are of the opinion and it is safe to say that BJP themselves have created these suspicions.
