Mind your own money

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram came out with a statement last week on how the UPA government had conducted an enquiry into the crores of Indian funds parked in Swiss bank accounts and has been diligently trying to get this money back into the country. Despite Chidambaram’s clarification, the BJP is keen to turn this into a major election issue. I find it amusing that the BJP is raking this controversy having taken a cue from an article published on a website, when the party had every opportunity to investigate and recover these funds during its five-year term in the centre. Far from taking a single step towards uncovering the sources of these funds during the NDA regime, the BJP did not even speak about it. Some explanation is clearly needed from the party on why it suddenly remembered the Swiss money right ahead of the general elections.

There is a joke gaining currency in the political circles that those who cannot keep a check on their own money are now offering to account for the alleged thousands of crores stashed in foreign banks. It was only three months ago that crores of rupees were stolen from BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi. The matter was painstakingly hushed up by the party itself as the money involved was unaccounted for; its sources unknown. Nobody knows exactly how much of BJP’s own money was stolen and whether it also made its way into the Swiss banks.

Katju again

Those who believe in India’s secular credentials must find a true hero in Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju, who has time and again stood up for safeguarding the country’s secular character. Justice Katju has often taken a stance against fundamentalism of all religions and not only did he strongly condemn the Gujarat riots against the minority community — terming them a disgrace to the country — he also took the Orissa government to task for failing to protect minorities during the recent riots. Katju is well-regarded for his love of Urdu and is one of the biggest known supporters of the language.

Now, his recent judgment in rejection of a petition by a student of a convent school in Madhya Pradesh —who was pleading against his school’s regulation that all students should be clean shaven — must be welcomed as a step in the right direction. The student made a case to be allowed to sport a beard. In return, Justice Katju spoke up for preventing Talibanisation of the country.

A school, or any institution for this matter is free to have its own regulations and it is incumbent upon all its members to ascribe to such regulations. Personal faith is indeed personal and it should not be mixed up with such regulations.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha.