DANGEROUS SECRETS WIKILEAKS COMES TO INDIA

By Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

1st April 2011 issue-        

                            DANGEROUS SECRETS

                               WIKILEAKS COMES TO INDIA

The Wikileaks has now turned its attention to India. It had earlier ‘leaked’ that many Indian politicians and businessmen have parked thousands of crores in Swiss Banks but did not reveal their names. However, the Supreme Court even before this leak took the Central Government to task for not doing anything to bring back the money stashed in Swiss Banks.

The Central Government though admitted that it has the knowledge and in some cases, investigations are on, it refused to reveal the names. It also stated that it has entered into agreement with many countries for exchange of details of such culprits and it has to ink such agreements with remaining countries. And before the matter moved further, the Supreme Court directed to take action against Hasan Ali who is said to have evaded Tax up to Rs. 75000 crores.

As such people expected the Wikileaks to reveal the names of Indians who hold Swiss accounts, but it did not. It proclaimed that 220 Indians have Swiss accounts and therefore it sure must have the names with it but refused to part with it. As on now, Wikileaks say that it will take few months to reveal the names.

The case of Hasan Ali coming to light is definitely not because of Wikileaks. Hasan Ali was already under investigation by ED for quite sometime but since he enjoyed the patronage of political powers there was a delay in ED proceeding against him all these months. But once the Supreme Court rapped the ED and even set a dead line to act against Hasan Ali, the ED freed from the political pressure swiftly arrested him. ED has also disclosed that it is probing 44 cases of such big fishes but has refused to reveal the names lest the probe may suffer or the persons may slip out of the country.

Wikileaks has turned its attention to political leadership and the America’s interference in Indian political system.  The ‘Cash for vote’ for Nuclear Treaty with USA has come to light through Wikileaks. It may be recalled that the left parties withdrew support to Manmohan Singh Government over the Nuclear Treaty with USA and the Government was reduced minority. The Samajavadi Party came to its rescue and its famous wheeler dealer Amar Singh ‘managed’ the requisite strength to save the Government. A parliamentary committee was set up to probe the ‘cash for vote’ issue and the committee has almost white washed the same.

The Wikileaks has now brought back the scam to the fore. It has published ‘cables’ from the top US embassy official who ‘informed’ the USA about the heaps of money he was privy to witness, brought by some henchmen of ruling party leaders to pay for the MPs to vote in favour of UPA or abstain. The official had made a statement that Ajit Singh of RLD was given several crores to make his party MPs to vote for the UPA. In fact every body knows that Ajit Singh and his party MPs voted against the UPA. Interestingly, Amar Singh the biggest political broker the country has ever seen had played a crucial role in saving the UPA. In fact, the UPA had entrusted the ‘Operation’ to Amar Singh and he successfully saved the day for UPA. But Wikileaks has no mention of Amar Singh’s role in the entire episode. His role was decisive.

As usual, the BJP went tongs and hammers at the UPA Government in the parliament. It demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation in the wake of the Wikileaks exposure. The PM Manmohan Singh has questioned the credibility of the Wikileaks but the BJP is demanding nothing short of Manmohan Singh’s scalp. The other day, it had moved a privilege motion against Manmohan Singh for lying to the house.

When the BJP was going great guns at Manmohan Singh, Wikileaks ‘leaked’ cables which portrayed the senior leaders of BJP for having toed the line of USA. It exposed how the BJP leaders like L.K.Advani indulged in double talk. The cable from the US embassy officials narrated how L.K.Advani assured his support to Nuclear Treaty with the US officials while he opposed the same in the parliament. The BJP leaders are all embarrassed. The Wikileaks continued to ‘leak’ the cables of US embassy officials about BJP leaders. One can expect many more ‘cable leaks’ from Wikileaks in days to come.

Of course, the cables sent by the US embassy officials are reflective of their assessment of people which need not be the official stand. Just like a person who writes ‘Diary’ documenting his activities of the day and his impressions, the cables reflect the particular official’s assessment about the men and matter which he comes into contact with. Their assessment may or may not be accepted by the US government. It is simply an opinion. The embassy officials of any country do not always send inputs about the developments in that country to their Governments. Many a time, most of the countries post some police intelligence officials to their consulates - embassies on deputation. This is not a new phenomenon. Many a time, the host country asks a diplomat or a high ranking official to leave the country within a day or two if they are caught spying or doing some undesirable acts.

The Wikileaks has darkened the faces of UPA and BJP - the two major political players in the country. Interestingly, the BJP is treating Wikileaks exposure as Gospel Truth and attacking the Congress led UPA. But if the same is applied to them, it says the exposures are manipulated and that there are no truths in it.

As on now, the Wikileaks has discredited UPA, the ruling party and BJP, the opposition party in equal measure. There may be some more leaks and the target will be decided by the Wikileaks which has its own agenda. In a way, Wikileaks too has become a tool to the vested interests for serving their purpose.

More than anything, there is the question of credibility of the Wikileaks itself. But nobody wants to question its credibility. And that is the tragedy.