Opinion: Supreme Court's Hindenburg Observations Should Bring Down "AQI" In Politics

In addition to the national capital being polluted to hazardous levels, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaching its nadir, the nation's political atmosphere too is affected by the rising 'AQI' (Accusation Quotient Index). In this scenario, the Supreme Court's observations on the Adani-Hindenburg case on Friday come as a whiff of fresh air.

The court's comment will not only have far-reaching repercussions in jurisprudence but also hopefully set a benchmark for our accusation-laden polity as well. The shoot-and-scoot tactic to tarnish political opponents, especially the ruling dispensation of the time, has permeated since Vishwanath Pratap Singh's 'paisa khaya kaun dalal?' (who pocketed the bribe?) jibe at Rajiv Gandhi in 1987.

The Bofors allegations emanated from media reports abroad. The "bribe-taker" has not been brought to book to date, some 46 years since the innuendo rocked Indian politics. During the 1989 election campaign, Singh used to tout a piece of paper, which purportedly had the list of bribe-takers. As Prime Minister, he never disclosed its 'contents'.

The aftermath of Bofors was a slowdown in the nation's strategic arms acquisitions, which has been reversed by the Narendra Modi regime. The acquisitions by the Modi regime resulted in Rahul Gandhi's "chowkidar chor hai" jibe in 2019; he tendered an unconditional three-page apology to the Supreme Court on this score.

The Hindenburg report originated from foreign shores. It sent the stock exchange into a tumble. A vast number of common investors in India lost their fortunes as stocks crashed (to recover later). Short-sellers who took advantage of Hindenburg (itself a short-seller) benefitted immensely.

On Friday a bench headed by Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, while considering a bunch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) said that the Hindenburg report cannot be treated as the "true state of affairs". The court barred the petitioners' counsel, Prashant Bhushan, from citing the Hindenburg report and refused to accept reports based on that document published by London's Financial Times and Guardian as "gospel truth".

During the proceedings, a strange phenomenon of round-tripping of information, which is perhaps tantamount to news laundering (a la money laundering) emerged. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta pointed out that replying to queries sent by the Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) the OCCRP (Organised Crime & Corruption Reporting Project), whose 'findings' have been relied upon in the Hindenburg report, had said that it had used information sent to it by an NGO run by Prashant Bhushan in India. (Both OCCRP and the NGO are funded by the billionaire George Soros.)

Thus what emerged was that Prashant Bhushan's NGO fed information to OCCRP; which became the basis of the Hindenburg findings; the report was picked up by foreign newspapers and petitions were filed in India, which Prashant Bhushan argued before the Supreme Court. Remarkable round-tripping indeed.

In Friday's hearing the Solicitor General had to point out that a revenue intelligence report being cited by Bhushan was of 2007 vintage, which had been closed after a probe some six years back. Pointing out to Bhushan that the report relied upon by him had been adjudicated and upheld by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Chandrachud said, "So your entire allegation about siphoning off money and its use in manipulating the stock exchange is not true".

This development in the Supreme Court came at a time when political discourse plummeted to its nadir with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi choosing a superstitious word in Hindi, 'panauti' (harbinger of bad luck) to describe Narendra Modi. The Election Commission has issued notice to Rahul Gandhi and his reply will indeed be interesting to wait for.

The reason for the use of the castigating word was the presence of the Prime Minister at the cricket stadium in Ahmedabad Sunday last when India lost the cricket World Cup final to Australia. Addressing a poll rally in Rajasthan's Bundi Rahul Gandhi picked up the word from a member of the audience and said that but for Modi's presence, the team would have done better. Social media clips also show him jibing that PM stood for 'panauti Modi'.

Rahul Gandhi was not alone in insinuating that Modi's presence and the venue, Ahmedabad, were ominous. Mamata Banerjee referred to Modi as 'paapi' during a party rally on Thursday and said that had the final been played at Kolkata's Eden Gardens India would have won. Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena(UBT) echoed her and said the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai would not have produced an Ahmedabad-like result. The Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, who usually chips in when Modi is criticised, was quiet. He himself is a Ranji-level cricketer and thus respects the sentiments of the national team, which gave its best in the tournament but slipped in the final match.

Inaugurating the First Asian Games in New Delhi in March 1951, Jawaharlal Nehru gave a talisman to sportsmen: "Play the game in the spirit of the game". Rahul Gandhi apparently disagrees with his great-grandfather. Not surprising. As Congress president, he had no qualms in disbanding the publication of Nehru's newspaper National Herald, in 2007. Thereafter what he did to its assets is now facing a probe, not initiated by the Modi regime, but by a bitter critic of Modi, Subramaniam Swamy.

Recently, properties of the National Herald, including Nehru House in Lucknow's Baradari vicinity, where Nehru and Rahul's grandfather Feroze Gandhi both had sat in pre-independence days, were attached by the Enforcement Directorate as "proceeds of crime" due to the Subramanian Swamy case. Someday if the history of the National Herald is chronicled, it may bear the epitaph: "Founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, Grounded by Rahul Gandhi".

An aside from chokidar chor hai jibe was Rahul Gandhi's accusation that Modi had 'weakened' Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). The latest balance sheet puts HAL's turnover at Rs 26500 crore with a profit of Rs 1237 crore.HAL is eying exports to Malaysia, Argentina, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Egypt. US company GE has agreed to collaborate with it to manufacture F-414 engines to power fighter jets. Is reliance on unsubstantiated information to scatter disinformation from political platforms a legitimate tool?

After the Supreme Court's Hindenburg observation, hopefully reliable, verifiable information and not jibes emanating from personal angst will be relied upon by politicians in the run-up to the Battle Royale of 2024.

(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired Editor and a public affairs commentator)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

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