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In far off interiors, a young lad spotted a well known-thief robbing a valuable tree wood, some fruits and few other things, from a secluded farm. The boy after viewing the act noticed, among the loot there were some apples which belonged to him. He rushed back and informed an unaware bystander far away. The by stander advised the boy “Listen chap, I am not a watchman or police, and hence unable to help. Instead would advise you to please go to them and seek help”.

Now, the kid went back to the village claiming, the bystander is a culprit and a bigger thief than the looter, because he didn’t come forward to help and all the villagers should lynch this bystander, while it didn’t matter if the thief was running away with the loot, in all this.

Does the above fictional narrative, sound similar to be events in the recent past few weeks? Yes!!! The super case of Anjali Damania and her allegations on Nitin Gadkari (President of the Bhartiya Janta Party), with only difference being that here bystander (Nitin Gadkari) was not unaware, but he had his team working to expose the thieves (ministers and administrators involved in irrigation scam of Maharashtra).

Disclaimer: This blog is specific to the claims of Anjali Damania against Nitin Gadkari. This does not dwell into the veracity of details of entire irrigation scam. I hold no brief for any politicians, not even Nitin Gadkari. This post attempts to bring out the truth in the midst of hollow claims being dished out as proof to slander a Politician, against whom no conclusive evidence has been provided, which can indict him in the irrigation scam, even remotely.

The below analysis and hypothesis are entirely personal.

To start with, let’s go through the claims of Anjali Damania, that she met Gadkari in August 2011 with a request to get Kondhane dam (Karjat, Maharashtra) shifted around 700meters to save 38 acres of land jointly owned by her friends and relatives. As per Damania, when she meet Gadkari, he apparently said there was no way the BJP was going to rake up the irrigation scam as it had good relations with Sharad Pawar and the NCP “Sharad Pawar ke saath hamara uthna-baithna hai,ham saath dhanda karte hein.Woh hamare char kaam karte hain aur hum unke char kaam karte hain”, Damania quotes Gadkari as having told her.

The BJP chief, she claims, said the Oppositions role was limited to asking questions in the assembly and he would ask Kirit Somaiya not to go ahead with his PIL. Source – http://bit.ly/P5GrUB

Reading the above statement, many enthusiastic anti-corrupt activists, raised both eyebrows and sleeves of shirt, and started demanding Nitin Gadkari’s head.

Few IAC supporters / sympathizers, ran a drive on social media, discussing Gadkari’s son’s marriage, his business ventures and also shared few pictures of Nitin Gadkari with other politicians, apparently from NCP / Congress (clicked in social functions) in an attempt to deliver the point – Nitin Gadkari is “CORRUPT” and “Hand in gloves with corrupt members of NCP / Congress”. It is too much for activism, no? Senseless sensationalization ! Source – http://on.fb.me/SXNeLj

With so much talk on probity and intolerance towards corruption by Anjali Damania, under the banner of India Against Corruption, let’s have a closer look at the allegation and justifications provided on BJP and Nitin Gadkari.

Few questions / analysis on Anjali Damania’s claims that can also be extended to IAC

1.    Hypothetically even if Nitin Gadkari uttered those words, can Anjali Damania prove Nitin Gadkari thwarted the effort to unearth scam?

Infact BJP is seen to have acted on the scam, and has even filed PIL & FIR. It has also provided no less than 2600 pages of documents on the scam. Anjali has herself claimed that BJP leaders like D Fadanvis and Kirit Somaiya helped her.

2.    The assertion made by IAC that, BJP used RTI application filed by Anjali Damania to unearth the scam and collate 2600 pages worth of evidence.
For argument sake, even if this charge of Anjali Damania and IAC is considered to be true, it effectively contradicts IAC’s first charge that BJP did not act on the information provided as they have cross party working relations.

3.    So what is Damania’s grouse? 1. She was not credited for the expose by BJP or 2. BJP did not act on her request or 3. BJP decided to unearth scam on their own ?
It would have been prudent on part of Anjali, if she had effectively proved that the points were raised / flagged to BJP and that BJP hushed up the issue without taking cognizance. On the contrary BJP did act on the expose of the scam.

Now my interpretation:

Even if Nitin Gadkari spoke those words, it can be interpreted as:

1.    Nitin Gadkari may not have thought it prudent to assist an un-known self claimed activist, who also had a personal stake (land in her name) in the protest. Reasons could have been:
a)    Unreliability of IAC, which attacks BJP just to remain relevant in media, through selective utterances and not facts.
b)    BJP was more interested in unearthing the scam, and not allowing unknown activists to join, thereby risking the hard work done by BJP members and allowing IAC to unfairly claim involvement.

On 1Oct12, there was some news about Sancheti group being allegedly named in irrigation scam, by getting few contracts through some illegal methods (the allegations are unverified and not proved). IAC members are using this news to claim victory against Nitin Gadkari. Now some facts:

1.    Anjali had alleged that Nitin Gadkari was complicit a few months back. She had again reiterated her charge recently but on neither occasion, she had mentioned the link to Sancheti group, which means her earlier allegations, were not based on this news.

2.    If one had to draw an analogy, it is akin to saying that if your neighbor is culprit, then you are equally culpable of the crime. The report claims nothing about Nitin Gadkari. He does not have any relation whatsoever with the Sancheti Group. But it is convenient to assume things. Making slanderous charges against a politician always gets media interested, so why not link up Nitin Gadkari and that is precisely what is being attempted !

In this hullabaloo, trying to allege that BJP is hand in glove with the corrupt in the State, without substantiating any charges, entire focus has shifted from the actual scam and looters. All guns are, unfairly and mischievously, now trained against Nitin Gadkari and BJP; the scamsters have received much required breather to salvage the damage done. This is all credit to flimsy diversionary tactics used by IAC to remain relevant in media.

Can Anjali Damania and / or IAC answer the above questions and also why have they let NCP get momentary relief, by seeking to move the spotlight away from them? Do they believe the resignation of Ajit Pawar is enough? Should there be no further inquiry, if yes, then why such diversionary strategy that will help the corrupt?