'Obsession with politics blurs the vision'

Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal’s remark that ‘obsession with politics blurs the vision’, must not be looked only in the context that the minister assigned.

Kapil Sibal’s context – broadly on the opposition’s continued demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam and specifically on Arun Jaitley’s remark that the manner in which a judicial probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam was announced may invite breach of Parliamentary privilege.

A little introspection into Kapil Sibal’s own party in another recent episode will betray how obsession with politics has blurred the vision of the Congress party too.

The Congress general secretary, Digvijay Singh’s claim that the ex-Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare had called him two hours before 26/11 attacks to say that his life was in danger, is bound to shock anyone. Digvijay saidthat his initial reaction on hearing about Karkare’s death was, 'Oh God, they have killed him'.

It may be another thing that Hemant Karkare’s widow has accused Digvijay Singh of playing politics with her husband’s death.

A little background about Digvijay’s statement: Karkare was investigating the Malegaon bomb blast allegedly carried out by Hindu extremists. Days after Karkare’s death, the then minority affairs minister AR Antulay made an unsubstantiated statement: Karkare could have been a victim of “terrorism or terrorism plus something”.

Rejecting Digvijay’s entire claim, Kavita Karkare (Hemant Karkare’s wife) ascertained (on Dec’ 12) that if her husband felt threatened by anyone, she would have known. She said that her husband did not get any threat calls and Hindu extremists did not have anything to do with the death of her husband.

Interestingly, the latest disclosures by WikiLeaks point that secret cables sent to United States after a month of the Mumbai attacks revealed, the United States thought that the Congress ‘implicitly endorsed the conspiracy theory’ after initially distancing itself from its own party man AR Antulay’s ‘completely unsubstantiated claims’. And US reportedly feels that the Congress backed the conspiracy theory to please Muslims.

There may be another reason behind Digvijay Singh playing the Muslim card now. The Congress earlier this month appointed Digvijay Singh as in-charge of the party's affairs in Assam, a state which has a high population of Muslims and no political party in the state can think of forming the government without their support.

Now, the Congress party is trying to distance itself from the party general secretary’s controversial remark calling it the leader's personal statement. Had it been any other party which gives its leaders freedom to express their views, it would have been easier to believe this. But not with the Congress.

In a significant revelation, Ms. Kavita Karkare has reportedly denied that Digvijay Singh knew her husband personally, contrary to the defense that the Congress later tried to put.

What is of more significance is Ms. Karkare revealation that during the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections (2009), she was approached by political parties who offered her money to speak to the media and make statements that suited them.

Off course Ms. Kavita Karkare was very clear and said, “no such questions would be entertained.”