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Judev, Jogi cases a blot on democracy: Vajpayee

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI DEC. 16. Bracketing the Judev video and the Jogi tape episodes as two "serious warning signals" for the country's democratic polity, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today said that it was unfortunate for him that he had to give clarifications in the House of Elders in the two corruption cases involving the country's two major political parties.

Mr. Vajpayee termed the Judev-Jogi cases a "blot" on the face of democracy. He said that he was unable to give expression to his anguish and urged the members to ponder over larger questions such as funding of elections, which were becoming increasingly expensive, as well as the future of democracy. He wondered if the political parties were rendering themselves vulnerable to corporate interests.

In his reply to the discussion on the Judev affair in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Vajpayee said the Central Bureau of Investigation had sent the video compact disc for forensic examination and had not gathered enough evidence for registering a First Information Report. "I have not concealed anything nor have added anything. I have placed the facts before the House. We will have to wait for the results of the investigation. Although it is over a month now and the CBI has not been able to come up with full facts in the Judev case, we have apprised the CBI of our concern to get to know the truth," he said.

Rejecting the Opposition charge that the Government was following "double standard" in the Judev-Jogi cases, he said the two were entirely different. "When our party was in the Opposition, we respected the CBI for its professional approach and if we sit on the Opposition benches after elections, if need be, we will still respect the agency," he said.

Slip of tongue

In his nearly half-an-hour-long reply, Mr. Vajpayee displayed his characteristic wit and humour and mixed up Mr. Jogi and Mr. Judev, admitting it was a "slip of tongue" and that in the past too it had landed him in trouble.

Referring to the two cases, the Prime Minister said that in the Judev case, the CBI was yet to identify a person being referred to as Rahul. "Mr. Judev and his personal secretary, Natwar Rateria, have been questioned twice by the CBI. The probe is going on, the VCD and the conversation in it are not very clear and it is difficult to register a case on this basis. We have to wait for the forensic report. There appears to be layer after layer. Should we not give enough time to the CBI to get the full facts," he asked.

On the Jogi case, Mr. Vajpayee said there was a complainant — Virender Pandey — who had lodged an FIR in Raipur, naming Ajit Jogi, his son, Amit Jogi, and P.R. Khunte. The complainant also handed over Rs. 45 lakhs to the Raipur police, which was alleged to be the bribe reportedly offered by Mr. Jogi to split the BJP in Chhattisgarh. "A document exists in the case — Mr. Jogi's letter to the Governor — which also became the basis of action which the Congress took against him. There is a complainant, the purpose behind the bribe is clear and the money is also there," he said.

Emphasising that he was neither giving a "fatwa" nor any "decision" in the cases, a disenchanted Mr. Vajpayee wondered what the younger generation would think and how it would react to the unsavoury incidents involving a former Central Minister and a former Chief Minister. "My office cannot give any directions to the agency. Ours is a vibrant, just democracy and due process has to be followed," he said.

Touching upon his own political career spanning more than four decades, Mr. Vajpayee said: "Nobody can say that I have accepted money or committed any act of injustice. Election results in four States have given our party a reason to rejoice but my disgust and anguish cannot be expressed in words."

When the senior Congress leader, Arjun Singh, referred to some news reports and wanted to know if like the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, he also had prior knowledge about the Jogi trap in Raipur, Mr. Vajpayee said that it was necessary to verify reports but asserted that the agency was free to probe even this aspect of the case if Mr. Advani sitting in Delhi knew about such a "conspiracy."

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