Author: Abraham Thomas
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 8, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/344313/Subba-nationality-back-in-focus.html
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh
has questioned the nationality of yoga guru Baba Ramdev's right hand man Acharya
Balkrishna at a time when the Congress led-UPA Government is battling charges
of party MP Mani Kumar Subba being elected to Parliament twice on a fake Indian
passport.
Subba, who lost the 2009 Parliamentary election,
was chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January
under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 468 and 471 (forgery),
193 (giving false evidence) and section 12 of the Passport Act, 1967. The
case is pending trial before the Special Judicial Magistrate in Guwahati (Assam).
Accusing Baba Ramdev of siding with a disciple
of questionable character and integrity, Singh had recently attacked Balkrishna
and claimed that Acharya Balkrishna was a citizen of Nepal and a criminal
who sought asylum in India.
The allegation has been denied by Balkrishna
as Singh did not present any evidence to substantiate the charge. Quoting
local intelligence, the charge has even been disproved by the Patanjali Yogpeeth
situated at Nepal claiming that Balkrishna has been in India since his birth.
However, going by the logic given by the senior
Congress leader to doubt the credibility of Baba Ramdev on ground of his close
associate's nationality, the Congress own credibility comes under attack for
sponsoring Subba through two terms of Parliament. It finally took an order
from the Supreme Court, acting on a PIL filed by Birendra Nath Singh in 2005,
to grant CBI liberty to initiate proceedings against Subba.
Interestingly, through the entire proceedings
before the apex court between 2005 and 2010, the Centre defended Subba and
prayed for the petition to be dismissed.
"There are serious doubts about your
identity," the SC Bench had commented after it perused the sealed cover
report submitted by the premier investigative agency. The CBI investigation
report stated, "Verification has revealed that Mani Kumar Subba was not
born at Dabgram, in Siliguri on March 16, 1958 as claimed by him in his affidavit
of April 2007…The certificate of birth produced by him (Subba) in this
regard along with his affidavit has been obtained by misrepresentation of
facts and in a fraudulent manner since his given birth place was neither in
existence nor Shri Phanindra Nath Sarkar was its owner during and prior to
1958."
Indicating that the birth details provided
by Subba are full of "contradictions" and "inconsistencies",
the report added, "while obtaining a passport (PO 26435) from Regional
Passport Office, Guwahati, Subba stated he was born on March 16 1951 at Harmoti,
Lakhipur district in Assam. Again when he applied for a diplomatic passport
in New Delhi, he supplied the date of birth as March 16, 1958."
