Author: Sandeep B
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: October 9, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/oped/11972-media-lionises-a-rogue-cop.html
Sanjiv Bhatt, the IPS officer who has levelled
sweeping and baseless allegations against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi, has a mile-long history sheet of violating every possible rule in the
book - from abusing TADA to harass innocent people to planting narcotics to
frame an innocent lawyer. His service record is blotted with several observations
of his shameful conduct. Yet, for media he is a hero!
There's really no other way to say this: Sanjiv
Bhatt is a rogue cop who has willingly let himself be a pawn in the hands
of those whose sole intent seems to be the removal of Mr Narendra Modi from
his position as Chief Minister of Gujarat. His arrest by Gujarat Police on
September 30 has brought out new facts which only underscore what this writer
had earlier chronicled in these columns ("Modi-baiters stand unmasked",
August 26). His tone, tenor and language before and after his arrest seem
to prove the repeated observation in his service record that his conduct is
unbecoming of a senior IPS officer.
The arrest of a senior IPS officer - or any
civil servant - happens under relatively extraordinary circumstances. Bhatt's
case demonstrates this fact like no other: Throughout his career, the Gujarat
Government has shown remarkable restraint in not acting tough against Bhatt's
numerous transgressions. Most of these weren't ordinary transgressions: from
planting drugs in an innocent lawyer's hotel room to rigging police recruitments
to committing atrocities by misusing the TADA to flouting repeated summons
to appear before departmental inquiries. The latest episode of his violation-filled
career is the allegation that Bhatt bullied his junior, police constable KD
Pant, into signing false affidavits. If Mr Pant's allegations are proven,
Bhatt stands to face exemplary punishment.
Mr Pant's complaint makes for shocking reading.
Very briefly, it states how Bhatt asked Mr Pant to state that his deposition
before the SIT was taken under duress, told him to paint the SIT as a team
of arm-twisters and bullied him to state that he went with Bhatt to that "dreaded"
meeting Mr Modi had with his senior bureaucrats on February 27, 2002 and assured
Mr Pant that he would be "safe" by taking him to Gujarat Congress
leader Arjun Modhwadia who assured him that "Mr Narendra Modi is to be
sent to Sabarmati Jail within two months."
What's interesting is that Bhatt in his Supreme
Court affidavit in April 2011 states that Mr Pant was treated by the SIT as
if he was an accused. This is quite consistent with Bhatt's later-day intimidation
of Mr Pant and indicates that perhaps Bhatt had the intimidation planned when
he filed his SC affidavit. It should also be noted that Bhatt produced Mr
Pant suo moto as a witness before the SIT.
The prime reason for Bhatt's secular stardom
hinges on his claim that he was present in that meeting where Mr Modi had
allegedly instructed a group of senior bureaucrats to allow Hindus to vent
their anger against Muslims. Which is where Mr Pant's complaint gains immense
importance. Mr Pant's complaint states that he was on leave and vacationing
in Mumbai from February 25 to February 28, 2002, a fact he has disclosed to
the SIT. If this is indeed true, it is consistent with the fact that none
of the said bureaucrats could recall Bhatt's presence in that meeting. Additionally,
Mr RB Sreekumar, former Gujarat DGP - no friend of Mr Modi - in his affidavit
before the SIT hasn't mentioned Bhatt's name as those present in that meeting.
Look at it whichever way, it's clear that Bhatt is blatantly lying under the
veneer of his 'stricken conscience'.
It's curious why he hasn't produced a single
shred of evidence especially when he claims that he has massive amounts of
documents to implicate Mr Modi and other "powerful" people in the
Gujarat administration and refused the court's offer of bail on the condition
that he allows the police to access his bank lockers. If he's the principled
man he claims he is, why should he deny such a request? If he's utterly scrupulous,
why did he need to approach a political party, and known mischief-mongers
like Ms Teesta Setalvad and Ms Shabnam Hashmi? Recall that Bhatt's affidavit
was notarised by the same advocate who notarised all those false and/or tutored
witnesses produced by Ms Setalvad. The truth is that Bhatt is allowing himself
to be used by Modi-baiters of all hues: Primarily the NGO mafia and the Congress.
His e-mail exchanges with Gujarat Congress opposition leader SS Gohil (where
Bhatt asks him for a new Blackberry phone) and links with Mr Arjun Modhwadia
are clear indicators that he's a willing pawn in the Congress's political
games.
However, all this doesn't concern the presumptuous
media, which in Mr Modi's case seems to operate like the propaganda arm of
the Congress. A leading daily pens an editorial about how the Gujarat Government
has muzzled Bhatt's right to dissent by arresting him. The irony of that statement
is perhaps lost on the publication. There's a huge difference between arresting
somebody on perfectly legitimate grounds - it's significant to note that no
criminal case has been framed against Bhatt - and arresting because he/she
exercised the democratic right of peaceful protest. As official documents
show, Bhatt's arrest was the only way the Gujarat Government could get him
to face departmental proceedings because he had avoided as many as four summons.
Of course, such facts are inconvenient to a media that has stitched its own
version of the truth. Oh, and the clearest and most recent instance of muzzling
dissent is the savage crackdown by the Congress against Baba Ramdev and his
supporters. Another illustrative example is the Emergency imposed by this
party.
The guardians of secularism unfailingly exhibit
a Pavlovian similarity in behaviour where Mr Modi is concerned. The mindset
at work currently is the same that clamoured for Mr Modi's blood and wept
copious tears for that dreaded underworld don, Sohrabuddin. It's also the
same mindset that treated Sohrabuddin like he was some martyr just the same
way as it's now suppressing Bhatt's shady record and giving short shrift to
Mr Pant's complaint. It's superfluous to say that the media, a willing stooge
of the secular fundamentalists has abandoned even the most basic sense of
right and wrong. What's next? Will this motley crowd support Dawood Ibrahim
if he alleges that Mr Modi was responsible for the 2002 riots?
A good indicator of what's going on can be
gauged by the Congress's reaction. It wasted no time in openly supporting
the drumbeaters who took out protests condemning Bhatt's arrest. Indeed, the
arrest couldn't have come at a better time. Mr Modi's spectacular success
of the Sadbhavana Mission combined with America's praise for Gujarat's successes
and its own realisation that the Congress has near-zero presence in Gujarat
were causes for serious worry. Bhatt's arrest gave it a new handle to manufacture
more fake outrage. More accurately, the Congress has adopted a multi-pronged
approach to attack Mr Modi: From taking out parallel fasts to abusing the
Governor's office to using Bhatt, it's desperately trying to nail that one
trick that'll actually work. Bhatt is merely incidental.
- The writer is a Bangalore-based commentator
on current affairs.
