Monday Post

Political scene in country is hotting up, with General Elections approaching in next two months. Few interesting developments during last few days are worth discussing about :

1. Interim budget- There were certain concessions announced in Interim budget 2019.  Few of them concerning  Personal  income tax are- No income tax to be paid for taxable income up to Rs 5 Lakhs , Standard deduction for salaried employees increased from Rs 40,000 to  Rs 50,000; TDS limit hiked from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 on Post Office Savings  and Bank deposits; exemption now available  on the second house property, provided the capital gains is less than Rs 2 Cr which can be availed once in life time. There are certain concessions  for Business, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) & Real Estate also, Measures for poor & backward class , Pension plans for un organised sector . The opposition parties were taken aback when the finance minister presented this budget in Parliament on 1st Feb, this was almost a full fledged budget instead of interim budget, but no opposition party could criticise the same because govt had announced sops for Salaried Class and MSMEs and Real Estate Sector. Looked like this was master stroke from the Modi govt, criticising this budget would mean losing the potential vote bank.
2. What is happening in West Bengal is a real worry for any  law abiding citizen of the country. Friends you will remember that Sarada and other Ponzi (Chit Fund) scams were unearthed in early 2013, where it was revealed that there were many top leaders of Trinamool  Congress (TMC) were involved, which was ruling party then and now in  West Bengal. That time UPA 2 was in power at centre, and in early 2014 the investigations of this scam was transfer to CBI. So many of the arrested personalities were from TMC party, and all were questioned by CBI. That time  Mamta Banerjee never spoke of political vendetta by the UPA govt, but as soon as NDA govt headed by Modi came to power in May 2014, the scenario changed. Now any thing happening in West Bengal where centre govt takes some action then there is much hue and cry  and  Mamta start shouting from roof top that it is political vendetta by  Modi govt. Be it the issue of Bagladeshi immigrants, Rohingyas Muslims, her stand is always to oppose NDA govt. She is only worried for her Muslim vote bank and least bothered about national security and other national interest. Yesterday what happened in Kolkata was really disgusting- A CBI team had gone to office of  Kolkata Police Commissioner in connection with the Ponzi scam. There was confrontation between Kolkata police and  CBI team and local police detained the CBI team and took them to Police station. Hundreds of policemen laid siege to two central govt building where CBI offices are located. And What was Mamta’s reaction, she accused the centre of trying to stage a “constitutional coup in Bengal. Looks like that the stand off  might continue  in the run up to Parliament elections because now TMC has realised that BJP is going to be the main opposition to them instead of Congress or CPM. Recently state govt has not given permission for Amit Shah’s and UP CM Yogi’s helicopter to land in Bengal, for campaigning purpose. It has been pointed out by CBI head quarters in New Delhi that Kolkata police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar  is never availabe to CBI team when ever he is called and is always absconding from them, fearing that he will be arrested, because he has never responded  to CBI.  The fact is he  delayed and diluted the  initial SIT probe, which he was heading on Ponzi scam. Now Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Omar Abdullah, MK Stalin & Tejashawi Yadav have jumped into Mamta’s band wagon & offered their support to her. CBI has decided to move Supreme Court, accusing the the Bengal state of impeding investigation of SC ordered CBI probe. This is going to be an interesting case in SC. I think Mamta should learn some thing from  Modi- when he was implicated by then central govt of UPA, in Gujarat rios of 2002 , he attended all the meetings whenever he was called and answered each and every question of  investigation team, and in the end he was acquitted by all the courts. He was also knowing it was political vendetta but he never shouted about the same, which Mamta is doing. It seems that she is not having any faith in the judiciary of the country or  there is a certain hanky panky business by TMC leaders in this Ponzi scam.

What you say my friends.

waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

4th Feb 2019.