ARREST OF NAWAB MALIK – THE FASCIST WAY OF INTIMIDATING POLITICAL OPPONENTS

New Delhi, 24th Feb 2022: BM Kamble, National Vice President of the Social Democratic Party of India termed the arrest of Maharashtra NCP minister Nawab Malik as a craven act of the RSS led BJP government. Intimidating the political opponents has become the hallmark of the fascist government, said Kamble. 

The ED has raised many allegations of money laundering and terror funding against the minister. Let the investigations and the court decide on the allegations. The cause of arrest is reported to be for a property deal that he entered into with Haseena Parkar, sister of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. There are allegations that Malik bought this property for Rs 85 lakh, of which Rs 30 lakh was shown in the sale agreement and the rest was paid in cash. The ED has alleged that the registered value of the property was much lower than the prevailing market rate.

It seems the government doesn’t actually want to snare and bring the underworld don to book. They want such a character for shadow fighting. Do any laws, national or international, permit to arraign the relatives of a criminal for the single reason of being the relative of the criminal, who is not involved in any crime? Is engaging in financial transactions with the relatives of a criminal against the law of the country? Many such questions arise about the arrest of the minister.

In fact, the allegation of ED of registering properties at lower values than the prevailing market value exposes the vulnerability of the system and the loopholes in the laws that help the people to go for such deals. As the nation has been witnessing for the past seven years, it is neither the crime nor the gravity of the crime the decisive factor of slapping cases. It is the party loyalty that makes one criminal or not in the country now.  It is the same doctrine of George Bush “with us or with the axis of evil” that is being followed. Any fraudster or criminal, irrespective of the crime or fraud, is safe if he is loyal to the ruling fascist party. The others are perpetually harassed, bullied and intimidated. Those who have committed crimes should be punished, no doubt. But the discrimination in arraigning people based on party loyalty should be done away with, which one cannot expect from the present fascist regime, commented Kamble.