Fly on the Wall : BJP's Mission- 2019: Task Force In Place

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

BJP's Mission- 2019: Task Force In Place

Irrespective of the outcome of Assembly polls due to take place this year, the Central leadership of the BJP has started gearing up for the May 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Recruitment of commissioned task force for 300 Lok Sabha seats has begun quietly. These seats have been identified by the party which it will contest seriously across the country and an army of work force is being recruited. The task force will be commissioned for a limited period of three to four months and will be in place of work by January 1. However, they will be acclimatized and given a crash course for 15 days so that they are fully conversant of the constituency, local dialect, customs and caste equations. All of them will be given a motorbike, fuel and daily allowance. Arrangements are being made for their stay at the house of a local BJP leader so that they are fully conversant with the political situation. This poll model is completely different than what the BJP followed during the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The recruitment of this task force is carefully planned and party general secretary Ram Lal is executing it in close coordination with the RSS. The RSS has an army of trusted lieutenants across the country and they will be loaned for a limited purpose and for limited period. The 15-day crash course will organised at the state level and different states will follow different period as per their convenience. But it will be Centrally monitored, controlled and fully funded operation. Earlier, the high command used to deploy its trusted persons in constituencies irrespective of the fact whether they are aware of the local customs and dialect and familiar with situation. The launch of Mission 2019 is a clear signal that the BJP is aware of the challenges ahead.

BJP needs Modi's Magic in Karnataka; desperately

Nothing is going right for BJP in Karnataka Assembly polls and a desperate leadership is pinning its hopes on carpet bombing by  Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swing the balance in its favour. Until now, BJP president Amit Shah is campaigning and overseeing the poll strategies in the State and visiting one Mutt after the other to woo the Lingayats as well as Vokkalingas. There are as many as 700 Mutts in the state. But the state leadership is worried as Chief Minister Siddaramiah is gaining ground with the each passing day. Barring one, almost all Kannada TV channels have give an edge to the Congress. The BJP's handicap is that none of its national leaders can speak Kannada and its state leaders are a disunited lot. On the contrary, Rahul Gandhi has given the charge of the state to Siddharamiah and firmly told others to cooperate with him. He has consolidate his Dalit-OBC-Muslim vote bank while BJP is struggling to keep its 17% Lingayats together under Yeddyruppa and create a positive buzz. Modi has signaled that he will address around 15-18 rallies in the state after April 20 on his return from UK. The BJP leadership has requested the PM to help in swinging to mood of the people as two back-to-back surveys showed that the Congress is ahead in the electoral race. Most of the  public rallies of the Prime Minister  would be held at the district levels to touch the base with the voters and Modi will address at least two to three rallies in a day. Modi logged 24 rallies in the high-stake Uttar Pradesh elections last year, his best still remains 31 during the Bihar polls in 2015. In Tripura, Modi clocked four rallies. The BJP expects a swing of one to two per cent vote in the State to change its fortune and Modi's magic will do it.

Rs 100 crores booty and foot in the mouth !

A couple of months ago, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in close coordination with the Uttar Pradesh Police, recovered old currency notes estimated to be of the value of Rs 100 crore. The biggest ever haul in old currency notes created ripples and Central Intelligence agencies also swung into action. What worried the Centre most was that the recovery took place from Uttar Pradesh's industrial hub Kanpur. A team from the Reserve Bank of India and Income Tax department was also busy in reaching at the bottom of the truth for their own issues. The NIA seized the huge amount from a locked house and negotiators who promised to get these old notes exchanged were also arrested. The NIA went to town claiming that the money belonged to the terror groups. In fact, the amount was in two tranche; first being Rs 36 crores and then the remaining amount. However, within weeks all nine persons who were arrested, were released by the NIA quietly saying that it had nothing to do with the case as neither the amount and nor the persons were connected with any terror groups. It now transpires that first tip of the stashed money came to the NIA from one of its informers in J & K. The informer said that the amount is stashed in Kanpur. Elated by the tip-off the NIA raided the house with the help of the local police. But after investigations it surfaced that the money belonged to a political party and businessmen. The NIA retreated and no press release was issued either by the UP Police or the NIA. Cheers !

Modi's somersault on auctioning Coal, spectrum ?

Is the Modi government planning to dump the much-hyped policy of auctioning of natural resources ? If the statements by Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar and Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar are any indication, the auction policy may be a thing of the past. Susheel Kumar said that one cannot always think in terms of monetising revenues and has to keep the wider goals in mind. Niti Aayog Chairman Rajiv Kumar also echoed similar sentiments at a close-door conference. Talking to industry leaders, he said the government is rethinking its approach to spectrum auctions. He said, “this is the beginning of a process whereby you don’t try and always maximize government revenues … you may want to maximise development by bringing in greater benefits to citizens or to the private sector. He went on to say, “We have not done the famous spectrum sales during the financial year and there is a rethinking in the Government.” Instead of revenue, the government may want to maximise development by bringing in greater benefits to citizens and encourage private sector. The statements came as surprise as the UPA's policies on Coal and spectrum had brought down the Manmohan Singh government which had allocated the spectrum and coal mines based on first-come-basis. The CAG then had accused the government of incurring a “presumptive” loss of 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer because the spectrum were not auctioned. Similar allegations were leveled regarding the allocation of coal mines by the previous government and that was described as the coal scam. However, the somersault signals that rhetoric is being replaced by reality in the Modi government. The private sector groaning against the losses is failing to expand and therefore not able to return the huge loans it had borrowed from the banks which resulted in rising non-performing assets of the banks, bringing the banks to the point of bankruptcy.

Fly on The Wall : Trouble-shooter's troubles in Kashmir

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

The trouble-shooter in Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma is feeling troubled. Reason ! Barring a handful of Hurriyat Congress leaders, most of them are in jail facing money laundering charges. The NIA has arrested even the son-in-law of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the Hurriyat Congress. Be it Shabir Shah, Zahoor Watali, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Abdool Rasheed, Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and their supporters are facing NIA heat. The NIA is filing chargesheet against all of them. The problem for Dineshwar Sharma is that he will have nobody to talk to except political parties, associations and traders etc. The principal stake-holder, the Hurriyat which is leading the 15-odd hardliner groups, is not playing the ball. Sharma may be wanting that NIA withhold its chargesheet against the Hurriyat leaders for some time. But the NIA is not relenting as it will put the agency itself in the bad light. Geelani wants cases against his sons and son-in-law withdrawn. Hope for the best.

When two favourites fight in CBI

A bitter battle has begun in the CBI ever since Rakesh Asthana was promoted as Special Director. The “allegation” against Asthana was that his name figured in the 2011 diaries recovered from the premises of Gujrat-based Sterling Biotech when he was Commissioner of Surat Police. The diaries remained buried for long until some wise people got whiff of it in the IT department. The Enforcement Directorate came into the scene. The probe into the diaries began though diary entries are not proof enough to convict a person. But the case was sent to the CBI Director Alok Varma by the ED as it involved a top officer of the agency itself. Varma and Asthana never saw eye-to-eye as the latter used to throw his weight around due to his direct connections with the PMO since his days in Gujrat. But Varma is also a Modi appointee. The anti-Asthana report came handy for Varma who opposed his promotion. When the recommendation went to the Central Vigilance Commission, it sat over it. The government went ahead and promoted Asthana. Now Asthana is alleging that Varma has defamed him by leaking his own 2-page document to the media. The PMO is furious over the whole thing as it has been shown in poor light. But what to do as both, Varma and Asthana, are Modi favourites. And Varma can't be removed as he has a fixed two year tenure.

BJP Nervous as Rahul's graph rising

The makeover of Rahul Gandhi and marked improvement in his dialogue delivery at public meetings has baffled his partymen and rattled hard core critics. The other day, BJP's core group comprising of top 5 (Modi, Amit Shah, Jaitley, Rajnath Singh & Nitin Gadkari) met to review prevailing political situation. The core group meets every week. In a lighter vain, one of the members said, “Pappu Bolna seekh gaya hai.” But the core group had a serious issue at hand; how Rahul's popularity on social media is growing. Within days, BJP ministers came out linking Rahul Gandhi's increased popularity on social media to fake Twitter accounts in Russia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. One minister did not flinch at playing on the word " dope", slang for a stupid person. The Congressmen are enthused as Rahul has started interacting with the people and meeting them in small groups. Recently, while returning from Amethi, Rahul opted to travel in the ferry bus for passengers instead of going in a private vehicle which used to pick him up at the tarmac itself. The SPG protectee won the hearts of the people as Rahul gladly offered to be photographed with the co-passengers and mingled.

The unstoppable Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari is always a fodder for Capital's Cahterattis. Therefore, when he invited the media at his official residence for pre-Diwali tea-party, it was toast for them as it was a free wheeling event. He answered all the questions journos raised and disappointed none. He was talking less about the road sector and more about the aviation as he is member of the group of ministers for divestment of Air India. Gadkari had his own take on the issue saying that Vijay Mallya paid the price due to his flamboyance and indecision on the issue of liberalizing the aviation sector than due to other reasons. Though the sector was liberalized later, paid the price. Since road sector is fully back in gear, Gadkari is now fully focused on Irrigation and bringing in new technology to ensure that 1.80 crores hectares of land is brought under cultivation which will revolutionize the agriculture sector. He is busy resolving inter-state water disputes and succeeded in bringing truce between Maharashtra and Gujrat. He personally held several meetings between the two BJP ruled states of UP and MP to resolve water dispute. But he told the PM that he can't resolve water dispute between Punjab and Haryana. It is learnt that the PM will make some effort to resolve the dispute in near future at his level.

Centre to launch massive crack down in Valley

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Centre to launch massive crack down in Valley

Home Minister sounds Mehbooba

NIA lists 200 ill-gotten properties of separatists

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sep 16

The Modi government is contemplating a massive onslaught against terrorists operating in the Jammu & Kashmir shortly. Enthused by the recent successes of Centre's anti-terrorist operations, the government is now gearing up for a final onslaught. Final touches are being given to the plan after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's 4-day visit to the trouble-torn state. It is rare that Union Home Minister camps in a state for such a long time. Highly placed sources in the government say that one of the major task of Rajnath Singh was to sound out J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti about the impending massive operation.

The action entail arrest of top leaders of Hurriyat, JKLF and other organisations patronized for the past several decades by successive governments at the centre & the state launch a final onslaught against the militants. The government also plans to confiscate more than 200 properties of these leaders. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is reported to have submitted a detailed list of properties including hotels, resorts, orchards, factories, business establishments, and other assets acquired by 20 top leaders in the Valley. Recent massive raids conducted by the NIA established that these “corrupt leaders” accumulated wealth through illegal means and even from across the border. They were also hand-in-glove with the Barter Trade operators. The list of 200 properties has been submitted to the Home Ministry and PMO and created a flutter.

The security forces, with the active cooperation of the state government, Intelligence agencies and others, have eliminated or arrested nearly 105 out of 258 hard-core militants operating in the Valley. The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI) and state police have together have succeeded in plugging the financial support system to a large extent. While Rajnath Singh is monitoring the operation from the front, Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister is personally coordinating the entire operation.

The Modi government has decided that no talks will be held with these intermediaries who have looted the state and fooled successive governments. The only task is elimination of militancy and restore peace.

The Centre is particularly enthused by the fact that locals are coming in large numbers to provide information about the hide outs of the terrorists and even their movements. The high-tech equipment installed by the IB, NTRO and other agencies and deployment of trained personnels to decipher the coded messages in the shortest possible time has helped the security forces to act against top militants.

The way Burhan Wani, Abu Ismail, Abu Dujana, Bashir Lashkari, Junaid Mattoo and several others were killed by the forces is an indication of growing cooperation between the forces and locals. After virtually plugging the funding routes to terrorists and their sympathizers in the Valley, the security agencies have told the government that time has come to launch the operation before Diwali.

Interestingly, most of these top leaders were killed after the agencies tracked down their movements and hide-out as their mobile numbers were made available by moles or informers.

The country's top security establishment has prepared a blueprint to deliver a lethal blow to militancy to achieve the IB, NTRO, CRPF, Army Intelligence and more importantly the state police.

The agencies have been able to make inroads amongst the local who were scared to share information until recently. Earlier, the informers used to be eliminated as information provided by them was never acted upon or rather leaked to the militants by moles in the police establishment. Now the Centre has practically taken over the anti-terrorist operations and state police is made to lend a helping hand.

Banning “Barter Trade” with PaK: PMO to decide

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Banning “Barter Trade” with PaK: PMO to decide

NIA says Barter-trade generated Rs 1000 crore terror funding

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sep 11

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will take a final call on banning the “Barter Trade” between India & Pakistan which was aimed at promoting trade & harmony between the people in J & K and PoK.

Highly placed sources in the government say that the PMO is seized of the matter after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) strongly recommended the closure of the barter trade. The NIA had sent its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which is turn has referred the issue to the PMO as it has wider implications.

Incidentally, it was the Union Home Ministry which had initiated the Barter-Trade agreement with Pakistan in 2008 at the bidding of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within days of returning to India from his US trip in 2008 to promote harmony between the people on both sides of Jammu & Kashmir. It was decided that no cash will be involved, only 21 items will be trade for mutual exchange and the value of items will be fixed by traders mutually. The goods should be produced in J & K and PoK only. But what happened thereafter, was an eye-opener to agencies. For example the Californian Almonds made their way from Pakistan to J&K on the ground that these were produced in PoK.

Lokmat was first to break the story “Barter Trade or Terror Funding” on January 23 this year in its editions saying the NIA had undertaken countrywide raids and scrutinizing records of 350 traders in Delhi & J & K. At that time, the NIA estimated that the hawala racket could be of the order of Rs 300 crores. Top sources have now told Lokmat that the hawala scam could be of the order of Rs 1000 crores.

The NIA submitted detailed report listing how hundreds of cores of rupees reached terrorist groups and stone pelters in the Valley thanks to the “Barter-Trade” route. The NIA said the barter-trade generated more than Rs 3000 crores in cash and at least Rs 1000 crores of this amount had gone to the kashmiri militants and their patterns which included Hurriyat leaders. The NIA submitted a detailed account of money-trail beginning with traders on the borders to traders in Delhi and major cities and how money re-routed to Hurriyat leaders and Kashmiri militants. The NIA also gave detailed account of how bank channels were used for over-invoicing and under-invoicing and went on unchecked for nearly eight years.

It said that terror funding by LeT, JeM and other outfits and the alleged transfer of cross-LoC trade proceeds are "interlinked". It gave clinching evidence to the MHA how large amount exchanged through import and export of goods has been ultimately used to foment "civil unrest" in Kashmir. The NIA suspects that some traders even provide trucks to hide arms and ammunition smuggled from Pakistan.

It is learnt that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who undertook 4-day visit to J & K discussed this issue with the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also as she had urged the Prime Minister that Barter-Trade agreement should not be scrapped.

Ends 

"Barter Trade" or Terror Funding

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

"Barter Trade"  or Terror Funding 

NIA raids J&K Trade centers, exposes Rs 300 crore  hawala racket 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Jan 23

The National Investigation Agency is investigating whether two barter trade centers between India and Pakistan are generating hundreds of crores of “Hawala” operation helping terror groups.

In a massive operation recently, the NIA seized records of over 350 traders from Kashmir and also in Delhi to investigate whether barter trade route was used to fund separatists and terror activities in the Valley and elsewhere.

The NIA sleuths raided barter trade centers in Uri and Poonch earlier this month after getting intelligence inputs that barter trade resulted in under-invoicing and over-invoicing. The NIA estimates that Rs 300 crores of undue profit was made by traders operating in Uri and Poonch centers which was passed onto the separatists and terror groups. Essentially, Pakistani traders sold their goods cheap to their Indian counter-parts so that they can make a killing. Since this trade is cash-less and goods can only be exchanged only by goods, the value is fixed mutually. Once the traders in J&K get the goods, these are sold to wholesale merchants in Delhi, Jammu and Punjab. These goods are sold to merchants at 40% of the prices while rest of the money is paid in cash.

It may be mentioned that barter trade between India and Pakistan started during the Manmohan Singh regime in October 2008 through a special agreement. The two centres were opened in Uri and Poonch to held the traders of these regions on both sides of the line of control. Under the agreement, no cash will be involved and only 21 items were permitted for mutual trade and exchange of goods. The value of the items is to be fixed  by the traders.

The NIA sleuths are now scrutinizing the documents seized from Uri, Poonch and whole-sale markets in Delhi and other parts. A highly confidential report has already been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Barter trade agreement is monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs and not by the Commerce Ministry. It has been pointed out by NIA that an amount of Rs 300 crores was made in excess by traders in Uri & Poonch and this money reached in the hands of the separatists.

The NIA is also finding out if some bureaucrats in the J&K government and politicians are also behind the inflated transactions and benefited in either way.

The Custodian of LoC trade Farooq Ahmad Shah has told the sleuths that on average the trade between two parts of Kashmir is worth over Rs 30 million ($440,000) per day: “On average we are allowing 40-50 trucks each day, four days a week from both the sides.” He said that the need for banking facilities has been brought to the notice of the higher authorities.