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Bull's Eye

When quizzed on cases involving ruling politicians, all governments give a stock reply:"Let the law take its own course."The law does take its ...

When quizzed on cases involving ruling politicians, all governments give a stock reply:"Let the law take its own course."

The law does take its own course. The CBI sees to that. Even the tortoise and the haretook their own course. Sometimes the CBI moves like a tortoise. Sometimes like a hare. Itall depends.

The cases against Laloo Yadav and Rabri Devi were long pending. A sword hung over theirheads. It kept them in check. They could be allowed to continue. They had been thrashed inthe Lok Sabha polls. They would be wiped out in the assembly polls. The law moved like atortoise.

Oops! The assembly polls wiped out NDA, not Laloo. The public was sick of Laloo'scorruption. But it also knew that after a raid less than Rs 3 lakh was recovered from hisresidence. More than Rs 3 crore was recovered from Sukh Ram's residence. Evenilliterate people know arithmetic. If Laloo was disappointing, saffron hypocrisy wasdisgusting. Saffron bullying was terrifying. Therefore Laloo won.

Whoa! Time for the law to move like a hare. After Nitish Kumar failed to get amajority, the CBI obtained the governor's permission to prosecute Laloo and Rabri.But wait! The situation was still "volatile". Rabri might fail like Nitish. Thelaw became the tortoise. Rabri didn't fail. The law once again became the hare. Lalooand Rabri have been chargesheeted. The law is taking its course.

The Bofors investigation has continued for over a decade. The law is taking its owncourse. Months ago, the last Bofors papers from the Swiss authorities arrived. But SoniaGandhi is useful. She prevents the emergence of any real alternative to the NDA. Sheherself cannot become the alternative. The law moves like the tortoise. It has yet toidentify the beneficiaries of the Bofors payoffs.

CBI director R.K. Raghavan said last fortnight: "We need clarifications on certainopen-ended documents which aren't complete." The CBI will approach Swissauthorities for more information. It'll seek more clarifications. It'll seekmore time.

Meanwhile, Rabri Devi will not resign. Because central ministers L.K. Advani and MurliManohar Joshi did not resign. They delayed being formally chargesheeted only by refusingto appear in court.

So why should any of them resign? After all, none of them have been convicted yet. Letthe law take its own course. Long live the Indian Constitution.

Why, oh why
Agitate?
Let CBI
Investigate!

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