Worthy causes are often defeated by personal ambitions. The Telangana chief minister’s daughter K Kavitha has announced a day-long hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on Friday, seeking passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament. Clearly, this activism dawned on her at a time when she received a summons from the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in the Delhi Liquor Scam. Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is already under arrest and is being grilled by the central investigation agency. The shadow of the case has reached up to Kavitha, a former MP from Telangana and currently an MLC in the state legislative council. Perceptions are that Kavitha would be the next to be arrested, while a go-between in the alleged payment bribe to the AAP for alleged tweaking of the capital state’s new liquor policy too had been arrested.
The Enforcement Directorate can be accused of doing the bidding of the government in power at the Centre. It could, to an extent, be His Master’s Voice. But, it would be illogical to assume or argue that ED or CBI would target innocents. There can be no smoke without a fire. Investigations are all about hard facts, not whimsical conclusions. Investigations will lead to presentation of facts before courts, which will consider these and punish the guilty. The details of the Delhi scam would be known once the case moves court. It is premature now to pronounce either Sisodia or Kavitha innocent despite their high social status.
Women have not got due representation in government jobs though their number in various departments is steadily increasing. When every ‘backward’ segment of the population is given reservations to ensure a just treatment to them, the parliamentary push for 33 per cent reservation to women too is justified. Political establishments must act in unison to make this a reality. The sooner this is done, the better. But, the present obsession of the BRS leader from Telangana to push this case must be seen principally as an attempt at her worst time to save her skin — from the impending ED offensive against her. Her family, a bunch of them, has been ruling Telangana since 2014, after it gained statehood and got separated from Andhra Pradesh. Kavitha’s father meanwhile transformed his regional TRS party into Bharat Rashtra Samithi for a national outreach and to fan his ambition of leading the nation. Kavitha must be gracious enough to face the ED grilling and come out clean — and she is well within her limits to push all cases dear to her heart. The strange mix of personal and political interests must be avoided at all costs.