Statement issued by Shri A.K. Antony, former Defence Minister; Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister and LoP Rajay Sabha; Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Home Minister; Shri Salman Khurshid, former External Affairs & Law Minister and Shri Pawan Khera, Spokesperson AICC.
Chats conclusively prove leaks of top secret information detrimental to National Security & Integrity, by the members of CCS. The responsible Minister/Official violated the OSA and the Constitutional Oath of Secrecy- should be brought to book and sacked.
The Arnab Goswami saga reveals an ugly spectre of inexcusable compromise with national security and an unforgivable trade off with the oath of Constitution by the Prime Minister-Home Minister and those holding high offices. The shocked nation has witnessed a reprehensible conduct of those in the highest echelons of power in defrauding every government structure, the atrocious and scandalous attack on India’s highest judiciary. The evil manner of playing with the life and dignity of BJP’s senior most cabinet minister has shamed and compromised Modi Government beyond repair and recognition.
The charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police as part of the ongoing investigation in the TRP scam carries explosive details of connivance, collusion and corruption at the highest level of the Modi Government.
A man posing to be a journalist colludes with the high and mighty of the Government. He gets his manipulated TRP’s and manipulates public opinion for the ruling party. In the process India and every single Indian lose out on a chance for responsive, clean and progressive governance.
The nation deserves to know about the six important facets brought out by these whatsapp chats that provide an insight into the dark and unforgivable scandals in the corridors of power involving the Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Home Minister and the entire edifice of the BJP Government.
National security
The leaked chats show Arnab Goswami gleefully informing Partho Dasgupta about the deadly terror attack in Pulwama that resulted in the martyrdom of 40 CRPF Jawans. On 23rd February, three days before the Balakot strikes, this lackey journalist was not only in unauthorized possession of top secrets of defence operations, he also further disseminated these secrets to another individual on a social media platform. The only people who had knowledge of these operations were the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Defence Minister and the National Security Advisor. In a shameful exchange between Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, it is is mentioned ‘It is good for big man in this season’. ‘He will sweep polls then’.
Information about the strikes could have only been shared with Goswami by one of these four functionaries. Each one of them has taken an oath of the Constitution to defend and protect India’s strategic secrets. They have clearly violated the oath of office.This is nothing short of treason. The tragedy is that when the entire nation mourned the sacrifice of 40 CRPF jawans on 14.02.2019, only two people in the entire country differed – One was Arnab Goswami who was gleeful and in a celebratory mode and the second was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who continued to shoot “Man vs. Wild” in the Jim Corbett park. (Annexure A-1)
Can the martyrdom of 40 Indian soldiers be a matter of victory for any Indian?
Which one of these four individuals shared sensitive secret about a top military operation with a civilian not authorized to possession such information?
Does this not amount to an act of treason towards the nation, its armed forces and every single patriotic Indian?
Is this not a brazen violation of the Official Secrets Act?
Arnab Goswami – Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – Prime Minister:
The confidence with which Arnab Goswami flaunts his proximity with the Prime Minister and his office is shocking. From the chats it appears that Arnab Goswami shared a very comfortable access with the Prime Minister and secured his intervention in overcoming business troubles and fixing rivals.
Why was the Prime Minister allowing Arnab Goswami such friendly access to himself and his office?
Why was Arnab Goswami allowed to actively lobby with the Prime Minister and his office?
What was the quid pro quo?
Arnab Goswami – Amit Shah influence peddling
From these chats it is clear that Arnab Goswami not only had direct access with the one of the most powerful leaders of the ruling party, then party President Shri Amit Shah, he also took Mr. Partho Das Gupta, then head of BARC to meet him.
Arnab Goswami was actively securing the intervention of Amit Shah to influence policy and controlling the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
How can the President of the party so brazenly interfere in policy matters to help a media house at the expense of others?
Why was Amit Shah interfering in the functioning of a supposedly autonomous authority called the “TRAI”?
What was the hold of Arnab Goswami on the second most powerful man in India, Mr. Amit Shah?
Judiciary:
From the conversation between Arnab Goswami and Partho Das Gupta, one can see the worse examples of influence peddling and attempts to influence the judiciary. The entire country depends on the temples of justice to seek redressal for their grievances. If powerful people of the country are seen influencing the judiciary, the faith of the common citizen will stand eroded in the judicial delivery system. We have respect for the Courts of the country and the Courts have shown tremendous sensitivity towards adverse social media posts. The nation awaits an appropriate response from these institutions, which this influence peddler is so shamelessly talking about.
Was a businessman asking a so-called journalist to influence the Hon’ble High Court?
Was a favorable verdict secured?
Did the meeting with the Law Minister (mentioned in the chats) have something to do with securing a favorable verdict by influencing the judiciary?
Has the BJP and his lackeys attempted to bribe or threaten other judges to secure favourable verdicts?
DEFRAUDING DOORDARSHAN:
In 2017, Arnab Goswami’s channel and another channel by-passed the auction system put in place by Prasar Bharti to gain viewership on DD Free Dish. The two channels did not pay the fee to Doordarshan to book slots in the free DTH service with the help of Dish TV, a private DTH service. This violation cost crores of rupees to the public exchequer.
The chats tell us that the then Rajvaradhan Singh Rathore allegedly informed Arnab Goswami about a complaint that was received by his department against Goswami’s channel. The chats reveal that Rathore buried the complaints.
ARNAB GOSWAMI ON LATE SHRI ARUN JAITLEY:
Late ShriArunJaitley was battling for life for several days at the hospital in the month of August. In the most inhumane display of insensitivity, Arnab Goswami says that “Jaitley was stretching it” and that “PMO does not what to do. PM leaving on Wednesday for France”. On the 19th of August 2019, Arnab Goswami further claims that they were “maintaining him”
What exactly is this controversy about; one of the senior most colleagues of the Prime Minister?
What exactly did Arnab Goswami mean when he said that they were “maintaining him”?
These shocking details of connivance and corruption at the highest level give rise to several questions.
Was Arnab Goswami controlling the Govt or was theGovt controlling Arnab Goswami? Both these situations are dangerous for our democracy.
Has Mr. Narendra Modi created a “Lutyens Gang” with Arnab Goswami as its head?
Will the media do some introspection on how the greed for TRP’s has corroded the fourth pillar?
In his private conversation Arnab Goswami believes that the economy is ruined but claims that he cannot say this on television. What is this compulsion that does not allow the media to reveal the true picture of the economy?
Did the details of the military operation get leaked through Arnab Goswami?
Never before has India’s national security been so completely compromised. Never before has the office of the Prime Minister, office of the Home Minister, office of the Law Minister, office of the Information and Broadcasting Minister been so brazenly compromised. Never before did our judiciary come under such an attack. Never before has a senior leader been divested of his dignity in his death.
Does the Prime Minister, Home Minister in fact the entire Government have any moral, political, constitutional right to continue in office after such damning revelations?
We demand that the Prime Minister should come clean on these accusations immediately in order to restore the severely damaged credibility of the highest office of the country.
Press Release
20-01-2021
