RAHUL TURNING PARTY INTO 'INDIAN FAKE NEWS CONGRESS'

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has hit out at the BJP, and not so indirectly at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by accusing Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of a kind of sticky collusion because his daughter is "Nirav Modi's lawyer". Rahul's remarks at a public meeting on the fifth leg of his tour of poll-bound Karnataka came against the backdrop of the current brouhaha over censuring and censoring the media for fake news -- a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting order that temporarily allowed the prime minister to ride into the rescue, and in the process smear a little egg on I&B minister Smriti Irani's face. The Gandhi scion's jibe stands as a perfect testament to the need for creating a measure of decency and probity in the remarks of our political leaders.

This time, it was Rahul slanging Jaitley and Modi over the PNB scam, but it has been two-way traffic and the duo have also hit back in poor taste on several occasions, not even sparing the dead like Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. But for the moment, let's consider Rahul's violent attack on the incumbents during his current tour. The government per se cannot tinker with any advisories to regulate media conduct unless it sets itself as an example. These days, it is the leaders who spread false news and are not taken to task. If it is a legitimate currency for them to tear reputations, ruin characters and spread falsehoods, on what grounds exactly do they exercise the right to chastise others? Rahul announces loftily that Sonali Jaitley's legal company was hired by Nirav in 2017 to defend him.

So, ipso facto, the implication is that the finance minister is in bed with the PNB scam artist and guilty of fiscal malfeasance by association. This is just the sort of scurrilous attack that gets attention and when put out of context, wins traction in the public mind. There must be some fire with all that smoke. But the thing is, a lawyer is not guilty because he or she takes up a case. That is common sense. Now, unless one can expose a nexus of corruption or wrongdoing of any nature between the client and the lawyer, the latter is only doing ajob professionally.

Why cast aspersions without any evidence? Then, by a similar logic, the father is not responsible for his daughter once she is an adult and Sonali is not a dependent. Unless it can be proven that Jaitley has, in some manner, been an accessory to cheating a bank, taking money illegally or giving Nirav benediction and support, being the father of his lawyer is utterly irrelevant.

In fact, if Nirav came to Sonali and asked for legal cover and she did not give it that would be a case of misconduct by the legal firm she is a partner in. To deny legal aid is more suspicious than to give it. That is the core of due process and thank goodness we have it. Lawyers do not have the right to deny their services unless there is a direct conflict of interest. In this case, there is none. Jaitley has not received any benefit from thePNB daylight robbery.

Nirav's lawyer is his daughter but Jaitley is not accountable for her decisions. And her law firm is well within its rights to defend any accused of any crime.

Lies. Falsehoods. Fake stories. Cooked up drama. No basis. But Rahul does not think so and he, as Leader of the Opposition, did exactly what Irani wanted to do by imposing restrictions on the accredited media.

First, stop your own shenanigans before lecturing the press on good behavior.