Never before have tax and enforcement authorities been unleashed with such ferocity against political opponents and those who dissent against the ruling leadership as during the term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Anybody who is in the crosshairs of the prime minister is certain to face persecution in the form of notices, raids and arrests. The latest is the notice issued by the Income Tax (I-T) department to Novel S Lavasa, wife of Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa over “discrepancies” in the annual returns filed by her. Lavasa has claimed that she has paid all taxes and has disclosed her income from all sources. While it is nobody’s case that the authorities should not go after defaulters and defrauders, the selective manner in which the dragnet is swung and the timing of such action, often gives rise to suspicion. Ashok Lavasa had strongly objected to the clean chit given by the Election Commission to Modi over alleged violation of the model code of conduct during the recent Lok Sabha elections. Eventually, Lavasa stopped attending meetings of the full bench of election commissioners protesting against minority decisions being suppressed. With assembly elections round the corner in Maharashtra and Haryana, the notice to Lavasa’s wife could be a veiled threat to the election commissioner to bridle his horses.
This pattern has become all too familiar of late. In 2017, the I-T department had raided the premises of the then Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar who was entrusted with the safekeeping of Gujarat Congress MLAs, who were allegedly being poached by BJP on the eve of the Rajya Sabha elections. Early this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a money laundering case against former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, just before the Lok Sabha elections. His alliance partner, BSP supremo Mayawati too had to face similar pinpricks. During the 2018 assembly elections in Karnataka, the I-T department conducted a series of raids on the premises of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders, ostensibly to choke their source of funds. Now, on the eve of Maharashtra polls, the ED has booked NCP chief Sharad Pawar while it has sought custodial interrogation of Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, in a separate case.
Action against wrong-doers is welcome, but it becomes questionable when only opposition leaders are targeted, that too during election season even as pending cases against BJP members and its allies mysteriously disappear. While it is unfortunate that agencies have been reduced to mere appendages of the ruling party, Modi should realise that time does not stand still and that he might one day get a taste of his own medicine.