New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday said that CBI summons for former Governor Satyapal Malik were a message to all those who question the government to remain silent. “The message behind the CBI summons to the former Governor is to keep him shut. It is a message to all those who question the government,” Congress media head Pawan Khera said.
The fresh CBI summons to the former Governor, who questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, over the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, came on Friday, days after he made the charges in various media interviews. Malik had earlier been questioned by the CBI in October 2021. “We are surprised that the CBI summons came 10 days after Malik levelled the allegations. We assumed that the PM would be very prompt with this and the summons would come the very next day,” said Khera.
According to Khera, the charges levelled by the former Governor that the PM had asked him to remain silent a day after the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF jawans had been killed when he pointed out the government’s mistake in denying five aircraft to the jawans travelling from Jammu to Kashmir via road, were very serious and must be answered.
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“Malik has named the PM, the then Home Minister and the NSA. Someone should come forward and give the answers. This government has a habit of targeting the whistle-blowers and protecting those close to it,” said Khera. The Congress leader noted that “Malik had also levelled corruption charges against persons close to the PM. The former J&K Governor also made corruption charges against RSS leader Ram Madhav, but he is delivering lectures in the US while Malik, who made the charges is sitting in the CBI office,” said Khera.
The Congress leader said that while 40 CRPF jawans had been killed in the Pulwama attack, five soldiers were recently killed in a terror attack in the same area. “Who will take responsibility for the incident? Was there an intelligence failure? Malik had raised the right questions. We all need the answers,” said Khera.
The Congress said that “the way the government has been functioning over the past nine years and the kind of policies it made, there are many things that the government wants to hide.” “But now, many people want to reveal such things. More such revelations would come out in the coming days. This is in line with our leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement that one should not be afraid. People now get the importance of his remark. People like Malik protect our democracy. The coming days are going to be very interesting,” said Khera.
The Congress leader said that earlier Satyapal Malik had also raised corruption issues in the BJP’s Goa government with the PM when he was Governor. “But there was no action against the Chief Minister. Instead, Malik was removed from the post and a plane was sent to fly him out of Goa quickly. The CBI took 10 days to summon Malik as they are also realising the truth of many things,” said Khera.
