Ram Naresh Yadav, one of the first Governors appointed by the Congress to call on Prime Minister
NEW DELHI: Over 25 murders, 46 deaths, seven years later, a bunch of petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court on issues related to the Vyapam scandal where a mafia seems to be following the witnesses, steadily but surely, and eliminating one after the other. One petition is by a group of lawyers from Gwalior for the removal of the Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav to ensure a fair enquiry.
Who then is Governor Ram Naresh Yadav? And what is the clout he enjoys that has kept him in office, even while men and women taller than him have been shunted out of Raj Bhawans across the country by Prime Minister Narenda Modi?
The answer probably lies in the extent of his involvement in the massive recruitment fraud where impersonations, forgeries were used to bring in recruits without any qualification whatsoever in health, education and other crucial sectors of the state government. And his clearly close relations that have developed with the BJP in the state, and with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in particular.
Chauhan, is finally feeling the heat, but with the backing of Prime MInister Narendra Modi and his government has dug in his heels, insisting he will not ask for either a CBI probe, or move the Supreme Court for an enquiry. Matters might well be taken out of his hand, and that of the government at the centre on July 9, when the SC takes note of the petitions before it.
In the midst of the storm is the Governor, an otherwise, quiet non-descript man who not many remember from his political days. He was with the Janata party, and was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1977-1979 in the days after the Emergency. He brought little to the job, at least nothing of any significance that could serve memory. He went on to join the Congress, at best a lacklustre politician with of course excellent networking skills. As this landed him the job of the Governor, under then President of India Pratibha Patil who also was a Congress functionary. This was in 2011, four years after the recruitments that constitute the major part of the Vyapam scam took place, and two years after the first hints of the fraud started emerging.
Significantly, Ram Naresh Yadav has established himself as the great survivor with Governors in most states being changed under the Modi dispensation. In fact in the first year of his rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set about the business of replacing Congress appointees with Governors closer to him and his government. Governor Yadav despite having spent his life in the Janata party and the Congress survived. This raised eyebrows all across the political field, with Congress leaders admitting that he had networked into the BJP echelons of power.
The Governor instead of ensuring a probe seemed to have become part of it, in a rather short span of time with allegations against him and his son flying around. His son Shailesh Yadav became an ‘accused’ in the Vyapam scam and was found dead, again in mysterious circumstances, on March 25 this year. He ostensibly died of a brain hemorrhage and while speculation again ran high in political circles about his death, neither did the Governor nor his family raise any questions. Instead the cremation took place quietly and the controversy was buried with Shailesh Yadav. The domestic staff told reporters that Shailesh Yadav had died the night before, while his death was confirmed by the family only the next day.
Media reports at the time wrote of the involvement of Raj Bhawan in the Vyapam scam, with officials within reported to have been part of the mafia that was manipulating the recruitment. The Governor was asked finally to step down by the Union Home Ministry, but clearly the ‘request’ has not been complied with. There has been no larger move against him, and nor has the demand for his resignation been pressed by the BJP at the state or the centre. His former Officer on Special Duty Dhanraj Yadav was arrested by the Special Task Force in what was a clear hit on Raj Bhawan. The investigating agency filed an FIR against the Governor for conspiracy and forgery under the Information Technology Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The SIT claimed to have confirmation that he had recommended at least five names for recruitment as forest guards. The High Court, with famous lawyer and BJP member Ram Jethmalani arguing the case for the Governor, finally ruled that he enjoyed constitutional immunity, and hence could not be included in the FIR.
The Governor has stayed on, claiming immunity of office, and refusing to step down despite the trail leading directly to the Raj Bhawan.The centre is waiting for him to retire in September, to replace him. The question being asked by senior politicians in New Delhi now is: why is the central government being so accommodating? And why has it not insisted on proceeding against him as per the provisions of the Constitution? More so, when other serving Governors were summarily removed long before their terms ended, just because they were Congress appointees such as MK Narayanan, Sheila Dikshit, Shivraj Patil and others?
So as a senior MP of the Congress said only two questions need to be asked, and will be repeated in Parliament by the Opposition: Why is the government silent on Governor Ram Naresh Yadav? Is it because he is sitting on information that can implicate the powerful BJP and RSS figures reportedly involved in the scam?
Meanwhile the Governor, basically a politician who reached high places more on connections than merit, is sitting pretty even while the murky and gory facts of the Vyapam scam are finally exploding around him and the government of Uttar Pradesh.
By: THE CITIZEN BUREAU
Courtesy: THE CITIZEN
RATIONALIST DEBASHIS 