New Delhi: Soon after walking out of jail, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday met party president Sonia Gandhi, who has extended complete backing to the former Union minister.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Gandhi, Chidambaram said, “I am happy that Supreme Court has passed an order granting bail and I am happy that I have stepped out and breathing the air of freedom after 106 days.”
The former finance minister said he will address a press conference on Thursday.
Chidambaram walked out of Tihar jail hours after the Supreme Court granted him bail in a money laundering case linked to the INX Media.
His son Karti accompanied him in his meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi had met Chidambaram at Tihar Jail in September and expressed solidarity with him.
Also read: Happy & sad reactions to Chidambaram’s bail, a mother-son spat over Modi
1. Is there someone who is ready to reveal the truth? Citizen-voters like me are well aware of fact that both the investigating agencies and former Union Home minister P Chidambaram are not revealing the truth about charges against Chidambaram or his son. Hence I think it is necessary to ensure that politicization of all cases against politicians is strictly avoided. This, of course, is easier said than done. 2. It would be better for citizen-voters to demand as much transparency as possible in all such cases. 3. We should not overlook fact that the Supreme Court has not accepted that Chidambaram is not guilty. Let us wait for final verdict. 4. In this context citizen-voters have to demand that all pending legal cases against ex-ministers, MPs, MLAS, etc. be adjudicated in Fast Track Special Courts on a top priority basis. 5. Incidentally, I wonder whether expertise available with investigation agencies to speed up scrutiny of documents related to alleged irregularities is good enough for the task. Obviously this needs a review.
Those who believe that Chidambaram is corrupt will see his 6 week stay in jail as failure to punish. Those who see Chidambaram as upright will point to his 6 week stay as a travesty against an innocent man. The real problem is that this case will take decades to resolve – it will be too late and Chidambaram might not live that long. The delays in the courts are almost entirely the fault of the legal system – with lawyers and judges not showing up being one of the main reasons for these ridiculous delays. So, the goal for the defendants, whether they are innocent or guilty, is always to get bail. Once it is obtained the case goes into limbo. If by any chance, a verdict is delivered, it then lands in appeals and the higher courts are the worst offenders for additional delays. The higher judiciary loves to complain about case load. However, the reality is that judges will gladly waste time on cases that they shouldn’t even hear, but will drag out other cases that need urgent resolution. The failure of the Indian judiciary to reform itself is the biggest failure of India’s governance – it simply does not receive the attention that it deserves from the press or from our elites.