Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made a clean break from his oft-repeated statesman-like stand that he was satisfied with the probe of the central agencies.
Demonstrating that he had run out of patience, the chief minister declared: “The eagle of party politics will not be allowed to fly over democratic traditions.”
He said “some central agencies” were pawns in the hands of vested interests conspiring to undermine the “unprecedented gains” made by the LDF government.
He charged that these agencies were overstepping their limits to demoralise state government officials and tarnish political leaders. “They are encroaching upon the implementation rights of the state government and the auditing power of Constitutional bodies,” he said.
By asking officials to produce all the files related to people-friendly projects like Life Mission and K-FON, the chief minister said the agencies were trying to play with the morale of hardworking officials and prevent such projects from achieving its goals.
"Were these officers in the investigating team led by the thinking that no bureaucrat in the state would dare to take up the leadership of a project if they are threatened with dire consequences," he asked. "This is utterly irresponsible, and violates the limits and limitations put on these agencies," he said.
The chief minister said these agencies were also exceeding their Constitutional brief by calling for the files of development schemes. He was especially critical of the Enforcement Directorate.
"An officer could be called up as part of an investigation, certain documents could also be asked for. But there are constitutional limits. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has set the limits for ED. This agency has no power beyond what is prescribed in the Act. This being the case, any step beyond what is mandated by law is unconstitutional,” he said.
Further, the chief minister said the ED was doing the job of the institution appointed by the Constitution to examine the accounts of the states and the Centre: the Comptroller and Auditor General. “The CAG's job cannot be done using the PMLA," he said, and added: “A new situation has emerged where the Central agencies have taken up the job of auditing the policies and programmes of the states. This is undemocratic and unconstitutional.”
Approaching a state as if it is a criminal is a remnant of colonial attitude, the chief minister said. He said it was aright if political adversaries play with the morale of officers just when the various social and development schemes reach fruition and carry out their sinister scheme of destroying such projects. "The moot question is whether central agencies can function like this," he said.
He also said it would sound the death-knell of the country's federal system if an investigating agency was going to take upon itself the task of auditing the policies and decisions of a state government.
The chief minister said that initially, when he wrote to the Centre for a comprehensive and coordinated probe into gold smuggling, there was the legitimate expectation that the probe would proceed along the lawful path. “To begin with, it did. However, certain moves of the agencies have given rise to doubts whether our hopes were belied,” Vijayan said. “Employing selective leaks, they tried to give the impression that the state government was led by the fear of being exposed,” he added.
He said a probe should be conducted in utter confidentiality but what was actually happening was that it was being carried out on the basis of a planned script. He was clearly referring to the press conferences held by BJP state president K Surendran before certain arrests were made.
Vijayan said an investigation was an attempt to collect evidence to get to the truth. “But this should not be driven by prejudice. If it is done with the intention of implicating a particular person or a specific group, it cannot be called an investigation. It would become something else with dubious motives,” the chief minister.
