SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.) :

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to raise the issue which is being reported by the newspapers for the last several weeks and which has been discussed briefly in this House and the other House as well. People involved in smuggling of narcotics have been arrested from the house of a Kolkata based retired officer of CBI. A machine used for manufacturing narcotics has also been seized from his house. He is reported to be a very senior level officer. I think the facts should be brought to the notice of the House in this regard. A spokesman of Narcotics has said that there is enough evidence against that officer and he is likely to be arrested soon. But that officer has been made a witness and not an accused. Consequently, a message has gone to the public that the Government is trying to shield that officer. It is not a question of this country alone. It was reported in the newspapers yesterday that American and Chinese officers are interrogating him and our Government is mum on it. It is strange that foreigners have come to interrogate one of our officers. It is a case of narcotics. It is the same officer, who had once called in the help of the Army without seeking permission of the State Government to arrest a former Chief Minister of a State. If he was not on good terms with the State Government, he should have intimated the Union Home Ministry. I think if the Government tries to shield the officers in this manner then anyone may do anything which may even be against national interest. And this issue involving narcotics is an issue of international importance. There has been one more lapse on the part of the Government but I would not like to make a mention of that case. Five foreigners have been arrested from the house of this officer. Though I would not like to go into the details. He has made several wrong statements, before the officials. There was a time when he was in the good books of the media and the Government as well. Today if he is an accused, why no action is being taken against him? Either the Home Ministry or the Department of Narcotics should give reply to it.

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.) :

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not wish to say anything in this regard because it a very painful subject. It is true that Shri Jagdish Bhai actually passed away on 5th itself. That day I got this news at 4 p.m. but the doctors did not declare it them. On that basis hon. Prime Minister, Vice- President and I were informed and hon. Home Minister was also informed. Hon. Prime Minister and the Vice President, too sent a condolence message. It was reported in the newspaper that the Home Minister said that he had told the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh that his funeral rites be performed with full State honour but despite all this when I reached there on 5th at 8.15 a.m. no Government official was present there. So far the Government has been kind to me that Government official are invariably informed about my visit. But despite knowing that I was coming to attend the funeral no Government official could be seen even when we took the body to the cremation ground at half past eleven. I remained there till 12.30 to 1 p.m. While I was returning from there, his funeral was almost over when an official of the rank of tehsildar came there with a garland but he was not allowed to go near the funeral pyre. No officer waits on me, it has become very normal for me in Uttar Pradesh. Wherever I go across the country officers wait on me but in Uttar Pradesh barring few places I am sparingly attended by any officer. I went to Jai Prakash Nagar straight away from there and remained there for the day. Excepting an Inspector incharge of police station and a C.O. who is equivalent to Deputy S.P. who were waiting on me, no officer from Ballia went there.

Sir, I would like to know how far we will take politics. Jagdish Bhai was not only Jai Prakash Narainji’s secretary, but the joined the movement in 1938. When Jai Prakash ji fled from Hazaribagh jail in 1942, as stated by Mulayam Singh ji, Jagdish Bhai lay sleeping on his bed. He spent his entire life in prison and in 1951 when he was released from jail Jai Prakash ji requested Jagdish Bhai to construct a house for him and for remaining years of his life Jagdish Bhai lived in that village. The village people and the localities were wandering why no one came from the Uttar Pradesh Government to pay tribute to him. Hon. Home Minister is not here, I would like to know whether even on his intimation no step would be taken? All these things have been reported by the newspapers but all this file on the deaf ears of the U.P. Government. How the Government is functioning? Kindly excuse me, but I would like to ask the hon. Minister present here that how far they will breach the decorum. You may win the elections, but you will be responsible for disintegrating the country.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is not an ordinary incident in Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh ji called Jagdish Bhai an unselfish person. He never asked for anything. He was the secretary of the monument there. Hon. Prime Minister and hon. Deputy Prime Minister also went there. Two Vice- Presidents went there. But Jagdish Bhai ji always remained back stage and he never even tried to get a photograph snapped with them, he was such a person. I am a member of the trust where he lived. He never ate food from the trust’s fund, he always lived on his pension. Such a person was given this kind of treatment by the U.P. Government. Hon. Home Minister, hon. Prime Minister and hon. Vice President have expressed their regret for it. I regret to say that power has really gone to the head of those who are at the helm of affairs in U.P. Government. It has not only gone to their head but they have done a heinous work of breaching the decorum and conventions of the country. I was closely associated with Jagdish Bhai.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to conclude, by submitting that the kind of administration which is going on there, that someday a person like me may not be compelled to take such a step that in this very House, where we are congratulating you for completing one year in office, I may be detained under POTA and you may not have any information of it. ...(Interruptions)

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.)

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the way you have patiently tackled the difficult situations in the House and if I may say, the boldness you have shown deserves our heartfelt commendations. I hope you will steer clear of these situations. At times, I was apprehensive that this House might be totally inactive while you were still these presiding over the House. At times, I feel like responding to the kinds of speeches that are made here, but I prefer to keep quiet in view of the situations. But I really congratulate you from the core of my heart for showing patience, firmness, and skill in handling the proceedings of the House. I wish you may keep on conducting the House in the same fashion.