Bric a Brac : Amit Shahs assets grew 300 per cent

BJPs President and the new Rajya Sabha member, Amit Shahs assets grew by 300 per cent between 2012  when he last filed an Election Commission affidavit as part of his nomination paper for the Gujarat assembly election  and 2017. In addition, the Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister, Smriti Irani, clarified in her EC affidavit that she had not completed her Bachelor of Commerce course. Both news items are significant. While the phenomenal rise of Shahs wealth was surprising, Iranis declaration was no less. In her 2014 declaration to fight the Lok Sabha election, when she stood against Congress Rahu Gandhi in Amethi, Irani claimed that she was a graduate. Under the column, educational qualification, she wrote BCom, Part 1, School of Correspondence, Delhi University, 1994. She gave the same information in her affidavit for election to the Rajya Sabha in 2011. Curiously, in her affidavit for the 2004 Lok Sabha election, when she stood from Chandni Chowk, Delhi, she said that she was BA, 1996, Delhi University, School of Correspondence. She seems to have corrected the mistake now, and has gracefully accepted that she is just 12th pass. Both the news items were however, treated in a completely different way. The news about Shah was uploaded by several media organisations like the Times of India, Economic Times, Navbharat Times and DNA on their websites, only to be removed later. This despite the fact that the information was authentic with the details available on the Election Commission website. This seems to be a new trend in the media; even the factual pieces are killed. The respected media organisations didnt disclose the reasons behind their decisions.



VOL. 11 | ISSUE 5 | AUGUST 2017