The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Jyoti Basu, told newsmen before leaving for Calcutta that the Thakkar Natarajan commission and its findings would shake the faith of the people in the judiciary.

Mr. Basu said the commission had come out with nothing new and its findings were of no importance.

It was surprising that the commission has not bothered to call Mr. V. P. Singh for the inquiry, especially when he had been saying that the Prime Minister was in full knowledge of the engaging of Fairfax. It was also pertinent to note that the American agency had been still in service for four months after Mr. Rajiv Gandhi himself took on the finance portfolio.

Referring to the Gorkha issue, Mr. Basu was guarded in his comments and said that he would await the outcome of GNLF leader Subhas Ghisingh’s talks with the Union Home Minister.

Commenting on the fresh spate of violence in Darjeeling area, he said that such violence erupted whenever Mr. Ghisingh went to Delhi,

Mr. Basu said that of late there had been some disturbing trends in the Indian foreign policy. There had been instances like defense deals with the United States, which could pose problems to the security of the country.

The reports of the PM’s security being handled by an Italian agency was also equally disturbing,

Article extracted from this publication >> January 1, 1988