NEW DELHI: The Congress (I), the major opposition party in parliament, Wednesday demanded a “complete and independent” inquiry into statements made by the Akali leader, Simranjit Singh Mann, that Prime Minister VP Singh had sent him a secret communication while he was a senior minister in the erstwhile Congress (I) government.
M.J. Akbar, Congress (I) Member of Parliament told the press that the matter acquired national significance in the light of Mann’s reiteration of the statement following denial by the prime minister’s Office.
Mann in an interview on January 8 had said that VP Singh had sent him a secret verbal message dissociating himself from “the genocidal policies in Punjab” and saying that he would resign in six months.
Following the government’s denial of any such communication Mann in an interview published Wednesday in the “The Times of India” reiterated that he had received the message through a special emissary.
In the interview Mann also said that as things turned out, Singh resigned two months before the six month deadline set out in the message.
M.J. Akbar, a journalist turned parliamentarian, said that the prime minister’s denial had confused the situation and “either VP Singh is lying or Mann is lying.”
“The nation must know who the liar is and who is telling the truth,” he said while challenging VP Singh to constitute a “complete and independent inquiry into what is clearly a matter of national importance.”
“The nation must know who was the special emissary and the ramifications of these links between a senior minister and elements whose full commitment to unity is in doubt,” he said,
Akbar also noted that Mann’s statement indicated that VP Singh’s resignation from the Rajiv Gandhi government was spontaneous about it.”
Article extracted from this publication >> January 26, 1990
