On 16th January 2019, the Caravan Magazine published an article targetting Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval. The article insinuated wrongdoing on the part of Vivek saying that he heads a hedge fund in Cayman islands even though his father, the NSA, talks about cracking down on tax havens. Promptly, as has been the case with most such shoddy hitjobs, Congress picked up the malicious article and conducted a press conference where allegations were hurled upon Vivek Doval, NSA Ajit Doval’s son.
Following the Congress press conference which was conducted by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, Vivek Doval, NSA Ajit Doval’s son flew down to Delhi to file a criminal defamation case against not just Caravan Magazine editor and journalist, but also Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for malicious and defamatory allegations.
In the defamation plea that was filed by Vivek Doval, he had submitted 18 years of payment slips and tax returns as a dare to Congress. Almost setting a gold standard in transparency and probity, Vivek Doval also submitted his entire career path from 2001 to today. He also said that the total fund value of his hedge fund is Rs. 77 crores of which, only Rs. 14 crores were invested in India that too, the money was not raised in India. This was in response to Jairam Ramesh’s allegation that he had money laundered Rs. 8300 crores. He has also traced how the hedge fund came into existence and how many years it took in the ideation stage.
After the massive blowback by Vivek Doval, the Congress seems to have developed cold feet, one would imagine.
In a Congress press conference today, which was held by Anand Sharma, a journalist began to ask him a question regarding Vivek Doval. Immediately, Anand Sharma said that he doesn’t know “who this person is”. When one sees the video, one realises that Sharma did not even give the journalist a chance to finish her question and as soon as he heard the name Vivek Doval, he proceeded to deny knowledge of his existence altogether.
It is indeed astonishing that right after Congress held a much-publicised press conference, that Anand Sharma would rush to deny even the knowledge that Vivek Doval exists. This claim to have been mouthed off by Anand Sharma is even more intriguing after the court has taken cognisance of the defamation case against Jairam Ramesh and Caravan Magazine just hours ago.
ACMM Samar Vishal takes cognizance of Vivek Doval’s defamation complaint agaisnt The Caravan and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for publishing an allegedly defamatory article. #VivekDoval @thecaravanindia @Jairam_Ramesh
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 22, 2019
One wonders now, what is it that changed? Did the Congress simply decide to back-off after Vivek Doval took the stern step that he did, that too, decisively? Did they get spooked after Doval submitted his returns for 18 years and displayed utmost transparency in his quest to nip this malicious story in the bud? Or are they, as usual, playing the good-cop-bad-cop by pretending to be aloof from these developments while their senior party leaders rabblerouse in their “personal capacity”.
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It is amusing that Anand Sharma denied knowing Vivek Doval just hours after the defamation suit got accepted by the court and mere days after the Congress party went hammer and tongs against Ajit Doval’s son. However, whatever the reasons might be, it is rather evident that this litany of lies, like many others, is not going to be allowed to just slip by Vivek Doval.
