Former Union Minister P Chidambaram was finally arrested at his residence by the CBI after a dramatic day on Wednesday. A team of about 30 CBI officers accompanied by Delhi Police officials had knocked at the doors of Chidambaram, who was absconding from the investigative agencies after his anticipatory bail was rejected by the Delhi High Court.
On Wednesday night, some section of ‘liberal-secular’ media and intellectuals, who are often associated with Congress party, suffered a huge meltdown as CBI scaled the walls of the residence and picked up former Finance Minister Chidambaram. As Chidambaram had declined to open the locked gates, CBI officials had to scale the walls and take help of Delhi police to force open a gate on the backside of the premises.
Within a few minutes of Chidambaram’s arrest, the liberal heart bled for their fallen hero, who once had once co-opted the very same intelligentsia, media and other opinion-makers.
Calling the arrest of Chidambaram unprecedented, Rajdeep Sardesai- the Michelangelo of Indian journalism, lamented that the action of the CBI and ED was nothing but desperation to somehow arrest the former UPA minister at all cost.
Rajdeep Sardesai, perhaps put a better defence for the cause of P Chidambaram compared to the battery of legal luminaries that represented the accused. Echoing same sentiments as Chidambaram, Rajdeep asked what was the urgency in making the arrest despite there was no name of Chidambaram either in the FIR or in the charge sheet of the INX media investigation.
CBI officials scale the wall to enter #PChidambaram‘s house. @sambitswaraj explains why the former FM must not get bail.#INXMediaCase
Watch #NewsToday LIVE with @sardesairajdeep: https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/t7jFoWUCMQ— India Today (@IndiaToday) August 21, 2019
In a tweet, Rajdeep Sardesai went on to call the arrest as ‘pretty absurd’ and ‘bizarre’. However, he deleted the tweet after he was caught by the social media for his diatribe.
However, he did not stop there but continued to express his rage against the Supreme Court for postponing the hearing till Friday. Rajdeep Sardesai questioned the apex court on why did they not settle the case by hearing the plea filed by Chidambaram on Wednesday morning itself rather than postponing till Friday.
In his show, he also questioned the CBI that why could not they wait till Friday’s Supreme Court hearing before arresting Chidambaram.
.@Rahulshrivstv and @sardesairajdeep explain where exactly has Congress failed in the entire Chidambaram drama.#INXMediaCase
Watch LIVE with @gauravcsawant: https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/d3ENxnz4fw— India Today (@IndiaToday) August 21, 2019
Left-wing activist Prashant Bhushan, who often stands in support of the anti-national forces, expressed his anguish over the arrest of former Congress Minister Chidambaram. Calling the arrest for ‘custodial interrogation’ as totally malafide and against the Constitution, Prashant Bhushan opined that Chidambaram cannot be arrested as he has cooperated with the investigation and appeared before the CBI and ED whenever he was called.
Arresting Chidambaram for ‘custodial interrogation’ is totally malafide & against the Constitution. He has cooperated with the investigation & appeared before CBI & ED whenever called. Do they want to extract confession by custodial torture? Govt’s misuse of agencies is boundless
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) August 22, 2019
Rana Ayyub, an Islamist troll masquerading as a journalist, who wrote fiction books during the UPA era also had few words to say about the recent arrest. By referring to the independent institution CBI as ‘Amit Shah’s CBI’, she found a way to vent out her frustration after the arrest of P Chidambaram.
This is Amit Shah’s CBI
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) August 21, 2019
Chaiti Narula, a reporter at India Today, followed Rana Ayyub’s way, perhaps hoping that she may reach Ayyub’s magnitude someday in future. Narula wore the hat of a legal luminary to advice the CBI that the methodology of detention and treatment meted to Chidambaram by them was not polite at all. Calling it unprecedented, she shared her knowledge to the public by stating that there was no charge sheet or FIR naming P Chidambaram.
methodology of detention by CBI not polite at https://t.co/uGLCO0uCGf way to treat an ex FM, ex HM and current RS MP. Unprecedented.There is no chargesheet/FIR naming PC. He’s come out in the open and cooperated in the past. If he’s guilty he will be pronounced as such by court.
— Chaiti Narula (@Chaiti) August 21, 2019
Former Finance Minister Chidambaram, one of the most powerful politicians of the UPA era, influenced the opinions and newsmakers during their tenure by co-opting the media and the intelligentsia. With Chidambaram locked up for the alleged crimes he had committed during the UPA era, it is not unsurprising to see the cronies coming out to defend their master by discrediting the investigation and propagating false agenda to portray Chidambaram as an innocent.
