2G Case: Congress, DMK Celebrate; BJP Says Policy Was Corrupt

From Kanimozhi to Arun Jaitley, here’s how politicians reacted to the 2G verdict.

P Chidambaram (left), MK Stalin (centre) and Kapil Sibal.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)   

Minutes after all the accused in the 2G spectrum case, including former telecom minister A Raja and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, were acquitted by Delhi’s Patiala House court, DMK supporters took to the roads to celebrate special judge OP Saini’s one-line verdict.

Politicians from the DMK and the Congress party expressed their satisfaction with the court’s verdict. “I would love to thank everyone who stood by me,” Kanimozhi said.

She told News 18 that she had been wrongly implicated and that the verdict will play a role in the upcoming general elections.

<p>Justice has prevailed. The verdict will serve to enthuse the DMK cadre, and will make a change in the upcoming general elections.&nbsp;</p>

<p> Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP</p>

“Finally our innocence has been proved. I will not deliberately target anyone but there was a conspiracy and a lot of people had a hand in this. It wasn't very easy. You are being accused of something you haven't done and corruption charges are the worst. It means a lot for the DMK because corruption has been used as a peg to slam our party,” she told the channel.

Reacting to the verdict, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters outside the Parliament that the scandal was "massive propaganda".

On the other hand, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called the 2G spectrum allocation a “dishonest and corrupt policy”.

<p>The Congress is treating the verdict as some kind of badge of honour, as if the policy was not a corrupt one. Let us be clear that the policy intended to promote corruption. UPA’s policy was arbitrary. This was a corrupt and dishonest policy, which has already been upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.</p>

Speaking to reporters, former finance minister P Chidambaram said:

<p>All allegations of major scam untrue... it has been established.</p>

Former Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal also lauded the verdict.

<p>My position and the PM’s position stand vindicated. It was a scam by Vinod Rai. Vinod Rai’s presumptive loss theory has been proved wrong.</p>

MK Stalin, DMK’s working president, condemned the media’s role in "tarnishing” the image of his party.

<p>The media vociferously tarnished the DMK’s image when the 2G case was filed in 2009. Now that the allegations have been ruled out, I request the media to do their part in reporting that the blemish is off and make up for the damage.</p>

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that justice had prevailed.

<p>Clearly the court has found that innocent people have been wronged. Justice has worked, as it is supposed to work in our country.</p>

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, however, questioned the special court’s verdict, asking if the CBI messed up the case intentionally.

Meanwhile, former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said that the accused had suffered enough from being embroiled in the case all these years.

<p>The prosecution’s main argument was on clause 8 – it is a civil issue. It was never an issue of criminality. This is what the court also held. All the people of the industry who were accused have suffered enough, licenses cancelled, they were also unable to travel abroad.</p>

(This article has been updated)