Most of us had never heard of Jay Amit Shah until a few days ago. All of a sudden, this name, is splashed all over, along with photos of what appears to be the wedding of said Jay Amit Shah with the Prime Minister in attendance along with the BJP Party President. As the father of Jay Amit Shah, pictures of BJP President Amit Shah accompany all accounts relating to the matter, the defamation case that has emerged from it and the various rebuttals and clarifications issued in this regard.
Investigative journalist Rohini Singh; who is famous for previously breaking the story about Robert Vadra’s unexplained wealth and alleged ill-gotten gains recently wrote a story about the business dealings of Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah; entitled The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah. The article was published on the online portal thewire.in and made certain claims about Jay Shah and his business: that the turnover of his company has increased by 16,000 times in the year after BJP won the 2014 elections.
The article claimed that the revenue from Jay Shah’s company increased from Rs 50,000/- to Rs 80,00,00,000/- (rupees 80 crores) in a single year. With a PSU loan, the firm, whose main business is stock trading, turned to windmill generation. The article also spoke of the warning about prosecution received by the portal and the reporter from the lawyer of Jay Shah; in the event of a story about Shah’s business being published.
It is common for India’s political class to be unable to differentiate between the party and government on the one hand and private citizens on the other. When a private citizen (associated with someone of political import) stands accused or accused by implication, office bearers of the party and ministers jump into the fray to deflect allegations and fall over themselves offering explanations. There are startling parallels between the expose of Robert Vadra and the alleged expose of Jay Shah.
Previously, Congress ministers of stature rushed to defend Vadra – the son in law of Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi; not himself a minister or party office bearer – and offer explanations for his business dealings. The same is happening now with Jay Shah. Not only has Amit Shah come out strongly in his son’s defence (also ridiculing Congress members for not knowing the difference between turnover and profit), central ministers such as Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also came out in public support of a private citizen. Reports also reveal that the Union Law Ministry has permitted additional solicitor general, Tushar Mehta to represent Jay Shah who is a private citizen and not a government or party office bearer.
What is significant is that those anxious to defend Jay Shah have not been able to dispute the facts of the matter as stated in the Wire’s article. No factual clarification or counter facts have been put in the public domain to counter the contents or the article. No inquiry is initiated; instead ministers have rushed to defend Jay Shah, and by association his father.
While dismissing all the claims put forward in the article out of hand, a criminal defamation suit for Rs 100 crores has been initiated by Jay Shah and his representatives against the reporter and the news portal that published her article. There is the apprehension that this is yet another in a long line of attempts to muzzle independent media; particularly voices that run counter to the official narrative or questioning voices that are critical of the government.
In fact The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a group of journalists that works to protect freedom of the press and represents over 6 lakh members in 140 countries has also expressed concern that the defamation suit is an attempt to intimidate and stop the publication of stories relating to public interest. The statement issued says: The IFJ is concerned over the misuse of the criminal defamation to harass journalists and media to stop them from investigating matters of public interest and publication of critical stories.
One would think that the first reaction to a report that one perceives as inaccurate, would be to submit a clarification or to counter the claims based on facts. To instantly go on the offensive with a criminal defamation suit for Rs 100 crores not only seems like overreaction, it appears to be overkill; particularly when it is unclear how stating of facts available in the public domain amounts to defamation.
Nowhere does the article allege corruption or wrongdoing – in fact it is Amit Shah, who in his ‘clarification’ said that ‘there is no question of corruption’.
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