Politics

The real reason Jairam Ramesh apologised to NSA Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval

The reason Jairam Ramesh apologized is something else…

December 20, 2020

Jairam Ramesh apologized to Vivek Doval in a defamation case

On a wintry, chilly Saturday, Delhi can be extremely cold. But the news doing the rounds was heating everyone’s blood! What was the real reason for the Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s apology to the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval in a defamation case, on conducting a press conference after an attacking article in Caravan Magazine? Vivek Doval, a British Citizen and the son of India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) accepted Jairam Ramesh’s apology and decided to go ahead with his defamation case against Caravan magazine and its reporter Kaushal Shroff for the attacking article about his firm in the tax haven the Cayman Islands[1].

Reason for the apology

What was the reason for Jairam Ramesh’s volte-face and an apology? And what is wrong with the article? Perhaps it starts with the headline – ‘The D-Companies’ is a very provocative title as in India the word D-Companies is associated with terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. But that is not big defamation as in the trial all can well argue that they meant D for Doval. The article talks about a Cayman Islands-based fund company called GNY Asia in which Vivek Doval was a Director and Caravan Magazine, which takes an anti-ruling party (BJP) stand. According to the Magazine, this company was formed just 13 days after the demonetization and it also narrated other operations of Doval’s elder son Shourya Doval linking all their operations with BJP. But as in India and other democratic countries, these things typically won’t stand in a defamation case.

Yousuff Ali is a frequenter to Delhi and has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times. That is typical of any business tycoon. Nothing wrong with it.

Then what was the need for the apology? Jairam Ramesh not only apologized, but he also went on to say that he would urge the Congress party to remove the details of his press conference uploaded on the party’s website soon after the Caravan Magazine article. Caravan’s Editor Vinod Jose has already said that they stand by their article. What is the reason behind Jairam Ramesh’s expression of regret?

Here is the real reason

Many people say Jairam Ramesh was pressurized by the top Congress leadership to apologize simply because GNY Asia fund’s major shareholder is none other than Mohamed Altaf, nephew of M A Yusuff Ali, Kerala based tycoon operating in the Middle-East. Yusuff Ali who was playing nice for Congress and CPI(M) leaders also started spreading his wings after the BJP came to power in May 2014. The big NRI tycoon based in Abu Dhabi is a friend of all who is in power and in opposition. Vivek Doval has less than five percent shares and Altaf, more than 90 percent shares in GNY Asia, which was floated in the latter half of 2016.

Ali hosts the Gandhi family

Yusuff Ali is a host of Sonia Gandhi family members for more than a decade and Rahul Gandhi was given a rousing reception at his palatial home in Abu Dhabi in early 2019. Hundreds of photos can be seen on the web – images of Rahul Gandhi at Yousaff Ali’s palatial home. Yousuff Ali is a frequenter to Delhi and has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times. That is typical of any business tycoon. Nothing wrong with it. Clearly, Jairam Ramesh lost his nerve and has now become a casualty in this all-party relation of big tycoons.

References:

[1] The D-Companies – Ajit Doval’s sons run a web of companies including a Cayman Islands hedge fund even as father demands crackdown on tax havens – Jan 16, 2019, The Caravan

Author
Recent Posts

Team PGurus

We are a team of focused individuals with expertise in at least one of the following fields viz. Journalism, Technology, Economics, Politics, Sports & Business. We are factual, accurate and unbiased.