A huge political controversy erupted after news of Kapil Sibal attending EVM hackathon in London came out. The event was dedicated to displaying the vulnerability of the EVMs to hacking. It sparked the allegations that he and his party were behind the event which was aimed at maligning India’s democratic process.
The Congress party is on the back foot in the wake of the controversy that erupted after his presence at the controversial event. The party tried to distance itself from Sibal and maintained that he went to the event in his personal capacity.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Sibal has himself clarified that a journalist had invited him and he went, “but he was certainly not claiming to be representing the Congress party”. They made a similar excuse for Sidhu and Aljo Joseph.
However, curiously enough, in the past, Kapil Sibal has done a lot in his ‘personal capacity’ that aligns perfectly with the Congress’ line. Sibal played a crucial role in triple talaq case and in Ayodhya case and because of his role the Congress was caught in a catch-22 situation.
While defending triple talaq in the SC, Kapil Sibal compared the misogynist practice with belief in Bhagwan Ram. While arguing in the Supreme Court on behalf of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Sibal said, “If I have faith that Lord Rama was born at Ayodhya, then it’s a matter of faith and there is no question of constitutional morality. And why should court interfere? Similar is the case with triple talaq.” By defending triple talaq, Kapil Sibal, as well as the Congress, earned the ire of Muslim women and the party will definitely see the result of their anger in 2019 general elections. His comments in the court embarrassed the party. According to a The Print report, “The party neither dissociated itself from Sibal’s point of view, nor did it oppose the ban.” Neutrality between good and evil is itself evil. The party’s neutrality sent the message that it saw merit in triple talaq.
The Ayodhya dispute has been affecting the politics of the country for many decades and the Congress has only watered the Ayodhya dispute to harvest their political crops. When the BJP government came to power, it started working in the direction to resolve Ayodhya dispute as quickly as possible, but Kapil Sibal during the hearing of the case demanded from the court that the Ram Mandir matter should be heard after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He argued that the hearing could have an effect on the general election of 2019. On this, the central government’s counsel said that the government is in favor of daily hearing of the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had pointed out the double standard of the Congress party during the Gujarat elections. While on one hand, Rahul Gandhi was busy visiting temples, on the other hand, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal was trying to stall the Ram Mandir case. Narendra Modi had said at that time, “What the Congress has done so far is ‘atkana, latkana and bhatkana’.” Congress’s hidden agenda and double-standards were put out in the open by the prime minister.
The Congress party distanced itself from what Kapil Sibal had said in the court. The party maintained that whatever he said in the court was in his personal capacity as a lawyer.
There are so many other controversies associated with Sibal’s name. He is the one who propagated the ‘zero loss theory’ after the news of the 2G scam case broke out. He also appeared for Lalu Prasad Yadav. The Trinamool Congress had also hired Kapil Sibal in the multi-crore Saradha ponzi scam. Sibal along with Singhvi represented the TMC in the Narada sting operation also. The state Congress leaders expressed their unhappiness over the fact that Sibal and Singhvi representing West Bengal ruling party in the scam cases. And now he is defaming Indian institutions and maligning India’s democratic process by having attended a controversial conference organized in London which apparently aimed to destroy the credibility of EVMs and ECI at an international forum ahead of the crucial 2019 general elections. Kapil Sibal’s ‘personal capacity’ has been perfectly aligned with the line of the party on many issues.