The on-and-off spokesperson of the Congress Party, Abhishek Manu Singhvi became the chairman of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice, the one that is considering the Lok Pal bill(s), after his party colleague Jayanthi Natarajan who was the former head, became a Minister.
Why on-and-off spokesman ? When he has donned his lawyer’s hat, Singhvi has always argued for good law, not necessarily good politics, resulting in his party asking him to do a disappearing act for a while.
Take, for example, his decision to accept the brief on behalf of the Endosulfan companies, the pesticide that is alleged to produce genetic mutation in human beings and has been banned by the Kerala government. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that more research is needed to establish a causal relationship between the pesticide and the increase in neurological and congenital deformities. But the Congress-led coalition in power in Kerala has a majority of two MLAs and cannot afford to take any chances. Hence, the Oomen Chandy government decided to ban Endosulfan. The companies went to court and Abhishek Singhvi was hired as their lawyer. The CPI M, loath to let an opportunity pass to embarrass the government said: ‘look, on the one hand the Congress is banning the pesticide; on the other, its spokesman is the lawyer for Endosulfan’. The state party complained to the national party and Singhvi was dropped as spokesman of the party for a few days.
Similarly, last year, Singhvi appeared – again, coincidentally in Kerala – to defend tax issues in relation to Megha Distributors, the company which is engaged in the sale of lotteries. Santiago Martin, who owns Megha Distributors, has at least one case of cheating against him when a person who bought Bhutan Lotteries found the ticket had no date of the draw. Unauthorised lottery sale was a major election plank of the Congress in the panchayat elections in the state. Once, the CPIM dragged Sonia Gandhi into the campaign, Singhvi was asked to drop the brief and step down from being spokesperson.
But that said, Singhvi is known as a highly competent lawyer, one of the youngest persons to become Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court, and one of the youngest Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India. He has argued many other important cases including Commercial Free Speech Case of Tata Press Yellow Pages, 1995, NTC Bombay Mills on urban environmental issues, Mandal case on backward classes reservation, Mental asylum reform (as amicus), Renusagar 1 and 2 on international commercial arbitration, and Delhi and Mumbai Airports privatization
Singhvi was educated at St Columba’s School, Delhi; St Stephen’s College, Delhi University; Trinity College, Cambridge, U.K; and Harvard. He was a topper throughout. He had distinguished teachers, but possibly the most influential of all of them was the legendary Sir William Wade from Cambridge, Singhvi’s PhD guide, and one of the world’s best known experts on Administrative Law.
Singhvi’s clarity and calmness in court is often needed at the 4 pm briefing of the Congress where tea and greasy samosas do nothing to take the edge off impatient questioning by reporters. Even more enviable is his capacity to seamlessly slip from English to faultless and colloquial Hindi.
As he will be chiefly responsible for steering the Lok pal negotiation, the Congress has a lot riding on Singhvi.
