The Evening Wrap: Government, Opposition agree to end Parliamentary impasse

The ruling BJP and opposition parties reached an agreement on Monday (December 2, 2024) to break the parliamentary impasse, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju expressing confidence that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will function smoothly from Tuesday. Speaker Om Birla held a meeting with floor leaders of different parties where the breakthrough was achieved. Rijiju, who attended the meeting, told reporters the Lower House will take up a discussion on the Constitution on December 13 and 14, and the Upper House on December 16 and 17. The opposition parties had demanded discussions in both Houses of Parliament to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly. Rijiju expressed confidence that Parliament will function smoothly from Tuesday. Several opposition leaders, who attended the meeting, also echoed similar sentiments. The Congress has been persistent in raising the issue of the indictment of U.S. prosecutors of Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and other company officials on bribery and fraud charges. This coupled with vociferous opposition protests over matters such as the Sambhal violence and Manipur unrest have resulted in constant adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha since the Winter Session began on November 25. However, some other opposition parties, especially the TMC, have not attached the same priority to the Adani row and want Parliament to discuss a host of different issues, including unemployment, price rise and the Centre’s alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in fund allocation. The TMC has skipped opposition meetings to formulate the INDIA bloc’s joint strategy during the Session. A TMC source said his party cannot be there just to stamp its approval on the Congress’ agenda. The Congress and many of its allies have also been vocal in targeting the ruling BJP for its alleged attack on the Congress under the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP on the other hand has projected the main opposition party as the principal violator of constitutional norms and spirit when it was in power, asserting that the Modi government has strengthened constitutional practices and principles during its over 10-year tenure. Proceedings in both Houses were adjourned for yet another day on Monday amid protests by opposition members over the Adani indictment row, recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and other issues. No voter should be turned down, Supreme Court expresses concern to EC about enhanced voter limit Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Monday told the Election Commission of India that “no voter should be turned down” while hearing a petition that the poll body’s move enhancing the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500 leads to disenfranchisement among the “teeming millions”, especially the underprivileged, for whom the Constitution works. “We are concerned… no voter should be turned down. You have to explain your position,” Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, heading a Bench with Justice Sanjiv Kumar, addressed the Election Commission. The petition, filed by activist Indu Prakash Singh, represented by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, Shadan Farasat and advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, challenged an August 7, 2024 communication of the Election Commission (EC). Rather than increasing the number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or polling stations in every constituency, the EC has chosen to increase the number of electors per polling station, probably in a bid to lower the cost of election. “The EC does not realise that such an approach actually is a very expensive step in democracy as it results in exclusion… Representation of People Act, 1951 mandates the Election Commission to provide for a ‘sufficient number of polling stations for every constituency’,” the petitioner noted. The petition said the increase would lead to crowding of polling stations, resulting in longer waiting hours and queues. These are factors which would prove unfriendly for daily wagers. The petition called for an immediate intervention from the court as the issue concerned various upcoming elections including in Delhi and Bihar. “This will have a disparate impact on marginalised communities and low-income groups particularly daily wagers, rickshaw pullers, maids, drivers, vendors, etc, for whom long waiting hours result in deprivation of wages. Thus, simply by increasing number of electors per polling station (rather than increasing polling stations or having more EVMs), the electors can be disenfranchised… elections must not only be free and fair but also be seen to be free and fair and on the principles of equal participation of electors in the election process,” the petition argued. Chief Justice Khanna asked senior advocate Maninder Singh why the poll body has pushed the maximum limit per polling station from 1,200 (in rural areas) and 1,400 (urban areas) to a uniform 1,500 voters. The petition had contended that the enhancement from 1,200 to 1,500 was “peculiar”, and not backed by any fresh data, as there had been no census conducted since 2011. “And what happens if the number of voters increases beyond this limit in a polling station?” the Chief Justice asked. Singh said the maximum limit had been 1,500 voters since 2015. Electoral technology was advancing. “People have not complained. There is no problem about franchise,” the senior advocate justified. He said polling stations were usually crowded after 3 p.m. on voting day. “This problem is perpetual… But if I go early in the morning, there is no queue,” he reasoned. “You cannot change human nature,” Chief Justice Khanna responded, directing the EC to file an affidavit in three weeks. The case was listed for hearing in the week commencing January 27, 2025. The petition questioned the basis on which the EC has increased the limit to 1,500 voters. “A voter takes about 90 seconds to cast her vote — in addition to time spent outside waiting in queue and locating one’s name in the list. The elections are held for 11 hours. Therefore, in one hour, only 45 persons can vote. In 11 hours, at one polling station, only 495 people can vote. Assuming superhuman efficiency where each elector takes one minute to cast her vote, in 11 hours of continuous voting, only 660 persons can vote at one polling station,” it pointed out. Delhi air pollution: Supreme Court not to relax GRAP-4 restrictions unless AQI shows ‘downward trend’ The Supreme Court on Monday refused to relax emergency measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) dealing with air pollution in the national capital till it noticed a downward trend in the AQI level. A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih further sought the presence of the chief secretaries of NCR states to appear through video-conferencing to inform it whether or not any compensation was paid to the construction workers who were without work owing to the restrictions. Notably, there has to be a downward trend before the Supreme Court relaxes GRAP 4 restrictions. The Bench said the chief secretaries of NCR states including Delhi, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan will have to appear through video-conferencing at 3.30 p.m. on December 5. “There is hardly any implementation of stage 4 of GRAP to deal with air pollution in the national capital,” remarked the bench, questioning the Delhi government on the number of officers deployed by it to implement the restrictions, especially banning trucks from entering the national capital. The Delhi government, represented by senior advocate Shadan Farasat, said it would look into allegations of non-compliance of the GRAP restrictions. Farasat, however, asserted on the basis of 2-3 incidents it couldn’t be said that the entire city of 1.5 crore population was not complying with the restrictions. Data on Central government job quotas missing from DoPT’s latest annual report The Union government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has removed data on reservations in Central government jobs and positions from its latest Annual Report (2023-24) released last month. A table — which contains details about all Central government positions across Ministries and Departments, and the number of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes employees across Groups A, B, C, and D — has been a part of the chapter on reservations in all of DoPT annual reports. The DoPT has not yet responded to The Hindu’s queries on why the table was left out this time. On Monday, the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM), a Left-affiliated rights body, said that “deliberate concealment” of data on reservations in government jobs had emerged as a primary concern at a national convention held on Sunday (December 1, 2024) on the “exclusion of adivasis from jobs”. Professor Vikas Rawal of Jawaharlal Nehru University, who is associated with the AARM’s Centre for Adivasi Research and Development, said on Monday that the DoPT’s reports from 2018 onwards have not provided complete data on reservations across Central government posts. “If you peruse the Ministry of Finance’s Pay Research Unit records, it would appear that there are over 30 lakh Central government employees, but in the DoPT’s annual reports since 2018, the data on reservations is provided for just about 19 lakh employees, with no explanation as to which employees are being left out,” Rawal said at a press conference in Delhi on Monday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said that this “deliberate concealment” of information was a way to “disarm” marginalised communities from seeking and asserting their rights. “They can’t even go to court because there is no complete, consolidated data of how many jobs there are, how many reserved posts have been filled and how many remain vacant,” she said. A perusal of publicly available Annual Reports of the DoPT showed that the table on reservations showed a total of over 32 lakh government employees till January 1, 2016, the data for which was available in the Annual Report of 2018-19. However, in the subsequent report onwards, the total number of government employees in the table for reservations has been around 19 lakh. In a charter of eight demands that has emerged from Sunday’s convention, there were three calls for complete and comprehensive data on reservations in all government jobs across Ministries, Departments, public sector enterprises, banks, educational institutes, financial institutions, government health sector, and scheme workers. The demands call for reservation to be implemented in all government recruitments, including in contractual posts, posts on deputation, promotions, etc. in addition to reiterating the demand for implementing reservations in the private sector as well. The AARM has blamed the policies of privatisation for the “decreasing quantum of jobs” being made available to the people and demanded that such policies be ended. It said that the quantum of reservation for Scheduled Tribes be increased from the existing 7.5% to make it proportional to their share in India’s population as per the 2011 Census, which showed STs comprised 8.6% of the total population. P.B. Baske, the national convener of AARM, said a delegation has sought an appointment with Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram to submit the charter of demands to the government. “In the coming weeks, we will also be holding protests outside Raj Bhawans across States and Union Territories to raise our demands,” he said. Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter in two cases despite previous pledges not to President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday (December 2, 2024) night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members. The Democratic President had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden’s legacy. Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump’s first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing. In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” As recently as November 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.” The elder Biden has publicly stood by his only living son as Hunter descended into serious drug addiction and threw his family life into turmoil, before pulling himself out in recent years. His political rivals have long used Hunter Biden’s myriad mistakes as a political cudgel against his father: in one hearing, lawmakers displayed half-naked photos of the drug addled president’s son in a seedy hotel. And House Republicans sought to use the younger Biden’s years of questionable overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach his father, who has long denied involvement in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way. In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden added. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.” “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The President had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was set to depart later Sunday on what may be his last foreign trip as president before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025. Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin. David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea deal, was subsequently named a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have more autonomy over the prosecution of the President’s son. Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction. The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely. Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years. But the plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. He was subsequently indicted in the two cases. The sweeping pardon covers not just those offences, but also any other “offences against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” In Brief: After a group of protesters breached the security of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said the incident was “deeply regrettable”. The MEA reiterated India’s commitment to uphold the sanctity of diplomatic premises and assured enhanced security of the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh located in India. In the backdrop of simmering tension over the November 25 arrest of the noted community leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Chittagong, a large crowd of protesters from the Hindu Sangharsh Samiti had forced their entry into the Assistant High Commission in Agartala, pulled down the national flag of Bangladesh and damaged items before being pushed out. In a sign of closer engagement between India and Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit, due to be held early next year. Dates for the visit, which would be Putin’s first trip to India since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, are still to be decided, said Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov on Monday, confirming that the Kremlin has received the invitation. The announcement comes weeks after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov in India for an Inter-Governmental meeting. [logo] The Evening Wrap 02 December 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Government, Opposition agree to end Parliamentary impasse; both Houses to hold discussion on Constitution The ruling [BJP and opposition parties reached an agreement]( on Monday (December 2, 2024) to break the parliamentary impasse, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju expressing confidence that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will function smoothly from Tuesday. Speaker Om Birla held a meeting with floor leaders of different parties where the breakthrough was achieved. Rijiju, who attended the meeting, told reporters the Lower House will take up a discussion on the Constitution on December 13 and 14, and the Upper House on December 16 and 17. The opposition parties had demanded discussions in both Houses of Parliament to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly. Rijiju expressed confidence that Parliament will function smoothly from Tuesday. Several opposition leaders, who attended the meeting, also echoed similar sentiments. The Congress has been persistent in raising the issue of the indictment of U.S. prosecutors of Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and other company officials on bribery and fraud charges. This coupled with vociferous opposition protests over matters such as the Sambhal violence and Manipur unrest have resulted in constant adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha since the Winter Session began on November 25. However, some other opposition parties, especially the TMC, have not attached the same priority to the Adani row and want Parliament to discuss a host of different issues, including unemployment, price rise and the Centre’s alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in fund allocation. The TMC has skipped opposition meetings to formulate the INDIA bloc’s joint strategy during the Session. A TMC source said his party cannot be there just to stamp its approval on the Congress’ agenda. The Congress and many of its allies have also been vocal in targeting the ruling BJP for its alleged attack on the Congress under the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP on the other hand has projected the main opposition party as the principal violator of constitutional norms and spirit when it was in power, asserting that the Modi government has strengthened constitutional practices and principles during its over 10-year tenure. Proceedings in both Houses were adjourned for yet another day on Monday amid protests by opposition members over the Adani indictment row, recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and other issues. No voter should be turned down, Supreme Court expresses concern to EC about enhanced voter limit Chief Justice of India [Sanjiv Khanna on Monday told the Election Commission of India]( that “no voter should be turned down” while hearing a petition that the poll body’s move enhancing the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500 leads to disenfranchisement among the “teeming millions”, especially the underprivileged, for whom the Constitution works. “We are concerned… no voter should be turned down. You have to explain your position,” Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, heading a Bench with Justice Sanjiv Kumar, addressed the Election Commission. The petition, filed by activist Indu Prakash Singh, represented by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, Shadan Farasat and advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, challenged an August 7, 2024 communication of the Election Commission (EC). Rather than increasing the number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or polling stations in every constituency, the EC has chosen to increase the number of electors per polling station, probably in a bid to lower the cost of election. “The EC does not realise that such an approach actually is a very expensive step in democracy as it results in exclusion… Representation of People Act, 1951 mandates the Election Commission to provide for a ‘sufficient number of polling stations for every constituency’,” the petitioner noted. The petition said the increase would lead to crowding of polling stations, resulting in longer waiting hours and queues. These are factors which would prove unfriendly for daily wagers. The petition called for an immediate intervention from the court as the issue concerned various upcoming elections including in Delhi and Bihar. “This will have a disparate impact on marginalised communities and low-income groups particularly daily wagers, rickshaw pullers, maids, drivers, vendors, etc, for whom long waiting hours result in deprivation of wages. Thus, simply by increasing number of electors per polling station (rather than increasing polling stations or having more EVMs), the electors can be disenfranchised… elections must not only be free and fair but also be seen to be free and fair and on the principles of equal participation of electors in the election process,” the petition argued. Chief Justice Khanna asked senior advocate Maninder Singh why the poll body has pushed the maximum limit per polling station from 1,200 (in rural areas) and 1,400 (urban areas) to a uniform 1,500 voters. The petition had contended that the enhancement from 1,200 to 1,500 was “peculiar”, and not backed by any fresh data, as there had been no census conducted since 2011. “And what happens if the number of voters increases beyond this limit in a polling station?” the Chief Justice asked. Singh said the maximum limit had been 1,500 voters since 2015. Electoral technology was advancing. “People have not complained. There is no problem about franchise,” the senior advocate justified. He said polling stations were usually crowded after 3 p.m. on voting day. “This problem is perpetual… But if I go early in the morning, there is no queue,” he reasoned. “You cannot change human nature,” Chief Justice Khanna responded, directing the EC to file an affidavit in three weeks. The case was listed for hearing in the week commencing January 27, 2025. The petition questioned the basis on which the EC has increased the limit to 1,500 voters. “A voter takes about 90 seconds to cast her vote — in addition to time spent outside waiting in queue and locating one’s name in the list. The elections are held for 11 hours. Therefore, in one hour, only 45 persons can vote. In 11 hours, at one polling station, only 495 people can vote. Assuming superhuman efficiency where each elector takes one minute to cast her vote, in 11 hours of continuous voting, only 660 persons can vote at one polling station,” it pointed out. Delhi air pollution: Supreme Court not to relax GRAP-4 restrictions unless AQI shows ‘downward trend’ The Supreme Court on Monday [refused to relax emergency measures]( under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) dealing with air pollution in the national capital till it noticed a downward trend in the AQI level. A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih further sought the presence of the chief secretaries of NCR states to appear through video-conferencing to inform it whether or not any compensation was paid to the construction workers who were without work owing to the restrictions. Notably, there has to be a downward trend before the Supreme Court relaxes GRAP 4 restrictions. The Bench said the chief secretaries of NCR states including Delhi, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan will have to appear through video-conferencing at 3.30 p.m. on December 5. “There is hardly any implementation of stage 4 of GRAP to deal with air pollution in the national capital,” remarked the bench, questioning the Delhi government on the number of officers deployed by it to implement the restrictions, especially banning trucks from entering the national capital. The Delhi government, represented by senior advocate Shadan Farasat, said it would look into allegations of non-compliance of the GRAP restrictions. Farasat, however, asserted on the basis of 2-3 incidents it couldn’t be said that the entire city of 1.5 crore population was not complying with the restrictions. Data on Central government job quotas missing from DoPT’s latest annual report The Union government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) [has removed data on reservations]( in Central government jobs and positions from its latest Annual Report (2023-24) released last month. A table — which contains details about all Central government positions across Ministries and Departments, and the number of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes employees across Groups A, B, C, and D — has been a part of the chapter on reservations in all of DoPT annual reports. The DoPT has not yet responded to The Hindu’s queries on why the table was left out this time. On Monday, the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM), a Left-affiliated rights body, said that “deliberate concealment” of data on reservations in government jobs had emerged as a primary concern at a national convention held on Sunday (December 1, 2024) on the “exclusion of adivasis from jobs”. Professor Vikas Rawal of Jawaharlal Nehru University, who is associated with the AARM’s Centre for Adivasi Research and Development, said on Monday that the DoPT’s reports from 2018 onwards have not provided complete data on reservations across Central government posts. “If you peruse the Ministry of Finance’s Pay Research Unit records, it would appear that there are over 30 lakh Central government employees, but in the DoPT’s annual reports since 2018, the data on reservations is provided for just about 19 lakh employees, with no explanation as to which employees are being left out,” Rawal said at a press conference in Delhi on Monday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said that this “deliberate concealment” of information was a way to “disarm” marginalised communities from seeking and asserting their rights. “They can’t even go to court because there is no complete, consolidated data of how many jobs there are, how many reserved posts have been filled and how many remain vacant,” she said. A perusal of publicly available Annual Reports of the DoPT showed that the table on reservations showed a total of over 32 lakh government employees till January 1, 2016, the data for which was available in the Annual Report of 2018-19. However, in the subsequent report onwards, the total number of government employees in the table for reservations has been around 19 lakh. In a charter of eight demands that has emerged from Sunday’s convention, there were three calls for complete and comprehensive data on reservations in all government jobs across Ministries, Departments, public sector enterprises, banks, educational institutes, financial institutions, government health sector, and scheme workers. The demands call for reservation to be implemented in all government recruitments, including in contractual posts, posts on deputation, promotions, etc. in addition to reiterating the demand for implementing reservations in the private sector as well. The AARM has blamed the policies of privatisation for the “decreasing quantum of jobs” being made available to the people and demanded that such policies be ended. It said that the quantum of reservation for Scheduled Tribes be increased from the existing 7.5% to make it proportional to their share in India’s population as per the 2011 Census, which showed STs comprised 8.6% of the total population. P.B. Baske, the national convener of AARM, said a delegation has sought an appointment with Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram to submit the charter of demands to the government. “In the coming weeks, we will also be holding protests outside Raj Bhawans across States and Union Territories to raise our demands,” he said. Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter in two cases despite previous pledges not to [President Joe Biden pardoned his son]( Hunter, on Sunday (December 2, 2024) night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members. The Democratic President had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden’s legacy. Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump’s first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing. In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” As recently as November 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.” The elder Biden has publicly stood by his only living son as Hunter descended into serious drug addiction and threw his family life into turmoil, before pulling himself out in recent years. His political rivals have long used Hunter Biden’s myriad mistakes as a political cudgel against his father: in one hearing, lawmakers displayed half-naked photos of the drug addled president’s son in a seedy hotel. And House Republicans sought to use the younger Biden’s years of questionable overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach his father, who has long denied involvement in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way. In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden added. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.” “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The President had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was set to depart later Sunday on what may be his last foreign trip as president before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025. Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin. David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea deal, was subsequently named a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have more autonomy over the prosecution of the President’s son. Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction. The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely. Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years. But the plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. He was subsequently indicted in the two cases. The sweeping pardon covers not just those offences, but also any other “offences against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” In Brief: [After a group of protesters breached the security of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala]( the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said the incident was “deeply regrettable”. The MEA reiterated India’s commitment to uphold the sanctity of diplomatic premises and assured enhanced security of the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh located in India. In the backdrop of simmering tension over the November 25 arrest of the noted community leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Chittagong, a large crowd of protesters from the Hindu Sangharsh Samiti had forced their entry into the Assistant High Commission in Agartala, pulled down the national flag of Bangladesh and damaged items before being pushed out. [In a sign of closer engagement between India and Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin]( for a summit, due to be held early next year. Dates for the visit, which would be Putin’s first trip to India since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, are still to be decided, said Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov on Monday, confirming that the Kremlin has received the invitation. The announcement comes weeks after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov in India for an Inter-Governmental meeting. 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