The PM exuded confidence of returning with 400+ seats, despite the galling news of our declining corruption index ranking this year by the Transparency International (TI). It is probable that the PM would be proved right, considering the temperature of the nation’s polity. The BJP snatched power a decade back after Anna Hazare led a crusade on corruption. Neither prime-time debates nor mainstream media told us that after ten years of ‘change’, the third largest economy is ranked with Maldives and Lesotho by the global corruption barometer.
TI a body founded by Peter Eigen, a former world banker with a high level of global credibility due to the processes it follows for the global corruption ranking. UK and Netherlands had free fall in their ranking due to their internal issues. Malaysia has improved due to robust elections alongside an anti-corruption commission that has delivered in high profile cases over the last decade.
In 2013, with the demand for Lokpal, we believed the time of transparent & corrupt free governance had arrived. We thought the country had bargained for Bhrastachar mukt Bharat. We believed in the messiah who thundered ‘na khaunga, na khanne dhunga’. But TI tells us India had the highest bribery rate in Asia in 2020.
Corruption in governance and mal-administration gets highlighted in a democratic atmosphere where information and transparency act as disinfectants against the corrupt. Political thinkers always believe democracy and social welfarism can flower in a more open society. Democratic space does not allow corruption to fester. Corrupt governance can flourish better in an opaque environment with authoritarian tendencies. TI gives great consideration for free speech and the state of fundamental rights in a country’s public process and regulatory mechanism, in deciding the corruption index ranking. Our weak ranking is a reflection of lack of delivery of elected officials on anti-corruption agenda, together to crack down on organized civil society and attacks on freedom of press, assembly and association.
Freedom house dropped our ratings from free to ‘partly free’. Varieties of democracy (V-Dem) put us in the pit of ‘elected autocracy’. While the Economist Intelligence unit dumped India into a category of ‘flawed’ democracy. That’s the global view of our democracy in this decade. The world Freedom of Press Index by Reporters without Borders, we have fallen to 161st and of 180 and placed below Afghanistan, Belarus, Pakistan and Libya. It is such atmosphere that institutions and processes meant to combat corruption fall by the way side. As per a Yale University study, Right to information application was as effective bribing for delivery of any service. RTI is not the flavour of the current season. The Lokpal is no more!
The central government has succeeded in creating intimidatory atmosphere of ‘shock and awe’. Hemant Soren, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh are in under ED custody, Lalu Yadav and his entire family is being questioned. Kejrival and the AAP leadership, Abhishek Banerjee and the TMC leadership, Akilesh Yadav, Mayawati and many NCP leaders who have not crossed over are feeling the heat of the weaponised agencies. How can a common citizen stand up, when a CM or Dy. CM finds ‘jail, not bail’ as the new rule of criminal jurisprudence.
Why the corrupt should be treated with kid gloves? ‘The nation wants to know’! None wants the corrupt to go scot free. They deserve a trial and punishment, but the outrage is over selective action that nullifies the action of the probe agencies. It will be an understatement to say that 95% of those being probed are from the opposition. Ajit Pawar, Narayan Rane, Hemant Sharma, Mukul Roy, Suvendu Adhikari - and now enjoy power by the grace of the party with a difference. The tainted are granted sainthood.
That makes the fight against corruption unfair and vindictive. The opposition is targeted either to project them as corrupt or to intimidate them to cross over. In a politically polarized atmosphere, biased and partisan action turn the actions of the probe agencies illegitimate making victims out of suspects. Even thieves may look like saints!
The 2024 report on corruption ranking clearly demonstrates that the fight against corruption has gone nowhere. Does corruption stand any chance of becoming an electoral issue again? Looks difficult. Yedurappa who was felled by Lokayukta is now the tallest leader of BJP in Karnataka. Hemant Sharma, who was accused by BJP itself as a most corrupt is now the CM of Assam and a darling in the North East. Tejashwi Yadav who draws his strength from the legacy of Lalu Yadav is now the foremost leader in Bihar. Vyapam scam accused is the most loved leader in Madhya Pradesh. When the Vishwaguru tells the house that he would come back with 400+, he knows his strength coming from an enduring popularity and the depressingly low expectations of the voters fed on a diet of labarthies and hypernationalism.
Amidst RTI revolution, India’s ranking on Corruption in 2013 was dismal at 93. But there was hope then. Our democracy was alive and kicking, Our institutions like RBI, CAG and ECI were very robust. The Supreme Court, we knew would stand up to the executive. The CJI R M Lodha’s ‘caged parrot’ comment had sent a clear signal to the investigative agencies. He may not have even dreamt then that the ‘caged parrot’ would only become a monster used to fix opponents.
After 10 years, our ranking on corruption is still at 93, but now with a recession in democratic functioning. No doubt Pakistan and Sri Lanka are behind us but it is heartening to note that the TI have appreciated the strong judicial oversight in these two countries, which is helping to keep the governments in check, despite week financial institutions and political instability.
(The writer is a practicing advocate and a political thinker)