Corruption is a subject that is being debated everywhere. Anyone could write or speak volumes on the corruption he/she has seen, heard about or experienced. Cancer may find a cure some day and the researcher may even get a Nobel Prize for the great achievement. But finding a cure for the cancer of corruption will perhaps remain only a very distant dream for the people of this country. And if one looks at the way things are happening in India today, we are surely justified in apprehending that anyone who even tries to do away with corruption may be eliminated before any serious attempts are made in that direction. India could in fact compete for a Nobel Prize in corruption.
Narendra Modi and his Party rode on an anti-corruption wave. People believed that his administrative skills and his tall promises of dealing a severe blow to corruption and black money would turn the country around. Those who shared his Hindutva ideology surely voted for him, but those indifferent or even opposed to his views felt that here was a man capable of taking the country out of this rot. Modi lost no opportunity abroad to proclaim to the world that people everywhere looked down upon India because of corruption and that he had come to power to correct that view. It took not only us but the whole world just one year to know whether this man walks the talk. It is disgusting to watch most National TV channels denouncing, one after another, the misdemeanors and shameless behavior of various BJP leaders in Lalitgate and Vyapam scams and the Prime Minister’s deafening silence on the issues.
This country, which needs development and uplifting of the poor, has been looted not of millions but of billions, but we are now touching a new and a very dangerous low: elimination of those who can be a serious threat to the peaceful existence, to the reputation of the rich, powerful and of those who have attained fame and wealth through dubious means. We have painfully seen sincere activists and whistle blowers being done away with, upright and honest officers being eliminated. If there was a sincere desire to clean the system, the authorities ought to have gone an extra mile to order impartial investigations on such deaths. But the contrary happens, which only supports the suspicion of complicity of powerful people.
It happens regularly and recently in Bangalore, as we know, a young and daring IAS Officer was found hanging and the Congress CM initially refused a CBI probe. It is happening now in MP where high profile BJP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan acted similarly, despite several mysterious deaths. Here is a man who had a good reputation as an efficient administrator but allowed his image to be soiled for obvious reasons. In fact, he is also accused of being involved, having helped his sister in getting a job through fraudulent means. To my mind, not a single political party is interested in curbing corruption because it brings in substantial funds to win future elections.
However, corruption is now taking a new and frightful turn. Vyapam is not an ordinary scam. Its fall out assumes proportions of a monstrosity with SIT report itself claiming that at least 35 mysterious deaths have taken place, mostly of people aged between 25 and 30, all accused or witnesses, including two former Deans of Jabalpur Medical College except the journalist who was investigating the case, who also died suddenly. In one of the cases a young lady doctor, also an accused, died on railway tracks and the post mortem reports revealed signs of strangulation. Claims are now being made of suicide resultant of a failed love affair.
In my humble view, the Human Rights Commission ought to also take a note of these happenings, as it appears to be a cleansing of people who know too much and are capable of landing powerful people in serious trouble. Rajnath Singh has the audacity of saying that they are not UPA to resign and the President of BJP unit of BJP has the gumption of asserting that the party need not show any regrets or be apologetic about Vyapam. Their standards of morality have reached the gutter level…What has been happening is not just shameful or abominable; it is criminal, to say the least. It is also no less strange that the RSS, which professes and preaches high standards of morality, should be involved in this scam, particularly through its late Chief K S Sudarshan and the second in command Suresh Soni, whose names have cropped up in the in the inquiry in attempts to provide jobs to their cadres. In a written statement to STF, Mihir Kumar, a former sewadar (assistant) to Sudarshan, admitted having got a job in Weights & Measures Dept in 2012 through the good offices of his boss.
No one doubted Manmohan Singh’s integrity. Yet he received brickbats due to his silence. Narendra Modi seems to be following in his predecessor’s footsteps. His silence could signal approval of the happenings. Or else he must boldly speak out and act to prove his mettle. This will earn him the admiration even of his detractors. The choice is his. But the world is watching….
(The author is a retired banker)
