A change for the better

By Prem Chandran

Whoever ever thought the India Against Corruption would, in one sweet go, gain as much steam as to rattle the movers and shakers of the nation’s political firmament, especially as the fledgling entity did not have an organisational structure to speak of, and no committed support base yet? But, as skeletons began tumbling out of the Congress and BJP cupboards, these here are sleepless nights for the political class. For, the ‘Who next?’ question is, by now, on everyone’s lips.

At one level, while the Queen figure has had her immediate family circles run for cover, taking a hit over the unfolding of a “rags-to-riches” story with her son-in-law being at the centre of the alleged land scams, the palpable euphoria in the Opposition camp, at the other level, was short-lived. It took less than a week more to let the world know the kind of the leader the Saffron crowd was carrying on their shoulders. In fact, talks about a likely Gadkari expose had already tempered the BJP’s mood much before the real expose came. Reason why its spokespersons were guarded in their criticism of the Robert Vadra affair – or the Salman Khurshid expose that followed it, for that matter.

That Nitin Gadkari has become super rich over a short period of time, ever since he handled the PWD ministry in Maharashtra, is without doubt. And, the ways he adopted to build his business empire are by now common knowledge. While the devil will be in the details, the simple and safe inference, prima facie, is that the Vadras and the Gadkaris are not isolated cases. Rather, they are examples of the dirt that has got accumulated over the nation’s political life in recent years – years when the systems got devastated and the political class matchingly made hay. The ugly scenario got only accentuated during the Sonia Gandhi era, if also for the reason that she, as a leader, remained far removed from the masses, due mainly to the security cover that existed around her and her family; and that, the man at the helm, the prime minister, was thought to be at the Congress leadership’s beck and call – a scenario that prevented him from acting in a firm manner against corruption or similar matters of governance, though, prima facie, it looked like he is eminently above the board.

A telling example of Manmohan Singh’s helplessness is the way Salman Khurshid was elevated to a more important position in the Union Cabinet within days of the expose of his trusts scandal. There was palpable glee on the faces of the corrupt elements in the Congress party over how the Congress leadership gave what they saw as a fitting reply to Arvind Kejriwal. The word that went around was that the Congress couldn’t care less.

In all the melee, the nation passed through a period when the impotence of the Opposition was all too clear. A bon homie was building up between the leaders on the rival sides of the political spectrum over the years. Have we, for instance, heard of political clashes in this country in recent years? What gave this peace a chance? It was that politicians formed into a class by themselves, and when it came to issues of corruption, both sides looked the other way, as they knew pretty well there were skeletons in their own cupboards; and that things could be amicably settled between them and their governments. The third force, led mainly by the communists, were as always inconsequential. Their national agenda started and ended with occasional nation-wide hartals against price rise. Time then was for politicians of all shades to indulge in – what else, other than open loot? So, when the political bosses kept licking the coffers clean, would the bureaucratic underclass idle their time away? They mostly played along, and are believed to have filled their pockets as well.

That the running rate for backdoor bail for a mining magnate was in the range of five crore rupees, as a case in Andhra Pradesh testifies, is indicative of the depths to which the corruption malady has eaten into the national veins. The few who resolutely attended to their call of duty, rejected bribe offers and refused to budge were either harassed no end by their political bosses or shown the door … the latest, widely publicised example being in Haryana where a senior official who stuck to his guns found himself losing the chair, thanks to the Vadra effect.

That Nitin Gadkari’s business acumen found eloquent expression only after he became the PWD minister in Maharashtra is no small matter. The assumption today, and with valid reasons, is that not just at the Centre, but in state after state, minister after minister is doing a Gadkari with their ministries, bending rules, favouring their near and dear ones, and building their own personal fiefdoms, though very little of these found expression in the media. The name of the game is Commission Raj, and smart leaders know how to play it safe. It is not just that a Mr. 10 Percent is at the helm of affairs in neighbouring Pakistan. Similar, perhaps smarter, politicians are having a free ride in the land of Hindutva as well, if one goes by what is spread by word of mouth.

A good thing about the media today is, while it is not generally inclined to rub the political class the wrong way, nothing prevents it, not yet, from making a kill out of the exposes that came its way. One might be tempted to see this as a kind of maturing of the media scene, though there’s more to it. While due credit should go to the men and women who painstakingly follow up on the openly levelled charges of corruption, the fact is also that the high levels of competition that exists between channels these days leaves little room for complacence, especially as an enlightened audience is all ears to know more about it all.

The last is not heard about Robert Vadra; and not about Nitin Gadkari either. To dismiss these as nothing more than the storms in a tea cup is to simplify the matter. Yet, without doubt, little is likely to come out of the government-level investigations into the charges. In the minimum, however, the two stood exposed, and both will have to guard their future steps. Despite the open backing that he gets from the party and the RSS today, Gadkari, in particular, is on borrowed time.

The RSS, that has egg on its face, cannot afford to look the other way anymore, especially as it is widely known that Gadkari was their very own prop; and that, much of his controversial actions centered around Nagpur, the base of the RSS. To deny him a second chance at the helm is the minimum that both the RSS and the BJP could do, though a weakling at the helm would be to the liking of Narendra Modi, waiting for his call to guide both the party and the nation.

Be that as it may, even a denial of a second term for Nitin Gadkari itself will be a happy turn for the ongoing India Against Corruption initiative – and a change for the better for the nation.