The brazenness with which A Raja went about allocating 2Gspectrum or Suresh Kalmadi organizing the CWG or captive coal blocks weregifted (free of cost) to a few private players is now well documented and open.All thanks to an alert and pro-active watchdog, the CAG, and of course, thecourt of law. There may be quibbling about the extent of loss to the exchequer,presumptive or otherwise, there is little to doubt that laws and rules wereflouted with impunity and that the government protected the suspects until thevery end. If this government is said to be the most corrupt of all since wegained freedom, there is a ring of truth to it.
So, when CAG boss Vindo Rai said, “the brazenness (withwhich) decisions were being taken is actually appalling…” at the on-going WorldEconomic Forum meet in Gurgaon he was stating the obvious. It should haveshamed the government of the day. Instead, it provoked a response which isobvious too. Manish Tewari, minister for information and broadcasting and aspokesman for the ruling Congress, said Rai himself was part of the governmentbetween 2004 and 2008 and that, “And that I guess when he talks aboutbrazenness, that paradigm equally applies across the board to everyone who waspart of the government”.
Contrast this with what happened today at far away China, acountry we like to measure up to. In Beijing, the Chinese Community Party whichrules China, is holding its congress and it was addressed by country’spresident Hu Jintao. Stating that combating corruption and promoting politicalintegrity is a clear-cut and long-term political commitment of the party andthen issued a warning (as reported by Indian Express): “If we fail to handlethis issue well, it could prove fatal to the Party, and even cause the collapseof the Party and the fall of the state”.
One would wish our chief executive Prime Minister, ManmohanSingh said something similar after being hit by a series of scams “ 2G, CWG,IPL, Isro spectrum allocation, coal block allocation and so on. Recall how hehad blamed “coalition compulsion” to explain 2G scam and since then has takento blasting CAG and courts by accusing them of overstepping their domain. Evenin our dream we can’t imagine our PM admitting to corruption, much lesscommitting to eradicate it. The Lokpal Bill, conceived more than 40 years agoas the apex anti-corruption watch dog, is still in a limbo. Therefore, whatTewari said is not out of line.
Just as Tewari’s belligerence in attacking CAG isconspicuous, so is his silence on the other significant observation of Rai -that CBI, which investigates corruption issues, is not independent of theexecutive and hence the accusation that it has become a handmaiden of thegovernment. It is routine for the courts to pull up CBI in every major corruptioncase. Even as CAG was stating, again, the obvious, the supreme court was askingthe CBI to probe Aircel-Marxis deal involving another former minister DayanidhiMaran in the same 2G scam case. The CBI should have done it by now but won’t orcan’t.
Tewari’s silence is easy to read. He can’t find a scapegoat.Or comment on Rai’s suggestion to make CBI independent, give constitutionalstatus to CVC or make the proposed Lokpal a constitutional body. After all,these are meant to fight corruption and Singh, Tewari and others in thisgovernment can’t be seen to speak or do the obvious.
Going by Jintao’s warning and reiteration of his party’scommitment, the Chinese can hope for a change. Not us. At least, not yet.
