Zero tolerance against Corruption
"Zero tolerance against corruption" is the most heinous fraud committed on "We the People" and the "Indian Nation" by successive Prime Ministers, political leaders and parties.
Enforcement Directorate's arrest of Partha Chatterjee, the right hand man of Mamata Banerjee, TMC Supremo and Chief Minister of West Bengal, and former Minister of Commerce and Industries, who formerly served as the Education Minister of Government of West Bengal, and his Aide, Arpita Mukherjee, mercilessly exposes gargantuan corruption engulfing India despite Prime Ministers most oft-repeated exhortations and numerous agencies like the Lok Pal, CVC, CBI, ED, IT, etc., to detect and punish corrupt people and money laundering cases.
Even the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) under Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi that lays tall claims for running a corruption free government is making waves under the ED investigations. Delhi Court has accepted the charge sheet filed by the ED against Satyendar Kumar Jain, Minister of Health in Delhi government, in the money laundering case. Furthermore, the Delhi Government is also caught in the scam making rounds in the Liquor Policy.
Furthermore, on 31 July 2022, the Enforcement Directorate detained Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut, loyalist of Uddhav Thackeray, Former Chief Minister of MVA in Maharashtra, after searching his house for over 8 hours in the 1000-crore in connection with the Patra chawl scam and money laundering case.
Also, three Jharkhand Congress MLAs who were caught with Rs.48-50 lakh cash in their vehicle have been arrested by West Bengal Police and produced in Howrah court. Congress party has suspended the three MLAs.
MK Gandhi had expressed despair against corruption when he stated, “We seem to have weakened from within. I would go to the length of giving the whole Congress a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant”. Even Nehru was anguished. Soon after swearing-in Nehru, Dr S Radhakrishnan, former President, urged him to “destroy corruption in high places, root out every trace of nepotism, love of power, profiteering and black-marketing…”
Quite paradoxical that almost every Prime Minister had identified "Corruption" as the most sinister threat to national security. For example, on 15th August 1997, Mr. IK Gujral, former Prime Minister in his Red Fort Address to the nation, termed “corruption - along with Casteism and communalism - the principal enemy of the nation and described those who took bribes as the traitors to the country. It is time to punish or perish”.
Next, the Prime Minister, AB Vajpayee, addressing the nation stated, “The principle of zero tolerance will be applied while dealing with corruption that has bred contempt for the law”.
Manmohan Singh in his 2011 speech from the Red Fort urged the nation to unite against corruption. Now, Modi is often repeatedly calling upon the nation to fight against corruption.
Modi is repeatedly highlighting the need to wipe out corruption, but to no avail. In Spite of repeated assertions by successive Prime Ministers, there is hardly any reduction in the scale of corruption.
Nowadays, the fraud of "political Vendetta" or "Vendetta Politics" is invoked whenever political leaders are investigated by the CBI, ED and other agencies. As per the report submitted to the Supreme Court in August 2021 by an Advocate, there are 123 pending cases over 10-years against MPs and MLAs filed by the ED and 163 by the CBI. Add to them, the current list at various stages of investigation and trial.
Had the Judiciary of the Supreme Court acted and delivered judgments expeditiously in a time bound manner, surely the threat of jail terms would have prevented MPs and MLAs indulging in corrupt cases.
N. Vittal, former CVC, had passed a scathing indictment when he stated “the efforts made in the past to check corruption have failed precisely because the guilty under the existing system of judicial process do not generally punish.
According to official information shared by the minister of state Dr. Jitendra Singh recently in the Rajya Sabha, 2,370 cases related to corruption and bribery were registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against 3,730 civil and public servants between 2017 and 2021 in the country. When it comes to prosecution, the figures tell a more pathetic story as low as 3% or even in some states, none at all.
So, "Fight against Corruption" is lame duck initiative. In 1975, Jayaprakash Narayan raised the clarion call for “Total Revolution” against corruption when the Nation entered the Silver Jubilee Year of Independence. In 1997, PA Sangma, former Speaker of Congress Party, led a spirited onslaught during the midnight Golden Jubilee - fifty years freedom - celebrations. He exhorted everyone to launch a “second freedom struggle” against corruption. Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, popularly known as Anna Andolan of 2011 failed to make any significant breakthroughs.
Take a brief look at the actions taken in Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee arrest following raids and recoveries of over Rs.50 crores cash, property documents and diamonds and gold jewelry. Mamata Banerjee and the TMC quickly responded by expelling from the Party and the Cabinet posts, laying claims to "Holier than Thou Status".
Few in the media have raised questions against the failure of Mamata Banerjee in detecting corruption under her very nose for the past 5 or even more years. With the likes of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and the gang of fire brand spokespersons like Derek O'Brien, Mahua Moitra, Sushmita Sen and others, surprising it is that such large scale corruption has gone unnoticed.
What about the subservient and pliant States intelligence agencies which otherwise are in the forefront of taking credit for containing corruption?
Public indignation and condemnation may appear outrageous against corruption, but largely superficial. People are not only insensitive, but they betray lack of conscience.
In 2021 their Corruption Perceptions Index ranked the country in 85th place out of 180, on a scale where the lowest-ranked countries are perceived to have the most honest public sector. Rajasthan qualifies as the most corrupt according to a recent survey.
History has many significant lessons to offer. One, Lord Acton stated “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely…Great (political) men are almost always bad men. … If the people knew what sort of men statesmen were, they would rise and hang the whole lot of them”.
Two, democracy breeds corruption. Corruption”, as per Edward Gibbon, “is the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty”. After all, in democracy, corruption too is of the people, by the people and for the people. In reality, corruption cuts across all ideological barriers. The "fortress type" of palaces, gunmen and escort vehicles providing 24x365 security, perks and privileges and grandiose lifestyles of political leaders both in Delhi and other States Capitals truly reflect the filth of corruption.
Three, the inexorable Gresham’s Law in economics “too many bad coins around will eventually chase out the good ones” is truly relevant to all segments of Indian society. Corruption is so widespread in India today that good ones have been driven out from almost all fields. If there are some surviving today, they are supine. The bad ones are almost on the ascendancy everywhere.
Four, even candidates contesting for Lok Sabha MP Seat need nearly Rs.50 crores to win elections. Naturally, it breeds corruption once elected.
Finally, even the media is corrupt today. No more, it is considered as an independent medium of thought, the Fourth Estate, with missionary zeal for national reconstruction. A large number of TV channels, newspapers and journals, mostly owned or sponsored by politicians or business magnates with political affiliations, are working overtime and thriving on sensationalism and partisanship. Commercialization and profit motivation is their sole objective.
In retrospect, throughout history, rulers used corrupt and criminal means to grab and retain power. Over centralization during monarchical rule bred corruption as part of our cultural heritage. After the initial flush of freedom movement lost its sway, realpolitik emerged to the forefront and there was a cultural resurgence of past ways and mores. Initially, the cancer of corruption spread slowly up to the early 1960s. Now, its specter has totally engulfed Indian society.
The World Development Report 1997 highlighted the real issue: “corruption violates the public trust and corrodes social capital. A small side payment for a government service may seem a minor offence, but it is not the only cost – corruption can have far reaching externalities. Unchecked, the creeping accumulation of seemingly minor infractions can slowly erode political legitimacy to the point where even non corrupt officials and members of the public see little point in playing by the rules.”
Corruption is public vice against rule of law and makes good governance a mockery. It represents both moral and mental decadence. Its uncontrolled growth denotes reversion to primitive conditions of moral filth, insecurity and crime. So, it directly threatens nation’s moral fabric and values, besides institutions and capability. It must be, therefore, viewed as the most heinous threat aimed to reverse nations attempt to traverse on a civilized path of moderation and reason.
Today, corruption is a passion with everyone except for few puritans. Nowadays, leaders found guilty on corruption charges go around unashamedly in pursuit of power and wealth. The real issue is one of opportunity. Its absolutism is real today. Corruption rules religions, schools, universities, hospitals, all civil services, public utilities, judiciary, police, armed forces and every other single organ of public life. Appointments and transfers in almost all States are based on fixed prices.
Moral corruption is far more heinous than its other faces. India is intellectually becoming a corrupt nation, which is quite devious and damning. The divisive ambitions of covetous and cantankerous politico-bureaucratic combine, greedy businessmen, fratricidal faiths and factitious castes have been responsible for the promotion of such a devastating phenomenon. Moral unrighteousness is increasingly becoming an enigma in the land of Ram and Gita. Ipso facto, it is hard to define morality.
Many political leaders take oaths in the full realization of their opposition towards them. For example, militant and separatist leaders swear or affirm by the Constitution notwithstanding their clamor for separation or autonomy. Add to it, political corruption, and servility of bureaucracy, judiciary, clergy, media and security forces and private embezzlement of charitable funds. There are laws, which govern the conduct of bureaucrats and Babus. Yet, immorality on their part is on a daily basis starting with misuse of government transport, unending throughout their service and puts everyone to shame.
The common terms in vogue like ‘speed money’, ‘seed money’, ‘facilitation fees’ and ‘I want to help you, but money is required for the top echelons to get sanctions’ (40% cut money) best exemplify all pervasive spread of corruption at all levels. If corruption is rampant at high levels, surely, it is unfair to expect low-level Babus to uphold higher values thereby continue to lead life-styles fit for slaves and servants. In democracy, everyone is staking their right to equality in all practices followed by their masters or mentors. Unless leadership at Apex levels sets and leads by example, there is no way to arrest the most pernicious evil tormenting our society.
According to N. Vittal, former CVC, “the Indian citizen is being exploited by the State through its public servants. Corrupt civil services have started pandering to their political bosses and thereby become a tool for increasing corruption.” He had stated “entire sections of our public life have become corrupt”. In fact, the Indian State to include all its institutions is standing monuments to corruption and inefficiency – Executive, Judiciary, Legislature, Bureaucracy, and so on.
N Vittal had identified two dimensions of corruption: “exploitative corruption where the public servant exploits the helpless poor citizen; and collusive corruption where the citizen corrupts the public servant by a bribe because he gets financially better benefits. Collusive corruption, or for that all types of corruption depend on black money. Black money is the oxygen for corruption and vice versa.”
In reality, there is systemic collapse of anti-corruption mechanisms. So, no significant breakthroughs are expected. Viewed from the phenomenal delays and low prosecution rates, even the Partha Chatterjee-Arpita Mukherjee, Satyendar Kumar Jain, Sanjay Raut, three Congress Party Jharkhand MLAs and the Delhi Liquor scam cases will finally fade away with new cases making headlines. Just like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi etc., and cases. The common recourse to order Commission of Inquiries, NIA investigations, handing over the cases to the CBI or ED are common ploys to ensure delay in processing the cases with a view that "Time will enable the corrupt" either to flee the country or enable them to buy time to circumvent the early conclusion of judicial processes.
To sum up, there are no dearth of laws and anti-corruption agencies at all levels - Lok Pal, CVC, CBI, ED, IT etc. But, their performance has been dismal. In some cases, some of their own personnel have succumbed to corruption. In retrospect, the Judiciary is also squarely to be blamed for failure to ensure expeditious finalization of trials and delivering judgments. Of course, when law-makers and law-enforcers are culpable of corruption, it is well nigh impossible to successfully wage "Fight against Corruption" which is the most sinister threat faced by India.
Article by GB Reddy Sir
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