During nearly 38 years in public service, I have noticed one thing clearly- that our ruling class, politicians and bureaucrats included, have one unwritten rule or understanding, whatever one may call it- to not harm each other while in power or out of power. Before every election, tall claims are made that all those who looted pubic money will be put behind bars in a week or so – but even after years nobody is booked or put in jail, writes former IAS officer V.S.Pandey
There are ominous signs that we, as a nation, are still deeply mired in the cesspool of corruption. In the recently published report by Transparency International, India is ranked 93 out of 180 countries on the corruption perceptions index for the year 2023 -falling eight places from last years rating. Just two days ago, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand was arrested on charges of corruption and money laundering and had to resign from his post. Next in line, is another well known Chief Minister of our country, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, whose several ministers and party leaders are already behind bars facing serious corruption charges. Mr.Kejriwal will probably be in jail shortly for his involvement in the now infamous “liquor gate”. Both the chief ministers, facing the heat, are crying foul and blaming the ruling party at the centre for creating trouble in opposition ruled state governments. Earlier also, several political bigwigs were hounded by central investigative agencies and many of them are still behind bars.
Politicians, across all parties, barring a few exceptions, are corrupt to the core, but at present only those politicians are being raided and investigated who belong to parties other than the saffron party. This is a very obvious observation and the charge of partisan and biased approach is well grounded.
This piecemeal, selective action should not obscure the preponderating salient question- all political parties have had the opportunity to rule the nation and the states, many are still in power in many states, then why has dishonest governance only increased? Why is our nation still in the bottom half of the list of corrupt nations? Why have we remained in the ill fated company of corrupt countries of the world, for decades. Why does the sorry state of affairs of “nothing gets done in our country without “rishwat” or “sifarish” persist in being the collective accomplishment of our political class- of every hue and color.
The political class, for decades, has only been single-mindedly and determinedly pursuing their selfish ends by subverting public interest. Now they are claiming they are being ‘targeted ‘as soon as they are being investigated or charged for corrupt practices. The irony is that none is in a position to prove their innocence, on facts, in courts of law. That is why many who are behind bars on corruption charges have not been able to present a case before the courts to prove their innocence.
During nearly 38 years in public service, I have noticed one thing clearly- that our ruling class, politicians and bureaucrats included, have one unwritten rule or understanding, whatever one may call it- to not harm each other while in power or out of power. Before every election, tall claims are made that all those who looted pubic money will be put behind bars in a week or so – but even after years nobody is booked or put in jail. This culture of “you scratch my back-I scratch yours” is conspicuous everywhere across our political spectrum, this was the case in 2007, Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, when, the would be chief minister vowed to put the incumbent CM behind bars- within a week of getting elected. Nothing happened. Corruption continued to flourish. Later on in the 2012 state elections, same drama was repeated. Nothing happened again. During 2017 , in the UP state assembly election campaigns, the selfsame empty promises were reiterated to the people -with the same result. All the three chief ministers who had promised to jail their predecessors involved in large scale loot of public money, when voted to power-did absolutely nothing. None fulfilled the of repeated promise made to the people to punish the corrupt politicians and jail them. Similar promises were made during the 2014 Parliamentary elections by those who formed government at the center to put those involved in blatant loot ,behind bars. Nothing happened. Some minions/minnows have, of course, faced corruption and money laundering charges and are behind bars but all the big fishes/sharks/whales are swimming comfortably and merrily in the muddy oceanic waters of politics and are enjoying their ill-gotten booty and are still prime contenders in the race to once again “rule” the people.
This unfortunate saga of corrupt politics mired in caste, religion and black moneybags ruling the roost for decades now, has already extracted its toll on our nation’s development. Almost every organ of government, from the ground level to the top, has become corrupt and insensitive to the people’s exacerbated miseries. The brutal reality of hapless lives is that the aam janta has to run from pillar to post to get their rightful issues resolved. Social justice is marked by its absence. This state of affairs can be overturned only when our politics is freed from the octopus like grip of humungous black money. It is not rocket science to discover who funds ,through tons of black money , the extremely costly election campaigns in our country and how paybacks are inevitable. Consequently our political system has got totally corrupted and divorced from “public interest“ . These conclusions are too obvious but people have to realize and clean up their act. The renowned political thinker Noam Chomsky had very pertinently said “Nobody is going to pour truth into your brain. It’s something you have to find out for yourself.”
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
