The rot runs deeper!
The Karnataka Lokayukta has seized over Rs 8 crore of unaccounted cash from the residence and office of Channagiri BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa. The MLA has been on the run ever since and returned today to a rousing welcome by his supporters. This is not the first case where a BJP lawmaker is involved in corruption. The by-election in Erode, Tamil Nadu, saw a huge flow of cash to the voters, making the exercise a mockery of democracy.
The CBI went to Rabri Devi’s house and is likely to question the whole Lalu family about the jobs for land scam that happened when Lalu was railway minister. Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s deputy chief minister, has been arrested and is in jail until March 20. A few political heavyweights from the southern states are also charged on the ‘Liquor Gate” charges. He’ll not be alone in the jail and has his former cabinet colleagues for company.
In West Bengal, many partymen have been arrested. Partha Chatterjee, the former General Secretary and a senior cabinet minister, is under arrest with large sums of cash seized from his lady acquaintance’s flats. Last week, the ED raided a lawyer associated with West Bengal’s ruling party and reportedly seized several incriminating documents.
State-backed machinery thwarted the efforts of the central enforcement agencies to question Anubrata Mandal, aka Kesto, another Trinamool heavyweight. The Chief Minister of West Bengal gave the accused a clean chit and said that the Center was acting out of spite. The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) attempts to take him to Delhi for questioning were thwarted by digging up an old case of ‘attempt to murder,’ against Kesto.
Today, as I post this, the ED has already taken Kesto to the airport and is on its way to Delhi, where he will be produced in court on charges of masterminding the cow smuggling syndicates. However, this was not before the Calcutta High Court threatened with an “or else!”
One of the prime objectives of the demonetisation was to end corruption. However, the huge piles of currency seized from various leaders’ places with regularity belie any such hope. The Rs. 2000 has all but vanished, as it is the most preferred denomination to illegally store, with lease occupation of space. I wish the 2000 and 500 rupee notes were withdrawn soon, as the smaller denominations with larger volumes would discourage hoarding.
Many leaders have asked the PM of India not to use the law enforcement agencies to silence the political opposition out of spite. However, ED or CBI must produce any arrested persons before the courts, which I believe are not as tainted with political colours. In the case of Manish Sisodia, his lawyers did everything: protested on the streets, moved the Supreme Court, and moved the trial court again until, on the basis of the material already filed, he was sent to judicial custody.
India does not have a high reputation for clean governance, with the leaders waiting to shower out-of-turn favours on their near and dear and their financiers. The BJP spoke of a corruption-free regime but is a prisoner of issues like the Electoral Bonds, which promote corporate corruption. The party must end the bonds to end the quid pro quo deals, creating mega-business houses with dubious credentials.
The ED has been pursuing cases like the Sarada, Rose Valley chit funds, Narada sting, etc. for close to a decade and may have made much headway over the many years of investigation. But they seem to wait for the right time to get the most political mileage out of it and make some pointless arrests of small-time leaders while letting the masterminds go free.
Overall, it is nauseating!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
