As elections of two important states are knocking at the door, corruption charges against all important leaders and parties have once again started to surface. Starting from Bofors to Temple gate (scam involving BJP president’s son Jay Shah) all have come to the fore. Each political party is accusing the other of being corrupt. No matter how many corruption charges have already been levelled against it.
Most known Left face in India the Jyoti Basu once lamented over the fact that he never thought the country would become so corrupt after gaining Independence. He was bang on target. Since Independence the disease of corruption has spread like an epidemic in India. Corruption is prevalent everywhere in the country. Everyone knows it. But it seems no one is powerful enough to prevent corruption. Couple of years ago, social crusader Anna Hazare started an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi for Lokpal, an independent body which will have the power to enquire any government servant as well as the politicians who are occupying top posts in the government. His efforts forced the government to pass the Lokpal Bill in the parliament. But strangely after making it a Law, no progress has so far been made to appoint the Lokpal. A frustrated Anna Hazare is now contemplating to launch a fresh agitation once again in the next year to force the government to complete the process.
From the Lokpal episode, it is evident that political parties and politicians of our country have always tried to spike moves to rein in corruption. Yet, the political parties continue to blame each other for indulging corrupt practices. Take the very recent example. One web portal published a report claiming that the firm owned by Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah, recorded a turnover to the tune of 16 thousand times than the previous years when BJP was not in power at the Centre and his father was not so powerful. BJP’s main political opponent Congress and other political parties took up the issue and pressed for the resignation of Amit Shah. To counter the offensive of the political opponents, BJP tried to corner Congress by raking up the Bofors issue. It is a different matter that Bofors, along with Ram Mandir, anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi and Gujarat riots of 2002, are the weapons which the political parties of our country, often use to silence the opponents. But by now we all know that the bribe taker in the Bofors case will continue to evade law. We know that before every election Ram Mandir issue will be raked up to polarise the voters. Similarly, we are aware that the real culprits of the said riots will never be brought to book as our politicians lack the courage to call a spade a spade. They are only interested in using such violations of law just to get more votes than their opponents. In the name of eradicating corruption, the political parties of our country are merely playing a political football. As a result, though sufferings of the common people are increasing with every passing day, corruption is becoming more and more venomous.
