Gone seem to be the days when a charge of corruption against a politician would make the accused person bow his head in shame. He could not show his face to people. But not now. Now charges of corruption provide glamour and inject a sense of pride among politicians. It is no longer a matter of shame to shut faces. They walk tall with their heads high, like martyrs proudly walking to the gallows to sacrifice their life for their country they love the most, while their drum-beaters walk behind shouting to provide moral and material support for the great task they had accomplished. The common refrain is that the charges are politically motivated, aimed at character assassination, false and baseless.
There certainly seems no justification for any politician to feel ashamed. Why should they fear it even? Who has so far been punished? The much-publicised Bofors scandal, which resulted in the dethroning and defeat of Congress led by late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, was given a very decent and respectable burial. Ultimately, Mr. Gandhi has only emerged unscathed, innocent and wrongly wronged by his detractors. Who received the Rs. 64 crore bribe and where is it, nobody knows. The government of the people, by the people and for the people too does not consider it its duty to find out the truth and tell its masters. The effort of the government all the time seems to have concentrated more on exonerating some people, including the known Gandhi family friend Octavio Quattrochi, than punishing the men guilty. The duo has now come out as the most innocent, honest and illegally, deliberately and dishonestly persecuted persons.
There are numerous cases of corruption against the likes of Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kumari Mayawati and the like. More than a decade after the cases were instituted in the courts against them, we don't know whether these will at all be taken to their logical conclusion in the lifetime of these very, very important persons. In the meantime, numerous vital witnesses in the cases have either met with their natural death and some even unnatural and accidental ones.
Latest is the unique case of Mr. Madhu Koda who earned the rare distinction of being the only independent MLA who because of the political manipulations came to don the crown of the office chief minister of Jharkhand with the blessings of the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, left parties and others. Mr. Koda and his crony supporting parties did promise to usher in prosperity to the people of the poor State of Jharkhand, but in just less than two years, they turned out successful in rooting out their own poverty. He and his associates are alleged to be involved in a scam running into more than Rs. 4,000 crores. Those allegedly involved and accused may raise their heads high to boldly claim themselves to be innocent and falsely framed, but the people of Jharkhand do feel humiliated and ashamed of the conduct of the great leaders they reposed their faith and voted.
The situation seems to have come to such a pass that, it appears, politics is gradually turning into a safe haven for the corrupt and criminal. People are getting fascinated towards politics just because it provides glamour and honour to their nefarious activities. Politicians are getting infatuated with corruption because it has virtually turned out to be not a crime but a virtue in politics that pays in elections. Slowly and steadily, politics and corruption are coming to be known as the two sides of the same coin. It is no exaggeration too. The Transparency International, an international watchdog NGO, has ranked India at 84 on the list of most corrupt nations out of 180 countries.
In the present situation, it looks, politics has come to be recognised as the impregnable right of every politician and an uncodified special privilege of our elected representatives. The way corruption is being glamourised and glorified with the halo of respectability and acceptability, it has come to be taken in its stride as a way of life, at least of politicians. We may boast of high moral values, but in reality we have started making compromises with the unavoidability of corruption.
Since nobody has been hanged for corruption in politics during the last over two decades, people are feeling emboldened to indulge in this entrepreneurship of making quick buck overnight. Every other day new and newer, more daring cases of corruption are surmounting while punishment remains elusive. Corruption has now ceased to be any election issue which could mar the electoral prospects of any individual or political party.
If corrective steps are not taken to punish the corrupt and prize the honest, the nation will be left with no other alternative but to accept it as a vital part of its life, more so in politics. The present and coming governments may one day find themselves so weak to fight the terror of corruption that they may have to accept it as a glorified, honest profession, at least in the political field.
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