ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY
The press seems to be “exposing” scams and speaking of corruption as if it has just been begun happening. There is shock and awe about a phenomenon that every child in this country is aware of. Suddenly it is fashionable to “expose” corruption.
Ministers resign and then are brought back through some backdoor as governors, deputy ministers or ministers of state. Public memory being short, except for a resigned shake of the head, the masses, who gather during the heat of the moment in squares to shout slogans, are missing by inaction.
There seems to be mudslinging going on now that almost seems to say that if a predecessor before the present scamster has been corrupt, he has a right to be so. BJP who donned the mantle of the honesty and called for the immediate resignation of Raja, Chavan and Kalmadi are talking of enquiries for Yedurappa. There is so much open and blatant double standards.
The Prime Minister is supposed to be unimpeachable in his honesty and integrity and yet his holy cloak hides the multitude of dishonest deeds the magnitude of which is so gargantuan that it is now spilling over like a full bubbling pot.
Kiran Bedi rightly said that there is no process in law for anyone to fight corruption by filing an FIR, getting an investigation and an arrest, as far as politicians are concerned. Once elected, they don’t even have to answer any questions. They are protected by the law and administration with immunities that will ensure that they are never prosecuted or jailed. Not a single one has been arrested or jailed so far.
Murli Deora asks in today TOI if the people of South Mumbai even know who their corporators are. I suggest they put up a big board in all areas with phone numbers and names so that all of us know whom to call. Is that a hard thing to do? I suggest we have a small space in the newspapers which showcases the number of calls that are unanswered or grievances un-redressed like a score card on politicians. Is that too much to ask? I suggest we strengthen the hands of RTI Activists by starting a fund for their families, so that they can pull out papers of scams like Adarsh before it turns into full blown shocker. Is that hard to do?
Where there is a political will there is a way.. the rest is talk talk talk… In the present situation I cannot see a social will unless we all go in for a bloody revolution.
Agree Sanjeev. Yesterday a BJP spokesperson shamelessly say: But Yedurappa gave back the land. As if that exonerates him and cleanses him of the crime. My point (read my latest blog) is that all of us must have that privilege.
The common man is nailed and jailed on a suspicion. A woman commits suicide and her boyfriend who lived at the other tip of the country is arrested and detained for abetting. How did they reach that conclusion on hearsay generally from her parents? The expediency in those cases is stupendous.
A clerk stealing a 100 rupees would be taken to custody and severely beaten up, sacked and shamed. These guys cannot even be taken off their gaddis. And they walk pround and walk tall and come back to power.
The Media is a pimp for most part. I am hoping because business is brisk now it somehow by default becomes the harbinger of change and is motivated to go into skulduggery of sorts and bring about a revolution.
That’s unexceptionable. Of course, the politicians must be nailed. India has an extremely poor record of punishing those caught with their hands in the till. It’s just that bureaucrats appear to be immune from even allegations of wrongdoing. That’s what gets to me. Actually the whole scenario is completely depressing. Consider the taped conversations. Mediapersons playing fixers and writing stories to suit corporate houses. What’s becoming of this country…
And, yes, you are right: what’s become of iland? I too stopped blogging almost completely on iland for quite a while and moved elsewhere but, as you put it, the zing is gone. But the zing ultimately is about content and when you read something you can connect with, the zing bounces back…
Thanks Sanjeev. The Iland has lost its zing along with its sting. Its present format will not allow the magic of before to return.
Yes the bureaucrats need to be nailed too. But ministers need to be put into a state of fear. If we can book even one, and confiscate properties the message to the rest would be that the long arm of law will get them at some stage.
I am hoping that these ministers squeal and rat on one another and many are exposed. Then we would have successfully broken the solidarity among theives. And that is a golden beginning.
Nice post, Lady! There was a time we wrote to each other and read each other’s blogs and then it just faded away. The passion of your blog got to me. If you had stopped blogging and are considering resuming, you must. Stories of rampant corruption get me down too, although I believe it is the bureaucracy that is largely to blame for the state of affairs. What is more they get away with it every time. Raja, Chavan and BSY don’t survive but what of the bureaucrats!
Sanjeev