NATIONAL SCIENCE
STING OPERATIONS: CORRECTING THE POLITY?
By Arun Deep Singh
What a turbulent winter session of Parliament that
we witnessed! Series of events like the drama over the Volcker Committee Report
and the exit of Natwar Singh, the daily walkouts over the NDA's ridiculous
demand for the resignation of Sonia Gandhi, followed by Operation Duryodhana and
Chakravyuha by TV channels showing MPs taking cash to ask questions in
Parliament, and the recent report of the Pawan Bansal Committee inquiring into
the 'cash for question' scam dominated debates in the Parliament. Significantly,
the Pawan Bansal commttee suggested that all the 11 MPs including one from the
Rajya Sabha be expelled by their respective Houses.
The expulsion of the 'tainted ten' from Parliament is no doubt, all eventful
moment in India's parliamentary history. For too long, an extreme form of moral
relativism was endangering our faith in parliament. The swift move against the
'accused' recovers that ebbing faith.
Operation Duryodhana is undoubtedly a worthy exercise in exposing corruption in
parliament. But the difficulty with sting operations is that they violate one
basic rule of Journalism, providing the context to every truth. Sting operators
don't care about context. Sting operators are generally canny businessmen on the
look out to 'Fix' some one in order to sell their product to the highest bidder
in the media market. As media becomes big business, naturally there will emerge
ancillary industries to serve this mega business and sting operations are one
such ancillary industry.
The cash for question expose was the grudging respect you feel when the
competition gets a better story than you did. If India's political establishment
is dressed up in multiple layers of well - protected hypocrisy, then the Aaj Tak
cobra post operation was like an X-ray machine that managed to see right
through.
So, whatever happened to the BJP's initial reaction that a radical measure must
be used against a radical malady afflicting Parliament? Considering that no
party needled the BJP about five of the ten tainted ministers coming from its
fold, what made the 'party with a difference' suddenly 'wake up' and talk the
lower moral ground ? The answer, the BJP's moral and political compass spinning
out of control and it's only when one loses direction that one starts flailing
one's arms about in total-consternation.
The BJP wanted to avoid setting a bad precedent; it is difficult to reconcile
this concern for constitutional propriety with 'Advani's punishment is not
commensurate with the offence remarks. Nor does it explain why the party took
two completely different stands in each House of Parliament. In the Lok Sabha,
its MPs followed Advani's lead and opposed the expulsions, while in the Rajya
Sabha, they took a more ambivalent position. It is not true that BJP MPs are
necessarily more corrupt than Congress members from other political parties. His
party generally argued that it is just that the parties in power have at other
way of making money because their party is in power.
The BJP itself has turned it into a political issue. Its senior MP, Vijay Kumar
Malhotra was the lone dissenting voice on the Bansal Committee and the party has
scrambled for ways in which to either scupper or at least, delay the expulsions.
Even the JD(U), has broken ranks on this issue and supported immediate
expulsions.
In politics, perception can sometimes be pragmatic. And the truth is that the
vast majority of Indians believe that most-if not all politicians are corrupt.
When the Tehelka scandal broke and the country was out raged, BJP took the line
that no matter how bad the revelations seemed to outsiders, there was little
evidence of genuinely corrupt behavior. Yes, Bangaru Laxman did put notes into
his drawer but he was accepting it on of the behalf of BJP cash donations. And
yes, Jaya Jaitley did ask the Tehelka reporters to send money but she was
careful enough to ask them to send it to a party functionary who was organizing
a convention. Instead, the party decided that the entire Tehelka expose was a
deep-rooted political conspiracy and identified various potential criminal
masterminds and ran a shameful campaign against Tehelka and its financial
investors.
The latest sting offered the BJP an opportunity to correct that perception. It
could have done what the Congress did. Almost from the moment AajTak aired the
first revelations, it was clear that the government was going to push for strict
and drastic action. It was as clear that many of the other parties involved and
those who are disinterested observers such as the Left were also aware that this
way a defining moment for Indian politics has entered.
Indian politics is still largely about money. There is no tradition of making
political donation by cheque. Elections get more and more expensive. The number
of politicians who are willing to use political money do finance their
lifestyles is increasing.
Now, more than ever, we need some clean up of the system, if Indian politics is
to retain the faith of the electorate. The expulsions are a good first step.
While this is happening, the BJP is opposing the expulsion, its members are
walking out of Parliament and the BJP President is declaring that the punishment
is not commensurate with the offence.
As it seems, the malaise is far more deep. The policy makers need introspection
and the parties need reform in their functioning. -CNF