Are the ‘kleptocrats’ on the run?
M.G.Devasahayam
February 20, 2014
Anti-Corruption rhetoric has been the flavour of last several seasons with a political party morphing out of it and capturing power in Delhi in the winter of 2013. The party chief cum Chief Minister has now come out with the ‘rogue’s gallery’ of the most-corrupt who actually run India’s democracy-turned-kleptocracy. This is name-and-shame game, a typical anti-corruption campaign tool used as the last resort because it could attract retribution including criminal defamation. It also can severely damage the credibility of the accuser if not backed-up by cast-iron proof. The purpose is to put the ‘big-fish’ of corruption on the run.
One wonders why the serving Chief Minister of nation’s capital-state should resort to this ‘panic instrument’ country-wide. His first and foremost task should be to put the reptiles lurking in Delhi’s cesspool on the run by effective use of all instruments of governance. Since deeds speak far louder than words it is time Kejriwal puts action where his mouth is!
While so, the big question is: are the ‘big-sharks’ named-and-shamed anywhere near running? To find the answer one needs to go back to 2009 when UPA II formed the Government with Congress Party on a stronger position. This was when some serious cases of corruption and loot–Satyam scam, 2G scandal, Jharkand Mining-started surfacing. In its midst, big-guns boomed against ‘corruption-in-high-places’, creating an impression that at long last the debilitating cancer afflicting India’s governance and society, is meeting its nemesis and the aam aadmi can look forward to good and honest governance in the near future.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself led the charge. Addressing a conference of CBI and state anti-corruption officials he ‘thundered’: "High-level corruption should be pursued aggressively. There is a pervasive feeling that while petty cases get tackled quickly, the big-fish escape punishment. This has to change." Newspapers headlines promptly screamed: “PM on corruption-'Big-fish' must not escape punishment”.
Then came Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan firing on all cylinders. He sought confiscation of assets of persons convicted of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Speaking at the national seminar on “Fighting Crimes Related to Corruption” organised jointly by the CBI and the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science he said: “The rationale behind the same is that if a public official amasses wealth at the cost of the public, then the state is justified in seizing such assets.”
Union Minister for Law and Justice went a step further and called for the amendment of Articles 309, 310 and 311 of the Constitution, thus removing protection and safeguards in prosecuting corrupt public servants saying “there is a feeling that the protection given to the public servants under Article 311 of the Constitution is being used to create obstacles for expeditious punitive action.”
As if in response to the cacophony, bigger and worse scandals-Common Wealth Games, Coalgate, ISRO-ANTRAX, Aircraft Carrier Gorshkov, TATRA Truck, Augusta-Westland, NSEL, Air-India purchase, resources loot-surfaced and many more were churning under the surface.
As it turned out the PM, CJI and Law Minister have been hypocritical to the core. PM’s charade against corruption was more of ‘image makeover’ to attract foreign investment and not any genuine efforts towards honest governance. He made it clear when he said: "Pervasive corruption in our country tarnishes our image. It also discourages investors, who expect fair treatment and transparent dealings”. The higher judiciary including the then CJI were themselves enmeshed in controversies over corruption and amassing huge wealth, denying access under Right to Information Act and attempted elevation of people accused of corruption and land-grabbing to India’s Apex Court. Law minister along with his trusted Attorney General was working overtime to suppress the scandals, even going to the extent of filing false affidavits in the courts of law. In the event ‘corrupt-Big-fish' were growing bigger and stronger without any remorse or restraint!
In the Indian context ‘big-fish’ comprise of ministers, members of parliament, judges, top-rung bureaucrats and other constitutional functionaries who wield enormous power and influence without corresponding accountability or rules to regulate their conduct. Institutions of Lokpal and Lokayukt were precisely aimed at reining in and punishing such big-foulers. There are already a plethora ‘vigilance’ bodies to discipline small fries.
The First Lokpal Bill was introduced and passed in the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968/69. However, while it was pending in the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha was dissolved, resulting in the first death of the Bill. It was revived in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008. Each time, after introduction the Bill was referred to some committee or other for ‘improvements’ and before the government could take a final call on the issue the house was dissolved.
Though Lokayuktas have been constituted in 17 states, their power, function and jurisdiction are not uniform. Deliberate lacunae have been left in legislation creating the office, apparently to keep the elected representatives outside meaningful jurisdiction of the Lokayukta, even when the laws appear to include them. Lokayuktas cannot take suo mottocognisance of even scandalizing corruption, have no independent investigative machinery and are dependent on the government agencies, thereby making these Ombudsman-type bodies virtually non-functional.
Even 45 years after its initiation, such eminent ‘watchdog institutions’ conceived as public bulwark against ‘corruption-in-high-places’ were either non-existent or non-functional. There were only seminars and speeches. In the event, while the venal and the corrupt strode this land like colossus, dominating its political, administrative, judicial and business spectrum, the conscientious and the honest shrunk and faded away! This was India’s true tragedy and the harbinger of state kleptocracy!
The recent struggle for Lokpal was started by Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade, the rejuvenated version of the Lok Sevak Sangh of Servants of the People Society founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1921 and inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. The struggle was led by nonagenarianShambhu Dutt of Quit India vintage, and stalwart of the JP Movement of the seventies. In fact after a frustrating crusade he had decided to offer the ‘supreme sacrifice’ by going on ‘fast-unto-death’ starting from 30th January 2010, Gandhi’s martyrdom day, but was promptly dissuaded. It was this struggle that was taken up by Anna Hazare, Swami Agnivesh, Prashant Bushan, Justice Santosh Hegde, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal when they released the draft Jan Lokpal Bill in December 2010. The ‘India Against Corruption’ movement followed with lots of theatrics in full media glare.
The Lokpal Act that has come out of this glare stands testimony to India’s immense propensity for jugaad-dramatise things, but achieve nothing. The Act is in this category and is more of a farce. The institution as contemplated now is unwieldy, top-heavy, and the focus has been heavily diluted by including millions of Class III and Class IV government employees within its ambit. Ironically, Kejriwal-driven Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill also is in the same league-covering all public servants from Chief Minister to Group D employees making it as unfocussed as the Central Act. This serious aberration would protect the corrupt ‘big-fish’ who actually run India’s kleptocracy while chasing petty bribe-takers. In the event, the very purpose of setting up the high-profile Ombudsman stand defeated. That probably was the intention behind all the theatrics!
Also, there are desperate efforts to constitute the Lokpal in a tearing hurry by violating the provisions of law to facilitate appointment of ‘favourites’ as Chairman and Members. It looks as if Lokpal will be dismembered even before it is put together!
It is in this ‘ambience’ that the ‘Kejriwal List’ a la the infamous ‘Schindler's List’ is appearing.The latter had the ex-Nazis on the run. Will the former put India’s ‘kleptocrats’ on the run too? The jury is out.
[Writer is former IAS Officer and National Working Committee Member of Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade]