Alas, We Need The Crooks

AS the country absorbs the enormity of the insult inflicted by those who purportto governus in our name, and as the worthies themselves grudgingly confess to having linedtheir deep pockets, the bewildered Indian can experience nothing save outrage and shame.Can it be that these are the politicians we actually deserve? God forbid! Unfortunately,in this sab chor hain national mood the real loser is not Shri L.K. Advani, but thevoting citizen. The dwindling depositary of faith he has in democracy has been furthereroded. If some canny, and possibly crazy, general could organise a military coup, hemight find scant popular resistance to his schemes.

Nevertheless, despair is a dangerous response. In a perfect world there would be nopoliticians; however, since this country at least is the most imperfect of worlds, we mustlearn to live with the congenitally venal. Politicians, therefore, are a necessary evil.All we can strive for is an alert early-warning system which swiftly detects the rogues.Mrs Gandhi’s immortal assertion that corruption is a "global phenomenon"needs to be buried. Of course, we could comfort ourselves with the knowledge that KalpnathRai is not exclusive to India but prospers in more advanced democracies like Italy, Japanand South Korea. What solace that knowledge would provide 30 per cent (never mind thePlanning Commission figures) of our brothers and sisters who live below the poverty lineis a moot question.

Be that as it may, every time a public luminary is caught, exposed, humiliated and(hopefully) exiled is an occasion for qualified self-congratulation. The system we oftenrightly berate is cleansed to that degree. It is not unrealistic, then, to expect thatthis mother of all scams will make those who habitually seek personal‘gratification’ from elective office a little more cautious, a trifle lessreckless when it comes to accepting bulging brown envelopes from anonymous‘friends’.

Meanwhile, let us sing in praise of those few institutions which still functionaccording to professional norms. True, most of our well-known watchdogs are asleep, butmercifully one or two are fitfully awake. The role of the judiciary has been widelyapplauded but let us not forget those individuals who filed the public interest litigationand persevered despite lack of media attention or any encouragement from otherwisesocially active lobbies.

Switching off is not the answer. Instead, this grievous setback to the republic’smorale should refocus our attention on solutions so that the fountainhead ofcorruption— elections— is capped and gradually banished. State funding ofelections (a figure of Rs 300 crore for a Lok Sabha poll has been estimated by experts)and up-front, tax-deductible company donations for political parties (abolished by IndiraGandhi in the early ’70s) need serious and urgent examination. The manner in whichelections are conducted in this country is a scandal that cannot be allowed to continue.Wemust ensure that crooks have no alibis.

There is one lesson this disgraceful episode teaches the country, namely eternalvigilance. If we exact a heavy price from our rulers whenever they are caught with theirhands in the till, their fingers will get less itchy. Let us in our own interest remainvigilant. That way we also remain decent citizens.