Political Diary

New Delhi, 10 September 2011

Cash-for-Vote Scam

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

By Poonam I Kaushish

Circa July 20, 1993: A CPM MP moves a No Confidence Motion against Narasimha Rao’s minority Congress Government. The Congress has 251 in a 528 members Lok Sabha, but it defeats the motion with 265 votes by ‘garnering’ the 14 missing votes.

Circa 28 February 1996: Rashtriya Mukti Morcha files a complaint with the CBI alleging that these 14 MPs were paid over Rs. 3 crore for voting Congress. 

Circa 1 March 1996: In an iconic speech JMM MP Suraj Mandal one of those bribed by the Congress states in the Lok Sabha: “Which MP does not take money… I know the people who have made money from the coal and iron extracted…taken donations, money in thailis and gathris… the CPM and JMM take levy from people. What about petrol pumps? Even BJP is involved”.

Accusing both the Congress and the BJP of being corrupt, he adds: “Do saand ke beech bachchre ko kyon la rahe ho?” His speech was heard in pin-drop silence. None protested.  How could they as he was only speaking the truth.

Circa 22 July 2008: The Congress-led UPA Government moves a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha after the Left withdraws support and wins it with a 19 vote victory (275 as against 256 of the Opposition's). Prior to voting, large amounts of cash are displayed by three MPs.  Predictably, all hell breaks loose.

A Parliamentary Committee is set up to go into the unparallel Lok Sabha cash-for-vote scam. Eleven MPs are expelled and the case handed to the police in January 2009.

Circa July-September 2011: The Supreme Court pulls up the police for its shoddy investigations. Two months later, erstwhile Samajwadi MP Amar Singh, two BJP MPs who exposed the scam and two middle men are jailed. On the Lok Sabha’s penultimate day, Working Chairman of the NDA Advani hails the BJP’s ex-MPs as whistle blowers and declares that if they are guilty, then he too should be jailed. “I did the sting, arrest me,” he dares.

What’s so special about the 2011 case which we already haven’t witnessed in 1993? Both incidents highlight the deep malaise that affects our political system. In fact, the under-belly of power politics has become more shameless, rotten, ugly and raw to the gutter level. Victory at any cost no matter what it takes. Forget Constitutional morality.

It is all very well for our Right Honourables today to rave and rant, appear horrified, adopt a holier-than-thou attitude and profess to uphold the best tenets of Parliamentary democracy. Sic. But the moot point is: Had our MPs gone in for some soul-cleansing, taken timely action and stemmed the rot in 1996, 2011 would not have happened.

But it did. Bluntly, because politics continues to be all about money, honey. Whereby, buying-selling of votes is on auto-mode happening all the time. Wads of notes are exchanged at a drop of a hat. And going to jail is fast becoming a badge of honour! Succinctly remarked a charge-sheeted MP, “We are only settling political scores, it has nothing to do with being corrupt or clean. We shall be judged of course by the law of the land. But the main verdict comes from the electorate”. Conveniently forgetting that an electoral victory does not erase a legal wrong. 

Arguably, in a milieu wherein large suitcases are proving too small to stuff political skeletons, four issues further arise from the cash-for-vote scam. One, who paid and who benefited from the confidence vote? Two, why did the police sit on the file for over three years? Three, why did Advani remain silent all this while? Four, why has the TV channel which did the sting operation not shown it in its entirety?

It’s is an open secret that only the Congress-led UPA Government stood to benefit. Also true, that in the business of democracy everything comes for a price including politicians. So logic dictates that the Party must have ‘handsomely’ wooed MPs to earn its majority.  It happens all the time, not a few are weaned by promises of a Rajya Sabha nomination, some by ministerial berth and many by wads of green.

Notwithstanding, the stringent denials by the Government and Party, Wiki leaks exposed the revolting truth: On 17 July 2008 in a cable to the State Department U.S. Charge d'Affaires Steven White wrote about a visit the Embassy's Political Counselor paid to Satish Sharma, “a close associate of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and very close family friend of Sonia. Sharma's political aide Nachiketa Kapur showed the Embassy employee two chests containing cash and said that around Rs 50-60 crore was lying around the house for use as pay-offs.

“He mentioned that Ajit Singh's RLD had been paid Rs 10 crore for each of their four MPs to support the Government….money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the Government…. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath is also helping to spread largesse.”

Questionably, why have the police not questioned Sharma, Kamal Nath and Sonia’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel who was summoned by the Parliamentary committee and let off. Are we to believe that Amar Singh was acting on his own with two ordinary middle-men to earn brownie points with the Congress? Too far-fetched. Or was he acting on the Party’s behalf?  A lead was given by his supporter Rampur MP Jaya Prada, “ If Amar Singh sings many people will be in trouble”

As for the police less said the better. Working directly under the Union Home Ministry naturally it has to follow the diktat of its political bosses. If the order is to “go-slow” on a particular file it does so. Given the short public memory, this case too would have been relegated to history, but the Supreme Court played spoil-sport.

It is indeed puzzling why Advani took three long years to own up his part. One uncharitable explanation is that he used this scam to announce his return to political centre-stage. But a more plausible view is that while our netagan had collectively closed the case, Advani was forced to speak after two ex-BJP MPs were jailed and the noose looms large over his erstwhile political adviser Sudhendru Kulkarni. But he needs to recall Mark Twain. Said he, “Confession is good for the soul and bad for the reputation.”

In a era of 24/7 TV new channels and cut-throat competition for ‘breaking news’ and TRP rating, strange that the channel which did the ‘sting’ at the behest of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, did not air it in its entirety. According to sources, it was allegedly “coerced” by the Congress not to else it would have to pay dearly. Equally, we in the media too are guilty of not raising the ante among our tribe. Then why blame the polity for bhaichara? We too need to come clean. 

All in all, the coming days are crucial. The success of the investigation into the cash-for-vote scam and bringing the guilty to book would be a much-needed course correction. Perhaps chart a new dimension in upholding the best tenets of Parliamentary morality and probity. Time for our leaders to wake up from their deep slumber of self conceit and deception of money hai to power hai! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)