POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 6 September 2008

Partners In Crime

NANDA IN JAIL, NETAS ROAM FREE

By Poonam I Kaushish

Sanjeev Nanda, Mamata Banerjee, Jai Nishad Yadav, Chautala et al. The first a rich young lad, the latter all politicians. Yet, all are bound by a common lowest denominator: They stand accused of being partners in crime. The former has been jailed for killing six persons. The latter roam free and continue their dhanda. Con people, play havoc with the lives of the aam aadmi and go so far to have the blood of hundreds on their hands. Put it down to the business of democracy and the rule by concessions.

At the risk of being attacked for having either lost my head or being farfetched, bear with me. Nanda is behind bars for mowing down six people sleeping on the pavement on his way home, high on drinks and jinks in his industrialist father’s spanking new BMW on a wintery January night in 1999. What’s the big deal? It was an accident. Put it down to young blood. Or a tad much of alcohol.

His young friends argue that the five-year punishment is too much; after all he did not kill the people deliberately. Look at the Blue Line bus drivers who run amuck on Delhi roads and kill a couple of people on a daily basis, flee without being brought to book. Their bottom line: Nanda is being penalized simply because he is rich.

Perhaps, they have a point. In all likelihood the law enforcement agencies wanted to set an example that the rich are not above the law as they did with Manu Sharma, Nitish Katara and Priyadarshini Matoo. True, it is a telling comment on today’s young rich Gen Next, which has no sense of remorse, responsibility or social commitment. Instead of stopping, Nanda sped away. Perhaps, he was confident of getting away or buying his way through being caught. And he would have, but for an enterprising snooping policeman. 

Of course, Nanda deserves to be in jail. But so do our netas and babus who are a law unto themselves. Who commit crimes and yet go scot free. Who are worse than leeches and suck out the livelihood of people to feed their voluptuous appetite. For them they have to be proved guilty before they are punished. And till date, how many politicians or bureaucrats have been put behind bars? What is the message down the line?

Let’s take Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee. She stands accused for abetting the suicide of poor Sushen Santra in Singur. Thanks to her reckless brinkmanship, he was forced to take this extreme step because his two sons had lost their livelihood once the Tata factory shut down. Like them, the 600 other farmer families who had voluntarily given up their land would be rendered jobless if the Tata’s make an exit.

Clearly, exposing Mamata as a rank opportunist. Far from seeking ways to help the 400-odd farmers, her rhetoric is designed to garner votes and get political mileage. The Trinamool leader talks of these farmers, but who has anointed her their representative? Why now? Where was she when the land was acquired or even when the factory construction was in progress? No where. Because at that time the Tata’s had still to build the car so raking up the issue would have made no impact.

Today, just a month prior to the Nano’s world launch, Mamata stages her drama. She incites violence by making inflammatory speeches and obstructs highway traffic leading to shortage of basic essentials. Also, affecting the livelihood of ordinary people. Who is Mamata to speak for the entire State? Decide what is good for the State. She is only a MP representing one constituency in the State. Her Trinamool party won a mere 30 seats in the 294 Assembly. Bluntly, the majority is not with her. Thus, she has no Constitutional right to decide what is good for the State.

It is all very well for the stormy petrel to assert that her fight is for the poor. What is her track record in poverty alleviation? Zilch. Besides, this outcry against industry vs. farmers is all hogwash. Is it not a fact that it is these very industrial houses which bankroll elections, her’s and others? The way are electoral system operates an MP’s election cost Rs.15 crores and a MLA’s Rs 5 to 10 crores.

Not just Mamata. See how her compatriots, the RJD and the JD (U) leaders and Ministers are making political capital of the rampaging floods in Bihar. Where over 15 lakh people have been rendered homeless and the dead cannot even die in dignity. They are guilty of playing politics even as cries of anguish rent the air. The Union Minister of State for Water Resources Bihar’s Jai Prakash Narain Yadav is culpable for not releasing funds for strengthening the river Kosi’s embankments. Simply because the rival JD (U) in power in the State would take all credit. Let lakhs die.

Worse, the JD (U) State Industry Minister in-charge of relief operations Umesh Yadav, is busy cutting ribbons to inaugurate relief camps while the hungry and the displaced wait under the blazing sun to get relief. “Babu, yeh natak kab khatam hoga hamari jaan jaari hai,” explains it all.

Coming to Haryana’s Chautala. He is accused of making a buck in the teachers’ recruitment scam. He is on bail. Recall, a similar scam involving Samajwadi supremo Mulayam Singh wherein as UP Chief Minister he had recruited 6,000 policemen. Only to have his successor BSP’s Mayawati rescind the order. What happens to the poor families who borrowed money to bribe the netas for the naukri? The job and money are both gone. Not a few have committed suicide. But our leaders go scot free.

The tragedy of India is that our netagan have apportioned for themselves an exclusive Fundamental Right: Right to be Above Law. Till date one cannot recall a leader being put behind bars for his actions or inactions resulting in numerous deaths. Is this a lesser crime than Nanda’s? He is guilty of killing six, don’t our leaders have blood of thousands on their hands?

What does all this tell us? Our netagan get away with cold-blooded murder. Sending out a clear message that the powerful can do whatever they want. To take, to cheat, to make money and ride rough shod on the aspirations of asli Bharat.   

While Sanjeev Nanda will spend the next five years of his life in jail atoning for his crime, our netas continue to be free birds, busy scheming their next heist to sustain themselves for the next five years in power. The time has come for us to look at our leaders afresh: Where are our Barrack Obama’s and Sarah Palin’s? Young and fresh leaders who are honest, credible and care for the masses. Who believe in the rule of law.  We need to dispense with the politico-criminals. Apradhikaran akhir kab tak? ----- INFA

 (Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)