A quarter century ago, four bulls were transported from Ranchi to Ghagra on a “scooter” and a “car” was used to ferry four buffaloes from Ranchi to Jhinkapani. These seemingly superhuman feats were pulled off by Bihar’s animal husbandry mafia in cahoots with corrupt officers, contractors and politicians. In some cases, buffaloes, cows and goats travelled distances between 250 and 650 km on scooters, cars and tankers purportedly under a tribal sub plan. Bills for shifting 500 kg of mustard oil to “polish” the horns of buffaloes were also raised. In another instance, a few hundred pigs were transported from Ludhiana to Bihar and half of them “died” en route at Varanasi. Obviously, fake bills and documents were used to siphon off money from the department; that was the genesis of fodder scam that landed many including former chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Yadav in jail, while his predecessor and co-accused Jagannath Mishra was acquitted by the CBI special court. Lalu was not that lucky; he was forced to resign as CM in 1997 and between 1998 and 2013 was incarcerated six times intermittently. Recently, the CBI court sentenced him to 14 years in jail.
A few days ago, frauds of identical ingenuity have been reported from Maharashtra as well. A non-existent pesticide company appointed to exterminate rats at the state’s administrative headquarters “killed” 3.19 lakh rodents in just seven days. And it is a mystery as to how and where their bodies were disposed of. The allegation was made by none other than senior BJP leader and former revenue minister Eknath Khadse. Quoting information obtained under RTI, Khadse said the agency “killed” 45,628 rats a day, 1,901.19 per hour and 31.68 rats every minute.” There is a large-scale scam involved in it. “It may defame the government, a thorough probe is needed,” he said. A “survey”, Khadse said, “found that there were 319,400 rats in Mantralaya”. How can a survey determine the exact number of resident rodents before being killed? Instead of spending millions to kill the rats, the government could have hired a few cats that could have done the job free of cost. Apparently, someone has fleeced the government.
Close on the heels comes another expose. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s office consumed 18,591 cups of tea daily and snacks worth Rs 3.34 crore in just one year (2017-18), up from Rs 58 lakh in 2015-16. “A staggering increase of 577 percent, it means on an average, 18,591 cups of tea are served in CMO every single day”, said Sanjay Nirupam, Mumbai Congress president, quoting information procured under RTI. How on earth can a CM’s office gulp down 18,591 cups of tea daily? Or is it that the Mantralaya rats have developed a fetish for CMO chai?
Lalu has been booked but it remains to be seen if heads will roll in Mantrayala for the rats that were not dead and the gallons of tea consumed by ghost visitors. The ease with which felons employ such bizarre tricks to make quick bucks is proof that corruption is ingrained in the Indian DNA. It is an irony that while a less fortunate Lalu has been languishing in a Ranchi jail, fugitive mega swindlers like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi are savouring salubrious European climes and cuisine in five-star comforts. A stung RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh gave vent to his ire saying, “There were four conspirators in the case and three, including Mishra have been acquitted. This indicates that Narendra is playing some game.”
When it comes to corruption, most Indians exhibit selective and seasonal repugnance. Between 2012 and 2014, it was as though collective Indian psyche was aghast at the all-pervading corruption and a la gladiator social activist Anna Hazare descended on Lutyens Delhi to root out the scourge. His dharna at Jantar Mantar demanding anti-graft Ombudsman caught the fancy of the nation. Television channels dotted him 24×7, senior BJP and RSS leaders, an Ambani emissary, yoga guru-cum businessman Ramdev, Bollywood biggies like Anupam Kher made beelines to Jantar Mantar while VHP and ABVP managers provided the logistics. A “corrupt” regime was dislodged and BJP wrested power. However, the latter reneged on its promise of passing the Lokpal bill which would have brought the Prime Minister’s Office also under scanner. Four years later, towards the fag end of Modi government, Anna woke up, and on March 23, he started a fast at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi demanding the law. But this time, Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, the media, business houses and the crowds were conspicuous by their absence. Corruption ceased to be an issue now? After six days, facing near empty grounds and little media interest, Anna called off his fast saying that the government has assured him of the law soon.
There has been no let up in corruption despite the regime change. Institutional integrity of the Supreme Court, Election Commission, RBI, CBI and media has come under a cloud undermining the anti-graft architecture. Even RTI Act has been diluted to make the paradigm difficult to access. In 2015-16, the PMO stonewalled over 2,200 RTI queries while the government rejected 36,000-odd applications without assigning any reason. According to CIC report, the finance ministry rejected the highest number of applications (18.41 pc of 1,51,186) it received during 2016-17.
Hazare says he will return after six months if Lokpal is not appointed by then. Why is he so indulgent towards the government even after four years? Is it that with a consummate politician like Modi around media and crowd mobilisation will be difficult? Or, is he calibrating the second edition of his sit-in to see who forms the next government in Delhi?
Kay Benedict is an independent journalist.
