The Congress has suddenly gone quiet on the Lalit Modi linkages issue, fearing new revelations from the former IPL Commissioner which could embarrass some of its bigwigs on the eve of or during the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. Having succeeded partially in pricking the credibility of the NaMo government, following revelations of improprieties against Union Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, it has now moved its focus to the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led Madhya Pradesh government.
With the BJP government brazening it out on the Lalit Modi issue, murmurs had begun within the Congress that too shrill a campaign was beginning to be counter-productive. The vocal middle class was tending to get fed up with the Congress-media overkill and the steam had gone out of it.
The Vyapam (Hindi acronym for Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, a government body responsible for conducting several entrance tests in the state used for recruitment to government jobs and for admissions to educational institutes) Scam came to the Congress as a godsend with the spate of mysterious deaths of those connected with it. Clearly, the Congress wants to keep the pot boiling and consequently, Chauhan’s sudden capitulation by agreeing to a CBI probe has not satisfied its bosses who insist that it must be a SC-monitored probe.
Chauhan has had an impeccable record of governance with a consistently high double-digit growth rate in the last decade. For over a decade, BJP under Shivraj Chauhan has mauled the Congress in election after election and the penchant for deception and intrigue by the party with Digvijay Singh in the forefront has been unleashed to strike at the credibility of the Shivraj Chauhan government.
It is not as though the mysterious deaths of several people supposedly involved in the scam and of those who tried to unravel the mystery behind the deaths are not matters of deep concern. But there was also the hunger for sensationalism in the media that the Congress party took advantage of. Together they made a cloak and dagger pair of dangerous proportions.
Clearly, Chauhan is under siege and has been forced on the back foot, to save his sagging popularity. “Whatever the consequences, I am ready to face them,” the embattled Chauhan remarked on Sunday during a news conference on scam that has rocked his third therm.
The only time Chauhan was in trouble before this, during his decade-long rule, was in 2007 when a corruption case had been registered against him after his wife Sadhna Singh allegedly bought four special trucks, used in the construction sector, for Rs 2 crore and leased them to a cement factory. Chauhan was given a clean chit in that so-called “dumper scam” in 2010. But this time the magnitude of the scam is much greater and there are formidable foes arrayed against him who are baying for his ouster as CM.
Having been reduced to a mere 44 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is like a wounded tiger and senior Congressmen are vying with one another to catch the attention of the party’s heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi.
Before the announcement to seek a CBI probe, questions were being asked as to whether Chauhan could continue to shirk moral responsibility for such gross irregularities that spoiled the careers of hundreds of meritorious and talented youngsters and a series of mysterious deaths that have spread fear among people at large in Madhya Pradesh. Chauhan, in his defence, says that many deaths have no connection with the Vyapam Scam but are being linked to it by interested parties with a vested interest. But the statistics are chilling.
While Chauhan can and must be faulted for such a massive scam having taken place during his time and for the spate of deaths of accused, whistleblowers and witnesses, that as many as 2,500 accused have been named so far, and about 2,000 of them have been arrested, is an indicator that once the scam was unearthed, action has been comprehensive. By the state government’s own admission, the number of Vyapam-related deaths is 25 though the Congress claims it is 46 or 47.
While the move to hand over investigations to the CBI is a shot in the arm for the Congress and a climbdown for the BJP, the Congress insistence that the probe be monitored by the SC makes one feel that it is essentially interested in keeping the pot boiling.
What adds an element of murkiness to the whole Vyapam drama, is the alleged involvement of the State’s Governor, Ram Naresh Yadav and his son Shailesh, who was believed to have figured in the scam and had died a few months ago in mysterious circumstances. Strangely, FIRs had been filed against both by the Special Task Force but the Governor wriggled out by taking the plea that he was protected from prosecution under the law as long as he continued as Governor.What makes this former controversial politician from Uttar Pradesh acceptable to both the Congress and the BJP is in itself a mystery.
All eyes are now on the Vyapam scam, to see if the secrets behind it are ultimately revealed and the real culprits unmasked. Union Minister Uma Bharati, who was replaced in 2004 as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister by Shivraj Singh Chauhan, doubtlessly holds a grudge against the latter but her recent observation that fear psychosis has gripped the state is largely true. One can only hope that the gloom that has descended on the country’s second largest state lifts sooner than later.
