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Fighting graft

We all know the ugly facts by now. We know exactly how low India is on the Transparency International index. How we are rated as among the 25 most corrupt nations of the world. This is one area where you could say we are almost cuddling up to nations we would rather be seen dead with. Like Pakistan, for instance. Or Nigeria and Uganda. Nations renowned for their graft and crime rates.

Part of this terrible reputation can be traced back to our philosophical disdain for any society that lacks the erudition to understand how thin (and ephemeral) the dividing line between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and bad is. Centuries of colonization did not succeed in uprooting the notion of maya and the ambivalence it creates in the Hindu mind. There is nothing black and white for us. Never was.

A typical example is Ravana who is despised in the North and revered in the South. Or Rama, for that matter, who is seen as the very epitome of goodness and valour in the North and is largely ignored South of the Vindhyas as a vapid and effete character. That is why there is (truly speaking) nothing politically correct in India. Nothing politically incorrect either. It all depends on how you look at it and in which context. Reality is how you choose to see it.

Which is possibly why you had people as knowledgeable and wise as Vinoba Bhave openly rooting for the decadent caste system. Why an otherwise honest politician like Vishwanath Pratap Singh chose to become a masiha of the backwards simply by fanning the flames of casteism under the pretext of political empowerment. Since nothing is right and nothing is wrong, anything and everything is so much grist for the mill.

You and I may call Laloo Yadav corrupt. We may lampoon him. But Bihar sees in him its future. We see Sukh Ram as tainted because 4 crore rupees were found under the mattress in his bedroom. But Himachal Pradesh swears by him. We describe Satish Sharma as a greedy, mindless lout with nothing to redeem himself. Not even the most basic intelligence that one would attribute to a retard. Yet he gets voted back to Parliament, trouncing Arun Nehru. We label Buta Singh as a political embarrassment. We list his scams and highlight them. Yet he continues to win election after election. Proving that the voters of India do not necessarily agree with us.

They see some purpose in returning people like these to power whatever their faults and frailties may be. Whatever you and I may think of them. And it is a tribute to Indian democracy that however rotten such people may be, we accept them simply because their voters believe in them. And obviously they do not believe that corruption is a strong enough reason to boot them out of politics permanently.

In fact, if you do a quick flashback and think of all the people accused of corruption you will be surprised how long and eminent that list will be. Ajit Singh, Arjun Singh, Balram Jakhar, Bhajan Lal, Buta Singh, HD Deve Gowda, Jagannath Mishra, Jayalalitha, Kalpnath Rai, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Madhavrao Scindia, ND Tewari, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, RK Dhawan, Ramakrishna Hegde, Satish Sharma, Sharad Yadav, Shibu Soren, Sitaram Kesri, Sukh Ram, Vidya Charan Shukla just to do a quick alphabetical recount across party lines. But the point is not that. The point is how quickly we forget and forgive.

It is in this context that one must understand the dilemma of Nagarjan Vittal, Central Vigilance Commissioner. On one hand, he is the apex authority to fight corruption. On the other, he has to accept the fact that most people have long accepted corruption as a way of life in India and the fist they raise against it is usually an act of tokenism. They do not expect the government to take steps against it. All they want are the usual platitudes.

But in that case Vittal was the wrong man for the job of CVC. His reputation is immaculate and he has a long track record in taking his job seriously. This has now backfired on him. Ever since he posted a list of 88 corrupt IAS officers and 21 corrupt IPS officers on his website, detailing their crimes and the penalties which need to be imposed on them. The rogues gallery includes top level secretaries, chairmen-cum-managing directors, joint secretaries, DIGs and SPs and rumours say the list will soon be enlarged with the addition of some more names from the IRS, IIS and other services.

In a country where the conviction rate for such cases is less than 3 per cent and the average time for the disposal of such cases can take anything between 15 to 20 years, such alacrity is unforgivable. No wonder Vittal is in the eye of a storm with everyone baying for his blood. The corrupt, the not-so-corrupt and even the uncorrupt see his move to put up a rogues gallery on the Internet as a bit over the top. Simply because no one ever thought that the fight against corruption was meant to be taken seriously.

Interestingly, Vittal sees the five key players in the game of corruption as the neta (the politician), the babu (the bureaucrat), the lala (the businessman), the corrupt jhola (the NGO) and the dada (the criminal). This is the nexus that he wants to break and, interestingly, the first step he has taken exploits the brand new opportunities provided by the Internet to disseminate information. A step that will have its own snowballing impact as more and more people will use the anonymity of the Net to blow the whistle on their corrupt bosses and colleagues. In that sense, it is a brilliant tactical move. It not only serves its own purpose but also, cunningly, shows others the way to nail what is undoubtedly the most nagging flaw in our culture.

The CVC describes corruption as a low risk, high profit business in India. It is. Where punishment, if it comes at all, is so late and so feeble that most people have stopped caring. They would much rather take a chance.

The step he has taken, even if it fails to break the sordid triad of politicians, banias and bureaucrats, will show people that it is indeed possible to take a strong position even against something as all-pervasive as corruption. Till Vittal took this step, I for one thought that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's call for Zero Tolerance against Corruption was just another political slogan. As ridiculous and as futile as Indira Gandhi's Garibi Hatao. As impossible to achieve.

But Vittal is clever. In fact, cunning. In today's knowledge economy he has assessed the true power of information and taken a call. By putting up a rogues gallery on his website he has shown that new weapons are always available in the battle against crime and we need not always offer legal delays as an excuse to sit back and take no action. There are any number of ways to intimidate the vile and the venal and the Internet era provides its own exciting opportunities.

It also shows one simple thing. That a brave man can take on what appears to be a daunting if not impossible task and demonstrate that he is equal to it.

Pritish Nandy

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