Double standards in Centre’s anti-corruption drive

It very much seems a case of political vendetta. Have a look at the facts, first. Congress party leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambram and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) President Lalu Parsad Yadav’s residences were raided by various official agencies in two separate cases. What is the case made out against the two senior Opposition leaders by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)?

As reported in the media, the alleged crime of Chidambram’s son Karti is that INX Media company, owned by infamous Peter Mukherjea and his wife Indrani, “paid ₹3.5 crore to the companies directly or indirectly owned by Karti” to influence the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to allow INX Media to get foreign investment for the company. Chidambram was at that point the finance minister. He allegedly favoured INX media to back his son. What is the total amount Chadambram’s son got? Remember it is ₹3.5 crore.

As far as Lalu Yadav’s son-in-law and his daughter Misa Bharti are concerned, the Income Tax (IT) department raided 10 shell companies and 20 individuals to find out irregularities in a farm hose deal in Delhi’s Sainik Farm colony. The farm house is owned by Lalu’s son-in-law, who is married to Lalu‘s daughter Misa Bharti.

Interestingly, the raiding agency is, so far, not sure whether Lalu’s kins are involved in the farm house deal. One of the IT team members told The Times of India, “After verifying the documents seized during the raid, we will decide if relatives of the former Bihar chief minister are involved and, whether they would be questioned or not.”

What a big deal! The crime of Chidambaram’s son Karti is that he allegedly made ₹3.5 crore by obliging a media house to secure permission for foreign investment through his father, who at that point of time happened to be Finance Minister of India. Do you still remember the total amount allegedly pocketed by Karti? In case not, we quote it again: ₹3.5 crore.

A big hungama is put up, massive raids are conducted, the entire media is focused on the raids, television debates tear apart Chidambaram and his son. Why this big shor-sharaba for nearly 24 hours? For the alleged involvement of Chidambram’s son, for a favour from his father in which he made ₹3.5 crore ?

Have you ever heard of a scam of a mere value of ₹3.5 crore? Scams now are worth thousands of crores of rupees. You cannot buy even a good flat in a city like Delhi or Mumbai with ₹3.5 crore. But, here the government goes with all its might to take on an honourable politician who has never faced any corruption charge during his public life.

Similarly, nearly 20 places are raided by IT agencies to find out whether Lalu’s daughter, Misa Bharti, is involved in purchasing a mere farmhouse in Delhi’s Sainik Farms area. Incidentally, this colony is illegal and a case is going on in this regard in the Delhi High Court. In this case too, a similar story is being repeated as in the case of Karti. Raids are shown live on TV channels, experts are fuming inside TV studios against Lalu and, anchors are raging and ranting, “Nation wants to know!”

What is the Modi government really up to? Is it serious about eradicating corruption from public life, or is it only interested in political vendetta? Let us believe Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who claimed that “the day of reckoning” had come for the “corrupt politicians”. Well, if this is true, why then is the government sitting quiet over the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of the government-owned banks?

Do you have any idea how much of public money big corporate houses have gobbled up from government owned banks? According to a former Chief Justice of India, the NPAs total more than ₹80 lakh crore. I repeat ₹80 lakh crore!

Did you ever hear of any IT/CBI officer visiting any big corporate house owner’s residence? Did any anchor ever rave and rant about thousands of crore of public money being gobbled up by corporate houses? Is there any hue and cry going on in any part of the country regarding NPAs?

There is a deafening silence as far as the NPAs worth lakhs of crores are concerned. Jaitley never thought of a “day of reckoning” for big corporate house owners? Instead, he is reported to be considering ways and means of writing off the NPAs which is public money.

Why the double standards in dealing with corruption cases? Companies owned by a son of a former Finance Minister is being raided with live TV vans in toe for the ‘crime’ of allegedly making ₹3.5 crore and the daughter of a former chief minister is hounded for purchasing a farmhouse in Delhi.

A crime in law is, indeed, a crime, however big or small it may be. Every case of corruption must be dealt seriously, as is being done in the case of Karti and Misa Bharti. But if two separate standards are followed in case of a political rival and a corporate house owner in similar cases of financial irregularities, it raises suspicion and gives chance to the opposition parties to label these raids on Chidambram and Lalu’s houses as “political vendetta”. Indeed, it is sheer vendetta with no intention of cleansing public life of corruption.

The author is Editor-in-chief of Qaumi Awaaz, a sister publication of National Herald.