UPA has a long list deserving punishment
Too late too little is the feeling one gets when reports of raids on the premises of Lalu Prasad Yadav and P. Chidambaram are being debated in political circles. One had expected the end of political careers and a good stint in jail for these leaders after the people of India voted a government to power with a massive mandate on a plank of delivering India from corruption, cronyism and entitlements of a few privileged families. This was three years ago. We waited and waited patiently for some action, and now that there is action, some vested interests are crying vendetta. India has a long history of corrupt politicians going scot-free and even bouncing back after a brief uncertain spell.
Mr Chidambaram was the longest-serving finance minister India has seen. But he has not made any mark as a politician who turned around the economy. He is more infamous for the AircelMaxis scam, 2G scam, Coalgate scam and a series of other scams that looted the country under his indulgent patronage when a bunch of politicians became astronomically rich.
Mr Chidambaram and his family had a link with every sleazy deal that happened since 1991. His role figured even in the Saradha scam and now with the two murder accused (Peter, Indrani) swindlers rotting in jail. The list is so long. An English daily had published the endless list of properties he and his family owned in 14 countries. And now the list of 45 companies starting with “advantage”. Who does not know of the coastal belt in the south that his family acquired? All through the procession of scandals he brazenly lectured political morality and economic wisdom to the Delhi establishment lobby. He even had the audacity to declare the Budget as nothing but fudging of figures, which he did all his life. There is some relief that at last nemesis is catching up. The least Mr Chidambaram can do is to explain how he and his family acquired so much wealth and property.
Who is the master of the trick? Mr Yadav or Mr Chidambaram? Like the latter, Mr Yadav too was the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar. He too bounced back, shattering the faith of simpletons who hoped for clean politics. He fooled around for too long and like Mr Chidambaram, Mr Yadav too is known not for any great administrative feat but only for jungle raj and the fodder scam. But for the Supreme Court Mr Yadav would have been laughing away to glory in his rustic disdain.
One cannot see a political insight or strategy in these raids. If there was one it may not have taken this long for them to catch up with the law. It took 30 long years for the court to find J. Jayalalithaa guilty.
The UPA has a long list of those deserving punishment. The last raid on Mr Chidambaram was in December 2015. Nothing happened since then. We heard a lot of bluff, including justifying Kashmiri terrorists and rubbishing demonetisation from this crony capitalist. People have great faith in Narendra Modi’s promise of guarding every single penny that belongs to the people of this country. He cannot let them down by sparing these scoundrels who looted Mother India, more brutally than the Ghoris and Ghaznis of yore.
People have great faith in Mr Modi’s promise of guarding every single penny that belongs to the people of this country. He cannot let them down by sparing these scoundrels who looted Mother India...