Author: Navin Upadhyay/ New Delhi
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 1, 2004
In defending his " tainted ministerial
colleagues from the RJD, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a leader of unchallenged
integrity, could be setting double standard. Many of his own partymen are
now wondering whether the Congress was re-defining the high moral norms
it "preached" and even practised to an extent in the past.
After all, it is the same Congress
which used altogether different yardstick to judge its own senior leaders
like PV Narshima Rao, AR Antuly, DR Jagannath Mishra, Veerappa Moily, Sukhram,
Ajit Jogi, Arjun Singh, P Shivshankar, Motilal Vora, Madhav Rao Scindia,
RK Dhavan, Jagdish Tytler etc. The list is long.
When Mr Singh says that "these (
RJD) ministers have not been convicted yet" he conveniently forgets that
in the past the Congress did not wait for conviction to dump its leaders
facing corruption or criminal cases. Chief ministers were compelled to
resign and MPs denied tickets. The Congress highlighted every such decision
as vindication of its commitment to preserve highest standard of moral
probity in political life. It is the same Congress which did not allow
Geroge Fernandes to speak in the parliament, and stalled proceedings in
the House seeking resignation of LK Advani and others in Babri demolition
case. No one listened to their pleas that charges have still not been established
against them.
Mr Rao's case is classic. He was
denied ticket for the 1998 Lok Sabha polls by Congress president Sitaram
Kesri ostensibly because the former Prime Minister was facing a series
of corruption charges like St Kitts forgery case, Lakhubhai Patak cheating
case and JMM bribery scandal. It is a different matter, that Mr Rao was
a victim of intense power struggle in the party and pushed into the political
oblivion at the behest of Sonia Gandhi. But then authors of his political
obituary thought it convenient to project him as a "tainted" leader whose
presence would dilute Congress' moral high ground against corruption. So
Mr Rao must go.
In a way, it was a poetic justice
for Mr Rao, the architect of Jain hawala witchunt which was targeted against
his political rivals in the Congress. In 1996 Lok Sabha polls, using the
hawala charges Mr Rao had denied tickets to Congress stalwarts like Arjun
Singh, Madhav Rao Scindia, Kalpanath Rai, P Shiv Shanker, Balram Jakhar,
Motilal Vora, Ajit Panja, VC Shukla, and RK Dhavan. For Mr Rao , it was
a question of preserving its " high moral value."
More recently, the Chhagan Bhujbal
case shows how the Congress has always tried to take moral postitioning
on corruption charges. Under pressure from the Congress, Bhujbal had to
resign from the post of Maharashtra deputy chief minister even before any
case was registered against him in the Telgi scam.
Similarly, the Congress suspended
Ajit Jogi soon after the infamous cash-on-tape episode hit the headlines.
Once again, the Congress did not wait for the inquiry to be over and charges
established. Going by what Manmohan Singh now says, Mr Jogi or Bhujbal
should never have been punished. Not should Rao denined tickets to hawala
acussed congressmen. Nor Sukhram expelled from the party. And so on and
so forth.
It is not only Mr Rao, which is
re-defining the concept of political morality. Even RJD chief Laloo Prasad
Yadav had compelled all the 'tainted' ministers to quit the Rabri Devi
government. Vidya Sagar Nishad, Bholaram Toofani, Chandradeo Prasad Verma
, JP Yadav were all dumped after chargesheets filed against them. Mr Yadav
had himself left the chair of chief minister after being chargesheeted
in the fodder scam. Mr Manmohan Singh's party had then vociferously demanded
his resignation.
But times have changed now. Arm-twisted
by its allies, who are dictating terms to the government, the Congress
has agreed to make a compromise which many in the party are finding difficult
to swallow. In the process, more than the image of the party, it is the
image of the Prime Minister which has suffered a major blow.
