After a long pause, it appears that the arms of the law are catching up with India’s corrupt that had formed into a big and influential league of crooks. Banks are under a shadow, and the economy is taking a nosedive. New banking scams are getting exposed, and there is talk that a set of about 9 banks might pull the shutters down due to misappropriations or mismanagement. RBI has stepped in to impose curbs on money withdrawals from the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank.
There is more. While Palaniappa Chidambaram is cooling his heels in Tihar Jail, the Enforcement Directorate is tightening its noose around several top politicians. Former Union Minister Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar from the NCP are set for ED quizzing in a scam of over Rs 24,000 crore in the Maharashtra Cooperative Bank – which ironically had been set up for benefit to farmers in the agrarian belt decades ago. The MD and other top officials of the bank are also in the net.
Curiously, the pilferage happened over years, and it is suddenly that the ED steps in. Question is, why it waited for so long. Even when misdeeds are detected, there often is a deficit of action to set things right. There is lethargy at all levels and courts often put a spoke in the wheels, thereby affecting the pace of investigations. In the end, after years of investigations, more often than not the guilty make good their escape. Over five years of the Narendra Modi rule helped very little to turn things around. Strong-willed action is needed to stem the rot, and speed is of essence.
Others too are in the net – the nephew of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath in the VVIP Chopper Scam under the UPA-II period; former Karnataka minister and Congress politician DK Shivakumar is in Tihar Jail and linked to money laundering cases. Two top Congress politicians in Kerala’s Travancore Titanium scam are set to fall into the CBI net; so too Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, and the latest is an ED move to arrest Robert Vadra in a money laundering scam.
It could be that several Opposition politicians are set to face the music. If they committed wrong, which is quite likely, it is important that they face punishment. What is noticeable is, that the general public is amused and unruffled by the fate that befell Chidambaram and the rest, so far. There are lessons to learn from this.