By Sushil Kutty
“Every single BJP Member of Parliament made manna from heaven in the first five years. How? The only Indians who made more (by far more) were the ‘lakhpatis’ who became ‘crorepatis’, and the ‘crorepatis’ who joined the tribe of the ‘arabpatis’. However, nobody can point a finger at the billionaires who are so-conveniently Modi-friendly.”
“Towers of corruption demolished”, the shrill voice rising above the plumes of billowing dust. Somebody called it “spectacle demolition”, no less symbolic than the 1992 demolition of a 500-year-old mosque. The voice had its roots in Uttar Pradesh. The Supertech Twin Towers of corruption were brought down at the Supreme Court’s intervention.
If the top court hadn’t stood with the residents, corruption would have had a free run. That said, the apex court doesn’t always notice corruption. Graft has to be pointed out to the top court. But for the persistent citizens, the corrupt builders of the Twin Towers would have gotten away, and made a clean getaway with nobody getting any the wiser.
Our “Pyara Desh Hindustan” stands on four tottering pillars of corruption. Corruption is like a living organism in India’s innards, and a festering wound on the outward. The demolition of the Supertech Twin Towers brought to an end a decade-old battle between ‘Supertech’ and residents of the towers ringing the Twin Towers.
The residents had gone to court protesting the rise of the Twin Towers from an expanse of green patch that they said belonged to the “community”. This was a case of citizen-activism. The top court just happened to be there to facilitate. Left to the bureaucrats and the politicians, with the police thrown in for good measure, the Twin Towers would still be rubbernecking with taunting contempt.
The Supreme Court wasn’t doing any favours to anybody. This is a second time so-called “towers of corruption” have been brought down. An earlier instance was in Kochi, Kerala—the so-called 100 percent literate state. Corruption is no stranger to ‘God’s Own Country’, the name given to Kerala by a brand-guru.
The brand stuck and Malayalis took it to heart, for real! The Kochi tower, demolished by the same artists who did the Noida Supertech in, has become a movie, which was released recently to lousy reviews. If anything, the press reports of the demolition were by far more exciting.The Kochi tower movie flopped. And it is unlikely ‘Supertech’ will ever be filmed to hit multiple screens worldwide. The real story is, there is no escaping corruption in India even with escapist films. After Narendra Modi came to power, corruption has been brushed under the carpet.
Like a bad coin corruption continues circulate under multiple names. The corruption of the class III and class IV government babus, in the name of the British-Raj era ‘bakshish’, continues unabated in the bureaucratic corridors of corruption. ‘Dens of corruption’ was an ‘older’ construct.
Narendra Modi rode 2G horsepower to become Prime Minister of India. That was the last we heard of the ‘2G Ghotala’. Signed affidavits to the Election Commission had shown how much BJP MPs, who contested a second time in 2019, had risen in wealth.
Every single BJP Member of Parliament made manna from heaven in the first five years. How? The only Indians who made more (by far more) were the ‘lakhpatis’ who became ‘crorepatis’, and the ‘crorepatis’ who joined the tribe of the ‘arabpatis’. However, nobody can point a finger at the billionaires who are so-conveniently Modi-friendly.
And, there is nothing to show that India’s crony capitalists got to become billionaires, courtesy corruption. But then, what is crony capitalism, if it is not a form of corruption? Doesn’t facilitating relatives and friends to get rich overnight amount to corruption? Doesn’t crony capitalism amount to playing dirty?The two-time Narendra Modi regime has turned crony capitalism into an art, the science of which is never spoken about. The Tatas made everything, from ‘pins’ to ‘powerhouse’, but the current crop of billionaires is invested in owning media, and making movies, too. In Spectrum, and on smartphones.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal rode to power riding Anna Hazare’s ‘India Against Corruption’. Today, a decade later, Kejriwal’s AAP ministers are battling anti-incumbency less than they are fighting charges of corruption.
Whatever happened to ‘IAC’? Whether it’s the BJP or the Aam Aadmi Party, it was the corruption issue that brought them to power, and pelf. Arvind Kejriwal is eight years after facing Modi in a Lok Sabha contest, challenging Modi to a repeat contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha general elections.
The Congress, which lost its pre-eminence in the eight years since 2014, is free of corruption charges because it’s not in power! Corruption eludes power when power slips out. To the Congress party’s eternal shame, it’s not in the league of corrupt because it lost power! Like the Supertech Twin Towers, which no longer counts as it no longer exists. (IPA Service)