The truth is that the quickest way to make a dishonest fortune is to become an Indian politician.
There are two words the Prime Minister mentions in almost every speech he makes in this election campaign. ‘Bhrashtachar’ and ‘parivarvaad’. Corruption and dynastic democracy. He always links these two things and hammers home the point that one follows from the other. He adds that nearly every opposition party in the ‘INDI Alliance’ is no more than a family firm. In an eerie echo of a famous Indira Gandhi slogan, he says, “I say get rid of corruption. They say save the corrupt.” In Mrs Gandhi’s original version, she had said, “I say get rid of poverty. They say get rid of Indira.”
Forgive the deviation. I found it curious that Modi should rework a slogan deeply associated with the despised Dynasty upon whose shoulders, in his view, all political mistakes of the past rest. Returning to the present, I must admit that there is a strong link between corruption and dynastic democracy. As someone who has closely observed what happens when major political leaders bequeath their constituencies and political parties to their progeny, I can confirm that dynastic democracy began when our leaders realised that there was much money to be made from ‘serving the people’.
The truth is that the quickest way to make a dishonest fortune is to become an Indian politician. I have seen people from ‘humble’ origins become millionaires virtually overnight. Where I disagree with the prime minister is when he seeks to create the impression that his own party is made of men and women who are scrupulously honest. When the noise and chaos of the election is done, he would do well to examine his own flock closely and weed out those he knows are in ‘public service’ to make money.
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There is political corruption in all democracies. What makes other systems work better than ours is that their checks and balances work better than they do in our ancient land. If a politician in Europe or the United States becomes a millionaire overnight, it gets noticed. In India, it is easy to hide ill-gotten wealth because there is an omerta among politicians. And if pesky reporters become too inquisitive, they are silenced. Sometimes brutally. It has been this way for a long, long time.
What Modi has done is to give his investigative agencies the power to identify those he knows are corrupt and chuck them into jail. The law that has made ‘money laundering’ into a non-bailable offence is something that he has been directly responsible for. Sadly, this has been a selective exercise. What Modi has not done is to ensure that the agencies charged with catching corrupt politicians and officials are not just impartial and honest, but seen to be so. The men seeking to oust him from power have noticed this and made a huge racket about what is now sneeringly called the ‘BJP washing machine’.
Modi has been more successful in lessening corrupt practices that do not involve politicians. In an interview he gave to a newspaper last week, he listed the things he has done to eliminate corruption in governance. He said he had made it easier for businessmen to get permission to start their businesses and that government programmes meant for the poor now ensure that money goes straight into their bank accounts. The welfare schemes he uses were started by Congress governments but were so leaky that officials were dipping their corrupt paws into them from the highest echelons of officialdom to the lowest levels of governance. On my travels in recent weeks, I met beneficiaries of the welfare schemes who all said they work well now.
When it comes to corrupt practices in the relationship between politicians and big business, the problem is more complex. You do not need to be a student of Indian politics to know that elections are funded by money that the richest Indians give to our political leaders. It is a symbiotic relationship. The electoral bonds were supposed to be a way of cleaning up the system, but the Supreme Court spotted that this was a sham and put an end to it. Another way will need to be found, if politicians really want this.
As someone who has covered politics and governance for more than four decades, I have no hesitation in admitting that corruption in the system has roots so deep and strong that it drags everyone down. Nobody escapes. But what I have also learned is that the only way to stem the rot is for political leaders to do their job honestly and show real leadership. If at the highest level, there are politicians who refuse to allow their children to coerce them into being gifted a political party or a constituency, there will be change. If ministers and chief ministers can control their wives from coveting designer handbags, clothes and jewellery, there will be change.
Will any of this happen ever? It is not something that I am prepared to bet on, but it is election time so we must hope. It is to Modi’s credit that he has made corruption such a big issue in his campaign speeches and that he has related it to hereditary politics. If he wins again, he will need to go further and look more carefully at the men and women in his own team, and observe that many are visibly tainted by corruption.
