A Jot was heard about how a small businessman of Delhi distributed ‘Crores of rupees as hush money to India’s politicians and bureaucrats, Te were freak exposure done by Indian Supreme Court ordered enquiry. ‘The Indian government, its executive, the media as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation, the main agency entrusted with the task of holding enquiries against wrongdoers, were acting (0 cover up the Scandal Known as the Jain Hawala scandal, the money laundering incident was seen by most in India as # tip of the vast iceberg of corruption in that country’s government. Corruption is something natural, a routine business for a majority of Indian politicians and bureaucrats. The phenomenon became particularly acute in the five years of Narasimha Rao’s premiership, It also proved his undoing, as the ruling party suffered heavy reverses as most non Congress groups had made corruption # major poll issue, However, it will take years before the full extent of the phenomenon becomes known to the people of India and the world, ‘The Rao government’s corrupt practices were not limited to India alone. Hundreds of Crores of unaccounted rupees are spent by India’s embassies all over the world. In view of what the Indian regime did in Delhi, Could it have left such an important country as the U.S.A. without its shadow being cast on it? With a wily politician like S.S, Ray being at helm in Washington, nothing better could be expected from the mission than what the Indian government authorities did back at home.

So, we have Lalit Gadhia confessions, He admitted $46000 political contribution from the Indian embassy to members of U.S. Congress in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, according to a media report. The. Indian embassy allegedly picked up a few pro India Congressmen for Promotion through financial help, perhaps forgetting that the U.S. laws prohibit any such help from noncitizens or funds being channeled in another person’s name. The question is not merely of a technical lapse. The issues involved are far 100 big to be ignored. The very democratic system in the U.S.A, was sought to be disrupted by the corrupt Indian government through its enjoy, discredited for his conception of 1975‘77 emergency rule in India and mass murders (197071) of Naxalites in West Bengal and of more than 20,000 Sikhs in Punjab (198789).

Let there be a thorough investigation if necessary, by a special commission of enquiry. The source of the Gadhia funds should be traced. The U.S, administration should help the investigators by compelling the Indian government to send former ambassador Ray as well as the former Indian police officer Devinder Singh for questioning. Diplomatic niceties must not be allowed to interfere with the process of law.

‘The premature return of Ray to India and the transfer of Devinder Singh from Washington cause eyebrows to be raised in the light of the Gadhia admissions. Was it the approaching election in India or the quit investigation by the relevant authorities that caused Ray’s exit? Besides, India’s then external affairs minister R.L, Bhatia is on record having stated: “There is a strong anti-India lobby in the USA. We are spending large sums of money through Ambassador Ray to neutralize it. ”In USA, Ray’s spending of large sums is a criminal activity, aur acting an imprisonment term extending to five years.

India’s coalition government has fought against corruption as an ‘important item of its {functional agenda. Will enteral affairs minister Inder Kumar Gujral haul up his embassy officials for their illegal and corrupt payments? The future alone wills well In the meantime it is good to hear that India is recalling Ambassador Naresh Chandra who was appointed Lo the post only 4 few weeks ago. The charge against Chandra 4s that he acted as a Hindu fundamentalist in the infamous Babri Masjid minister Rao.

Apart from the main questionable financial aspect of the functioning of the Indian embassy officials, the U.S. administration will do well not to let all kinds of criminals to come from Delhi and seek accreditation from the US government. The exit of Ray and, now possibly Chandra, is as much a reflection on the working of the Indian governments it is a telltale mirror of the US acceptance of envoys from India.

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 5, 1996