In a drastic action, major opposition parties in India have pulled out of all parliamentary committees and have also decided to stay away from the house for the remainder of the current Monsoon session, The Indian opposition parties was disgusted at the government’s contemptuous attitude to- wards fighting corruption in the government. The immediate factor that has brought about a confrontation between the Narasimha Rao government “action taken” reports about the multi-billion rupee share scandal. The government flatly refused to take any action against any official found guilty by the all-party parliamentary committee headed by Congress-I leader R.N, Mirdha. The committee had given its report a few months ago and the government announced its so-called “action taken” report only on the eve of the Monsoon session of the Indian parliament which commenced last week.
The significance of the Indian developments is the confirmation of the fact that corruption in India’s public and administration life is a pervasive phenomenon. Not a day passes without one or the other scandal involving high and mighty surfacing. Western businessmen, journalists and others connected with India are fully aware of the phenomenal growth of corruption in India’s body politic. India’s prime minister is right when he says that the share scandal was the result of “‘system’s failure.” In other words, the System itself permits the kind of scandals that are a frequent phenomenon in the country. But this generalization cannot absolve the Indian prime minister, his ministers and officers from their own responsibility in the matter. They refuse to take action or resign from their posts. Corruption is widely prevalent in Japan but the strength of democracy there – forces one after the other prime minister to resign, Not so in India. The basic reason is that India does not have any democratic traditions and the country’s institutions are too weak to assert most of the population in India is poor, illiterate and exploited. They are neck and cars in the struggle for survival and have no time to force the government to stop corrupt practices. The country’s middle class could have played a role to discipline the ruling elite but this class itself is deeply involved in corruption in one or the other form. As such corrupt public men in India remain ‘undisturbed in the seats of power even when a Harshad Mehta openly claims having delivered a suit-case full to currency notes to the Indian prime minister. And as time passes, Mehtas are silenced by the Indian establishment. These politicians flagrantly violate democratic norms by not resigning.
Yet another factor that gives strength to the corrupt politicians in India springs from the country’s attraction as a partner in business and the foreign governments’ tendency to play safe. These governments extend subtle support to the corrupt and anti-democratic politicians in India. For in- Stance, the new U.S. ambassador to India submitted his credentials to the Indian government last week just when the prime minister and his coterie had been isolated as a result of the opposition parties’ decision to boycott the Indian parliamentary proceedings. And the new ambassador was signing songs of “Indian democracy. The presentation of the credentials at the carefully selected time could not have been a coincidence. The action fits in with the growth of India-U.S. relations in the recent past. No wonder, not long “ago, a few U.S. diplomats flew into Chandigarh to meet Punjab chief minister Beant Singh even while it is well I known internationally that Beant is unrepresentative, polled no more than 10% of the popular vote and was a ruthless politician installed by India’s prime minister to crush Sikhs, Nevertheless, the U.S. administration extended its recognition and support to the puppet chief minister, in the same way as it is supporting Rao and his group at this critical juncture.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 5, 1994
