CORRUPTION, FAVORITISM, BLACK
MARKET
ruling the roost, whither will your country degenerate? – cried in anguish the
great Telugu poet Sri Sri some five decades back. The situation has deteriorated fast since then and now there is
nothing but these three evils to talk about in the society. Every political
party comes to fore shouting rosy promises to eliminate these and construct a
dream society of honesty, truth and progress but when come to power always
reneges and succeeds in excelling the predecessors in these qualities! The recent Rafale fighter
planes deal struck with a most corrupt French aviation company Dassault – whose inheritor and till
recently Chairman-CEO [Senator] Serge Dassault was
fined two million euros for tax fraud, barred from holding elected office for 5
years and spared jail only because of his advanced age, and quite recently
kicked the bucket too – is the biggest defence scam in the country recently
committed by the current government headed by our loquacious Prime Minister.
The Ambanis, Adanis, Nirav Modis and Vijay Mallyas are flourishing at the
expense of crores of people languishing in misery, left only with empty
assuaging words of sab
ka saath sab ka vikas (together with all, developing all) and
the like promises – given a new meaning and twist by the ruling party
president, who should have been actually in jail for his direction of and
involvement in a false encounter case, but for the suspicious death decried as
deliberate murder of Judge Loya, as Jumlas
(empty words of promise meant not to be fulfilled)!
The rejection of Ambanis in this deal by the previous Manmohan Government and
fixing HAL, a famous public sector company, as the partner of Dassault with 70%
of the contract terms allotted to it for a total of 124 planes – not confirmed then
only in view of the forthcoming elections, has been completely overturned to award
an excess of about one thousand crores for each plane, and reduced to 36 planes
in a take-away condition with no technology transfer but inclusion of the
upstart and inefficient Ambani company as a partner, as a bhagidar (sharer) in the big corruption. Add to this the hiring
away of the historic Red Fort to the Dalmias and the lynching sprees by the so-called
gau and Hindu Dharma rakshaks, e.g. the recent murderous attacks on the revered human rights
leader Swami Agnivesh, to get at the eerily awkward picture of governance in
the country. As Arun Shourie is so painfully emphasizing everywhere, the next
elections may be the last occasion for the people of the country to change for
a better, a secular, at least less-communal and less-corrupt ruling clique – a
lesser evil – or else perhaps the Orwellian Big Brother nightmare may become a
reality in our country. §§§
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