In the past four years, nobody in the ruling NDA has even raised the topic of an independent CBI.
The recent CBI versus CBI fracas—which ended with Alok Verma’s ouster as director of the premier investigation agency—unfolded like a political thriller that would put to shame the best-selling fiction of the Ludlums and the le Carrés.
One should not be surprised if Verma is urged to write a candid, tell-all autobiography (or biography) by publishers. Of course, it would not be called An Accidental CBI Director, because neither his first appointment, nor his being sent on leave and returning as CBI chief only to be removed immediately after, was an accident. Every decision was part of an evolving plot, yet not even the scriptwriters are sure how it will go from here.
Because from the Prime Minister to the Supreme Court, from the CBI director (whoever is in office) to RAW, and from the Central Vigilance Commission to the media, every entity is pretending to be more ethical than the rest.
The fact is nobody is above board in this naked game of power.
Also read: Justice Sikri, whose vote decided Alok Verma’s fate, gets Modi govt nod for plum posting
Indeed, as the Bible says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” The tragedy is we saw that nobody even bothered to wear sheep’s clothing this time.
The Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency have had their credibility questioned a long time ago. With the CBI imploding, it has now shattered the illusion that most people had about the cloak-and-dagger operations of the premier investigation agency.
Every time there is a murder or a massive financial scam, a grand robbery or a rape, there is clamour for a CBI inquiry. But it has become clear now how naïve our belief in the institution is.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used to be at the forefront of demands for an independent and autonomous CBI.
Also read: In siding with govt, Supreme Court has lot to answer on Alok Verma’s ouster as CBI chief
In 2011, most political experts and the media were mesmerised by the so-called anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare. And there was a chorus seeking to liberate the ‘caged parrot’ with ‘India Against Corruption’.
The frenzy generated by the Anna movement had convinced a large number of people, including the self-styled intellectuals, that a ‘corruption-free India’ was synonymous with ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’!
In the past four years, nobody in the ruling NDA has even raised the topic of an independent CBI, nor has anyone ever spoken about the ‘Jan Lokpal’, which was meant to cure the country of the disease of corruption.
Anna and his ‘revolutionary’ followers are perceptibly silent and the parrot is already dead.
The internal conflict in the CBI is so bizarre that it is seems almost impossible to rebuild the institution. It appears the judiciary, which was expected to restore the balance, too has succumbed to the powers that be.
The cabal led by Narendra Modi, not only does not want an independent CBI, it also does not want any institution to be autonomous.
He would prefer the investigating agency to be in the Prime Minister’s Office, as a department reporting directly to him. Given his style and approach, he would like to have the judiciary, the election commission, the Reserve Bank, et al too in the PMO.
He may want the Jawaharlal Nehru University to be renamed Deendayal Upadhyay University and prefer to rename what was the former Planning Commission (NITI Aayog) to Atal Yojana!
He has come to believe that he has been elected to be a Prime Minister for a lifetime like Chinese President Xi Jinping. Listen to his speech at the BJP Maha-Adhiveshan — any sane individual will either be embarrassed or outraged.
Also read: Why even Modi chalisa is not enough to boost the morale of BJP cadre
He would not utter a word about the ‘grand success’ of demonetisation, about jobs, not even mention India joining the Security Council with the US and Russia’s support. Neither would he refer to lynching or growing communalism explicitly, nor speak about the economic reforms he had promised the corporate class and the right wingers and not even discuss education or culture.
And yet, it is said that he has huge support among the middle class, the urban intelligentsia, the Non-Resident Indian community, the Hindutva lobbies as well as the diplomatic community. He appears convinced that once he jails Sonia and Rahul and liberates India from the ghost of Nehru, there would be universal salvation, even before Universal Basic Income!
The Alok Verma episode will not vanish into thin air. Nor will Urjit Patel’s resignation or the decline of the RBI. Even the Rafale controversy will remain in the domain, whatever the court’s judgments.
The so-called 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker upper castes has become yet another pipe dream. There is not enough foreign investment and ‘swadeshi’ capital is shrinking.
Vast armies of unemployed citizens are roaming the streets, and anti-social elements threaten to cause social chaos.
The shine of the Modi promise of 2014 has gone, but the sound of it reverberates. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections will prove how far the sound has overwhelmed the shine.
Kumar Ketkar is a former editor and Congress member of Rajya Sabha.
Shut up you congressi ? and slave of family
Mr Ketkar, were u born yesterday, that you don’t know the history of Congress’s behaviour? Are u writing as a Congress person or an independent writer?
Prof PK Sharma,Freelance Journalist,Barnala (Punjab)
It is unfair to see Mr.Kumar Ketkar’s views through Congress Party’s glasses alone ! He is stating facts too which people with coloured glasses and blind followers now can not digest and are reluctant to accept !
Ironically, I have observed none of the BJP spokespersons on TV Channels during Modi regime of almost quarter to five years has ever dared to speak even a word against NaMo and NaMo progress report card always showing more than hundred marks !
So much so none of his cabinet colleagues have ever come out with any course correction suggestions as if the nation is problem free
to the tune of cent percent !
I wonder even the two BJP stalwarts on the Marg Darshak Mandal Mr.L.K.Advani and Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi too did not deem nation over the party ! What is at stake for them now ? The undermining of institutions has played havoc with the nation and what
forbids them to speak the truth in the best national interests !
The fact can not be denied that Congress did pay very dearly for its blunders – be it imposition of emergency and for other blemishes in the past !
We the citizens of nation must take the NaMo regime to task for its blunders after blunders because it does not offer NaMo a licence to
slip the nation into mess, chaos and anarchy because Congress did this or that in the past ! The masses did not offer mandate to BJP
to flay Congress or follow its footprints but to address the problems facing the nation and then deliver the goods !
What Mr. Kumar Ketkar says is his democratic right ? The citizens should analyse things on the basis of issues and facts not what a party or its activists say ? Now it becomes imperative for the natives to see through the tricks and guiles of the politicians ! It is high time for all of us to introspect and ponder over what is what ? What is good and fine for the nation at this point of time, should be
our prime concern ?
It is the dire need of nation that all the citizens rise above everything, not to think in terms of parties and individuals but only and only
to strive for redemption of the glory and dignity of INDIA that is BHARAT !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest, Barnala (Punjab)
Two submissions. Vibrant, effective institutions help overcome the fact that governance in India is overstretched, underfunded. That makes possible better outcomes. Conversely, emaciated institutions add to failures. Ultimately, an incumbent has to decide what works better for it. Second, the Congress, as a long time practitioner of realpolitik, gradually – more violently during Mrs Gandhi’s emergency – has corroded institutional autonomy. In a TV debate, spokespersons for the BJP can point to a precedent for each current excess. Howeve, people expect it to live up to the tagline, A party with a difference. If it effortlessly crosses levels set earlier, reputational damage follows, breeds cynicism. If our institutions were a middle aged person, one would say they need a long visit to a detox clinic.
The rape of institutions was an art mastered by your party and now,, the kettle us calling the pot black!!!!
As far as institutions are concerned, Modi is just completing the unfinished agenda of Mrs. Indira Gandhi who was the pioneer in dismantling institutions including democratic ones.