Shed the double standards on corruption

Even as the cacophony over theft of Ayodhya’s Sri Ram Mandir Temple funds and precious metal artifacts gifted by devotees reaches a crescendo, allegations have emerged over acquisition of vast tracts of land by the family of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and members of his extended family in Ujjain. The allegations follow a report in a daily in Delhi. It is alleged that Yadav family members and their real estate firms had acquired at least 137 plot spanning 168 acres in Ujjain for Rs. 45 crore in the two years since Yadav took over the reins in Bhopal.

The plots were concentrated in areas earmarked for government-driven infrastructure development such as roads, highways and markets. Buying land by a chief minister’s family cannot be illegal. But such a transaction in an area which is demarcated for government schemes raises obvious questions. That only the government is privy to inside information prior to its sale, lends the sale a strong reason for suspicion of ‘insider trading’, a term that is mainly used for share bazar.

It is certainly not surprising that no Central agencies such as Enforcement Directorate or Central Bureau of Investigation have initiated action in the matter. Had the same been the case in a non-BJP ruled state, it would have generated an earthquake with cries seeking the chief minister’s resignation. Should the double-engine Sarkar enjoy such immunity when allega-tion of a serious nature have been raised? During the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, every such allegation of corruption became a national obsession be it the Commonwealth Games, 2G or coal block allocation scam.

Those stories dominated the headlines for months without end. But television channels are mum over allegations pertaining to a sitting CM’s family acquiring huge parcels of land. The stories that would have generated week-long debates now disappear within a news cycle of an hour. No calls for inquest, no calls for resignation. No one says “Nation wants to know when Mohan Yadav would step aside till his name is cleared.” Why cannot the ED act when a reputed national daily has brought out the land scam with evidence in public? The BJP must peep into its own past.

When in opposition it would ask for ministerial resignation even before the FIR is filed. But now that its own chief minister is being accused with credible proof, it is asking the opposition to show the money trail first. The issue is not whether the BJP is more or less corrupt than the Congress. Corruption is not the monopoly of any single party. The issue is if the standards of scrutiny have changed. Why does the ED get into hyperactive mode when the corruption charges are against the Opposition leaders and become invisible when corruption happens in BJP-ruled states.

Why do CAG reports now rarely command any public attention? Why did scandals then became national issues but are now dismissed with whispers? These are uncomfortable questions, but essential to be raised today. Democracy depends not on victories in elections but on accountability. The nation has heard the rhetoric Na Khaoonga, na khane doonga (“Neither would I indulge in corruption, nor would allow others to be corrupt) for years. But it must now be translated into action.