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Saturday, May 14, 2005
The politics of enquiries
Shekhar Gupta, objecting to the use of the CBI as a political tool, writes:
Yes. I can imagine two members of the ruling coalition chatting after their party loses power in the next elections.
Well, as they say, whatever.
There will be scams in politics and scams must be investigated, the guilty nailed and punished. But this politics of inquiries has now created a sorry situation where such probes have lost all credibility. These are ordered by one set of politicians, and their findings rejected by another. Senior leaders in the two coalitions have a duty now to break this vicious cycle in this era of anti-incumbency. If this carries on, for example, what is to stop somebody in the NDA from threatening that if they come to power they will investigate the Boeing deal, particularly when MPs from the ruling coalition have put their signatures to letters raising questions on it? What will the political class do then, send each deal to the CAG and CVC for pre-clearance? Anticipatory bail-seeking of this kind can’t become an instrument of governance.
Yes. I can imagine two members of the ruling coalition chatting after their party loses power in the next elections.
Politician 1: Bummer. We're no longer ministers. Now I can't go to Switzerland on my summer holiday under the excuse of that conference in Basel. Maybe I'll go abduct some people in Bihar for fun. Where are you off to?
Politician 2: I have to go to court. I need to seek, what do they call it, anti-anta-something... yes, antacid bail.
Politician 1: Antacid? I've heard of that.
Politician 2: Yes, and I'll wear some trousers for a change. Every day in office in kurta-pajama, no wonder I was falling asleep all the time.
Well, as they say, whatever.
