Clean up the system

Clean up the system

Decisive moments demand decisive action. One such moment was that revealing glimpse of the rot within the state, as captured by Tehelka's spycam. And it stinks to high heavens, how it stinks! It was not just the wrongdoings of a few individuals that were made evident in those tapes, but the culpability of the entire system presided over by the BJP-led NDA coalition. The fact that senior party functionaries in the ruling alliance and important officials in the defence ministry were only too willing to sell the security of the country for a few dollars, demonstrated how governance -- such as it is -- has been reduced to an exercise in plain greed. The ubiquitousness of corruption is threatening to destroy everything that India stands for. Despite the squeals of protestations from the ruling coalition -- that this is an opposition conspiracy, and the like -- the evidence is unassailable for the very reason that it emerges from the horse's mouth.

So where does the nation go from here? Already the anger of the citizen is obvious, already demands that the government must go are being voiced on the streets, within Parliament and in newspaper columns. Although such expressions of public wrath are perfectly justified given the enormity of the political malfeasance on display, packing off yet another government may not be any solution. Remember another day, not so long ago, when righteous indignation over the findings of the Jain Commission had led to the fall of the I.K. Gujral government? The nation is still paying a price for the impetuousness that was on display then. No, the answer does not lie in the uncertainties of yet another general election but in cleaning up the system, here and now. This is the task at hand, this is the challenge that faces the nation because what is at stake is not just the reputation of the prime minister and his Cabinet, but that of the country and its claims to being one of the world's great democracies.

But there is a question that must be answered first. How prepared is the man who was voted in as `India's man of destiny', and the party he heads, to look into the mirror? The BJP has long traded on its own image of honesty and concern for the nation's security. The winds from Kargil had steered it back to power, after the Vajpayee government was voted out in the summer of 1999. Today, that carefully constructed image has been destroyed -- both the supposed integrity and commitment to national interest appear like a grand illusion. With what face can it now attack the Congress on Bofors? On what basis does it hope to take on a corrupt Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar or a Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu? If it is not prepared to take on the demon in its backyard now, it may as well slink away from the public arena with its tail between its legs. Some tough measures are now demanded of it. For one, the party's filial bonds with its much compromised defence minister and his party must end. Every official who hadanything to do with this ugly business must be sacked -- no questions asked. An independent, time-bound inquiry must be instituted forthwith, and its report made public. This is not all. What is needed is nothing less than the institutionalising of transparency in every deal that the government strikes, especially in defence. There are other aspects, too, like evolving more transparent ways of collecting party funds, that need to be addressed.

Will Vajpayee get down to the cleansing of his government's odorous stables, or will he prefer to brazen it out by pretending that everything is hunky-dory but for a few bad apples? All that has happened so far is the acceptance of BJP President Bangaru Laxman's resignation, the suspension of four officials in the defence ministry, and an offer of ``discussions on the issue''. Attempting to shield those who are indefensible at this juncture would be tantamount to committing political harakiri. The least that could be expected from Vajpayee is an honest admission of his government's culpability and a serious attempt to set things right so that the nation will not have to face the ignominy of the last two days ever again. If the prime minister does not measure up to this challenge, he would be letting down not just his office but his 55 years of public life.