In my last week’s column I had mentioned that I was an eyewitness and facilitator in the whistle-blowing operation, conducted by three BJP MPs in collaboration with a reputed TV channel, to expose the “cash-for-votes” scam. The channel stands accused of having double-crossed the whistle-blowers by not telecasting the scam-busting tape. The allegations against senior Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders, which they claim are a lie, are now being probed by a committee constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker, who received the tape from the channel after a mysterious delay of over 24 hours. I happen to have watched the tape and affirm with full responsibility that it has been tampered with, insofar as it does not include everything of what was recorded during the whistle-blowing operation. A crucial interview with the three MPs, which the channel’s reporter conducted, is missing. Thus, far from the fulfillment of responsibility to “defeat the lie”, here is a case of an attempt to derail the truth!

In any event, the amount of evidence already submitted to the committee, including what is available on tape, is so incontrovertible as to constitute a reasonably sufficient answer to the question that the PM posed in Parliament — “Where is the proof?” And since the PM is the ultimate beneficiary of this scandal, he will definitely be answerable to the nation if there is a fair investigation.

The “cash-for-votes” scam is a blot on Indian democracy. It should not be dismissed as yet another instance of one party trying to blacken the face of another party, nor allowed to die a natural death through the conspiracy of endless delay in its probe. The growing dependence on money power is destroying the soul of our democracy, and all political parties, to a lesser or greater extent, are to blame for this malaise. Let us not delude ourselves into thinking that democracy and human freedom are triumphant and safe after the decline of communist dictatorship, whose ravages were exposed by writers like Solzhenitsyn. The combination of money power and the proclivity of political leaders to save themselves by devaluing democratic institutions (in this case, the Indian Parliament) would gradually create an atmosphere of cynicism (“sab partiyan chor hain”) lawlessness (“upar baithe huye neta log galat kaam karte hain, to hum bhi kyon na karen?”) and anarchy (“bullet, and not ballot, is the answer). Indian democracy’s downslide can be halted at least partially if the probe committee does its job impartially and conscientiously and punishes the guilty.

... contd.