When a Shiv Sena MP, Sanjay Nirupam, accused the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of involvement in the UTI Scam, even he might not have been sure that he had hit the bull’s eye. Panic-stricken Mr. Vajpayee threatened to resign for his failure to rein in NDA allies. It was obvious from the beginning that the threat was meant to silence the allies and divert the issue. It was not the frustration of an injured innocent, but a calculated anger of a crafty. The cynicism has become too strong to be bothered about public probity or moral overtones.

In Tehelka expose, the then BJP President, Bangaru Laxman, handpicked by Mr. Vajpayee himself, and  the RSS leader R.K. Gupta had talked of the involvement of the PMO in finalizing such deals. None of them could even be remotely accused of any intention of maligning Mr. Vajpayee or his Govt.

In the Telecom Scam, telecom companies were given benefits to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees just prior to last elections. Balco was sold for a pittance, Modern Foods for a song.

But Mr. Vajpayee remains unfazed in the company of Sukhrams and in the belief that so long as he can keep the imperialist powers and their local representatives, the MNCs, happy, he has nothing to worry. Public memory after all is short! One should not wonder that all these people used to once talk of fighting corruption in high places. Theirs was the fight for right to indulge in corruption. Having secured that right, they want to make the most till the sun shines. It may not shine for long. Hence the pro-active policy in fleecing the maximum.

In the Westminster System followed in India, the Prime Minister is more equal than others. It definitely holds good for corruption and for sharing of the loot of the public exchequer.

Both in Tehelka and now in UTI, character building by RSS is on display. There the erring swayamsewak accepted a bribe, here another squandered public money to the tune of crores. Mr. Johari, the owner of Cyberspace Infosys, is a well known and well trained RSS cadre. This company was inaugurated by the most celebrated swayamsewak, Mr. Vajpayee. These swayamsewaks (self-servers) are helping themselves to a good slice of the financial cake. One can easily understand that the now hard, now soft stance of RSS against Vajpayee Govt. has nothing to do with any principled stand against Vajpayee Govt.’s policies and everything to do with securing their share commensurate with their status as ‘parent organization’. If anybody takes their pretensions seriously, it is their problem, not of the RSS.

It is nobody’s case that RSS-BJP-NDA functionaries are the only corrupt people around. They have their able colleagues in Parliament who had done so in past and continue to do so in the states ruled by them. In any case while the ruling politician-bureaucrat nexus is the visible face, the main beneficiaries are the big business houses who remain unidentified. This breed of ruling caucus helps them and in turn helps itself. But these owners, both foreign and Indian, of large firms and the media conglomerates remain outside the scrutiny and scope. They suck the pulp and get out in time, leaving the bills to be collected by their countrymen. They have perfected the very art of utilizing the Govt. machinery to make a fast buck. It is part of the conspiracy that they are hardly discussed when one talks of corruption. It is important to recognize this if one is to really fight corruption. Otherwise the fight against corruption would continue to be a euphemism for the fight for right to indulge in corruption.

Mr. Vajpayee obviously understands that this talk of corruption could not harm him so long as he can keep his allies happy and the overlords satisfied. His prominent rival to the throne, Sonia Gandhi of the Congress, has recently been on an extended ‘study’ tour in USA. There she apparently has picked up her lessons fast and made the announcement from US soil that India should favour next round of WTO negotiations.

As Vajpayee and BJP-RSS get discredited faster than most expected, a substitute is being readied for the replacement.

Neither naivety nor cynicism can take the struggle against corruption forward. Only conscious and fighting people can ensure an end to corruption in the corridors of power. It is the people that these swindlers are afraid of and it is the people they conspire against.