The Hindu Business Line : L'affaire Judev puts BJP in dock

EQUITY analysts have been at pains to point out that in the current stock market rally, liquidity has been provided mainly by retail investors. While the foreign institutional investors and institutions have been mopping up blue-chips as well as mid-cap stocks, most retail investors are booking profits.

Their logic is simple: If there is a scam behind this rally too, the small investors do not want to end up losing their shirts, as they did in the past. The stock market and scams are somehow linked in the public consciousness and those who end up as victims can at least build some defence against subsequent victimisation.

There is another area where, in public perception, a similar nexus exists: Politicians and corruption. Everyone knows about it and talks about it too, but somehow feels helpless to stop it. An equity investor hurt badly by market manipulation or scams can stay away when he smells a scam, and save his money.

But do the people have a choice when it comes to politicians, cutting across all parties, siphoning off crores of rupees, and then coming back to them for votes? One might say that the voter too can stay away from the electoral scene and refuse to cast his vote. But even if he does so, he cannot save the constituency, or the legislature, from falling into the hands of some politician, who also could be corrupt.

This week began with an as-yet unproven instance of a politician caught with his hand in the till. The Union Minister of State for Environment and BJP/VHP stalwart from Chhattisgarh, Mr Dilip Singh Judev, has been caught on camera accepting bundles of notes: He is seen accepting the money, touching it to his forehead, eyeing it with reverence and quoting a couplet: "Paisa khuda tau nahi, par khuda ki kasam, khuda sey kam bhi nahi (Money is not God, but God promise, it's not less than God either)."

The 35-minute footage of the Minister, accompanied by his assistant PA, Natwar Rateria, and obviously in a hotel room, is mostly about distribution of tickets for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.

Much to the BJP's discomfiture, Mr Judev was emerging the frontrunner chief ministerial candidate. The mission of his life was to reconvert to Hinduism Chhattisgarh's tribals, who had been converted to Christianity. This passion had got him a special place in the Sangh Parivar.

As soon as The Indian Express broke the story, and television channels across the country telecast footage of the recording, all hell broke loose. Top BJP leaders, and Mr Judev himself, started heaping abuse on the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, and charged that the whole video footage was a fabrication engineered by Mr Jogi, for which "he would have to pay a heavy price".

Ms Uma Bharti, who appears to have a fair chance of making it to chief ministership in Madhya Pradesh, was at her scathing best as she appeared on channel after channel, spelling out a host of corruption charges and `fraud' cases against Mr Jogi, calling him names and expressing the confidence that the people of the States going to polls will not be swayed by the machinations of "a fraud like Ajit Jogi".

Remember, she has used such colourful terms as chor, daku, nikamma, and the like, to describe the MP Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, and has been sued by him for doing that.

Mr Judev himself, who was livid, at first denied that he had accepted money or was in that footage at all, and blamed the Congress(I) and Mr Jogi for doctoring the whole thing. But towards the end of the day, the BJP leadership, which had at first defended Mr. Judev, with the Prime Minister saying that the minister would resign only if an investigation found him guilty, changed tack. All of a sudden we were told that Mr Judev had submitted his resignation and that Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had accepted it.

The response from the Opposition, led by the Congress(I), was expected, though not totally justified. As homilies are pouring forth on the BJP's corruption, in general, and the Judev episode, in particular, one cannot help say "Look who's talking?" But while l'affaire Judev is only the tip of the iceberg and only one instance of a corrupt deed being brought before public scrutiny, the two events that followed the minister's resignation were more appalling than the VCD footage itself.

After submitting his resignation, Mr Judev went before a television camera and all but blurted out his guilt. Appearing on NDTV, the BJP leader compounded his guilt by saying that a lot of money was required to fight the "international forces" which were indulging in religious conversion in India.

"You need an army to stop conversions and you need provisions for that army. There might be obstacles and the time is limited. Suppose someone gives these provisions, this is misunderstood. We have to keep all these possibilities in mind. Who is going to foot the bill?"

After this, is a CBI inquiry necessary, Mr Prime Minister?

The other incredible fallout of this affair, as we were informed on Monday night by various TV channels, is that the BJP has now moved into "revenge gear". One caught senior BJP leader Mr V. K. Malhotra telling a television channel, "Now that the Congress has gone and done this, we will not let the Congress get away."

It was incredible to hear him saying that now the BJP would go all out to expose all the corruption and all the misdeeds of various Congress leaders, including those in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

The country would be grateful for all the exposure that Mr Malhotra and his party can bring to light, because whether it is the Congress(I) or any other party, the money involved is the taxpayer's.

But one question that Mr Malhotra, or any of his colleagues from the BJP, need to answer is why this pledge only after the Judev episode?

If they already have the information, what was preventing them from making it public as and when the Congress leaders indulged in corrupt deeds? Or, was it a question of mili bhagat (a code of honour among thieves), a tit-for-tat or a quid pro quo?

Another aspect of the Judev affair that needs scrutiny is the manner in which the expose was carried out. Obviously, it was a sting operation, akin to what Tehelka had carried out last year. But, unlike the Tehelka tapes, which were announced under the glare of the media, and with Tehelka lining up its ace investigators who carried out the operation, look at the quiet and anonymous manner in which the VCD was delivered to the house of The Indian Express special correspondent, Mr Ashwani Sharma. The journalist's house was later attacked by BJP supporters.

We still do not know the original author of the Judev expose. If there was a political party involved in this, as the BJP has alleged, it is quite understandable. People living in glass-houses should not throw stones. Also, who can predict how the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr J. M. Lyngdoh, will react? After all, Mr Jogi has got the stick from him once already for the gimmicks indulged in Chattisgarh. But if the Judev VCD is a bit of investigative journalism, not by a major media organisation, but a smaller outfit, it has obviously decided not to take the risk that Tehelka did — to sign the script and find itself on the path to total ruin.

The ruthless manner in which Tehelka.com and its associates were targeted, after the Web site had exposed the corruption in Defence deals has taught a lesson or two to outfits that may have wanted to carry out such "dangerous exercises."

Anyway, the BJP, which had promised to be a party with a difference, bring probity in public life and corruption- free governance, has been hauled over the coals once again. The ultimate question, particularly noting the timing of the Judev episode, pertains to whether this will hurt the BJP's prospects in the States going in for Assembly elections. The people of those States will answer the question, in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, announced in Raipur that Mr Judev will be the BJP's "star campaigner" in Chattisgarh!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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