If what the Army Chief told The Hindu recently — Tejinder Singh offering a bribe of Rs 14 crore — is true, (and on the face of it, there is no reason why it shouldn't be so) one can only say that corruption in India has become truly endemic.

In a state of disbelief, General Singh told his interviewer: “Just imagine, one of these men had the gumption (what he meant was courage) to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche (of 600 substandard vehicles of a particular make), he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army Chief.” Importantly, the General added: “He told me that people had taken money before me, and they will take money after me.”

BRAZEN BEHAVIOUR

If corrupt behaviour can be so brazenly effected in public, and with personages who should inspire fear rather than provide encouragement to such denizens, it only means that there is a certain amount of confidence and aplomb among those who are out to purchase the republic to serve their own material interests. The question is: why have the purveyors of corruption become so very open, almost exhibitionist, in pursuing their usually surreptitious vocation? Is it because they have no sense of fear and, therefore, no hesitation while doing their work? If this is so, does this mean that the cancer of corruption has indeed gone very deep into the body politic of the Government, and bribe-givers know for certain that no one can harm them, because they have their protectors in every nook and corner of the official apparatus?

CBI PROBE

The basic assumption here is that the person who approached the Army Chief did what he did because he knew that General Singh couldn't touch him. What makes the entire episode much more worrisome is that the person, “had recently retired from the Army”, the inference being that the person concerned certainly wasn't incapable of this while he was in the organisation, and of course he was part of a nexus. Clearly, that nexus is very much in place, and the nation would like to know if something concrete will emerge from the CBI probe ordered by the Union Defence Minister.

The implication of all this is that if there is a group in the Army and the Government working to harm the nation in the defence sphere, there are similar networks affecting the working of every single Government department, at both the Centre and the state levels. Keeping this in mind, the Union Finance Minister's clarification on the CAG's damning draft report on coal block allocations — that usually 90 per cent of issues raised by the CAG were dropped at the clarification and exit levels, that this was normal practice, and that it has been happening for 150 years — rings hollow.

The issue is: does the country allow this situation to drift, or is action necessary (after the usual probes) — at both the civil and Government levels — to control the cancer and, in effect, save the soul of the nation? The answer will of, course, be for drastic action, but how does the country act? The UPA Government is too weak at present to do anything of significance, and Anna Hazare is no Gandhiji. As one sees it, it is the youth who will have to come forward to cleanse the nation. But who will take the lead?

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