Aftermath of Saradha episode

One wonders what would have happened in West Bengal if the Saradha scam had tumbled out of the cupboard while the Left Front was in power. What would Mamata Banerjee have done with the issue?

During the Singur-Nandigram campaign, one remembers the sustained “movement” she launched in the shape of the dais she erected on the Durgapur Expressway adjacent to the Tata factory location and the “indefinite hunger-strike” she went on at Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata.

There can be little doubt that she would have exploited the Saradha issue to the hilt because, if nothing else, the impact of the scam on a huge chunk of the State’s electorate in the rural areas would hold out unlimited potential in swinging votes in her favour.

Left Front’s approach

With the Trinamool Congress in power, the Left Front in West Bengal has approached the chit fund scam differently, pushing histrionics and populist politics into the background and focussing, instead, on a carefully-calibrated campaign, giving the impression that the Front is almost “clinically” feeling its way through the upheaval with the utmost of caution and circumspection.

In fact, this has been the Front’s general political profile ever since it was swept out of power in 2011 by a resurgent Mamata Banerjee who, it will be useful to remember, was not much more than a blip on the State’s political horizon immediately before the Singur movement.

Whether the Left Front would have done better to add more muscle to its Saradha campaign is a different issue altogether, but the clear danger now is that the political impact of the chit fund issue is likely to be swamped by the probe proceedings which are currently on and which have been set in motion by the State government itself.

Again, it is a moot point whether it would have been better if the CBI was entrusted with the specifically West Bengal misdoings of the Saradha group, which many feel is perhaps the only way of getting down to the bottom of the scam.

The danger now is that the forces of corruption, sensing an opportunity, will regroup themselves and work overtime to prevent a full exposure of the scam, in the process pushing into the background the possibility of the lakhs of depositors, who have been traumatised by the prospect of losing their life’s savings, getting back a part of their money.

More checks on chit fund business

What the Saradha chit fund scam has once again underscored is that corruption always flourishes in a society where those holding positions of power, either politically or administratively, engage closely with the perpetrators, the prime objective being to line one’s pockets by bending, or brazenly flouting, rules.

It is almost certain that with time the names of more politicians of all hues and Government officials will be uncovered as being associated in some way or the other with the Saradha group.

Whether this will help the investigators to get to the heart of the problem, namely, tracing the whereabouts of the huge stash of funds collected from the depositors since 2008-2009 — which would enable some repayments to be made to those who have been defrauded of their money — remains to be seen.

But no one should expect the Saradha episode to hasten the demise of the chit fund business. Chit funds are tied to the prevalence of corruption in civil society, and as long as the latter continues to rule the roost, chit funds will also continue to flourish.

The immediate objective, therefore, should be to place more controls on such fraudulent businesses, the lurking doubt, however, being that if existing controls have not been effective enough to protect the unsuspecting citizen, there can be no guarantee that new laws will be able to do so.

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