By Nirendra Dev

New Delhi, Sep 23 (UNI) As corruption dominates the political debate in the country in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections , thanks to the Rafale aircraft deal row and also the ruling BJP-led dispensation seeking to highlight all major corruption cases in the country since 1948, a look at the scenario post independence shows that corruption pervades the entire political spectrum.
In a socio-political situation when the political neta class is rarely prosecuted and jailed for economic offence, the corruption is bound to be an electoral issue - revolving largely around the theme of blame giving and holier than thou syndrome.
Not long ago, the common refrain used to be that it was Congress in 1970s that brought corruption to institutions.
In a later stage, apparently corruption got institutionalised with Rajiv Gandhi coming under the scanner on Bofors while the P V Narasimha Rao regime too had its share of bad name.
However, no clean chit can be given to the BJP, Janata Dal and other socialist political blocks.
Socialist school product Lalu Prasad had infamously got embroiled in ‘chara ghotala’ (fodder scam), and another high-profile product of the same political stock 'JP Movement', George Fernandes also got stained by ‘bribe’ talks when his party colleague and “Socialite friend” Jaya Jaitley was caught on camera discussing “funding” for the party.

BJP’s first backward community president Bangaru Laxman too was ‘caught’ on camera collecting currency notes.
In 2011-12, series of corruption cases - 2G, Coalgate, Commonwealth games and Adarsh Housing scandal hit the Manmohan Singh regime. More recently, the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh left BJP embarrassed and fuming.
Among the old cases in 1948, V. K. Krishna Menon, then the Indian high commissioner to Britain, bypassed protocol and signed a deal worth Rs 80 lakh with a foreign firm for the purchase of 200 army jeeps.
In 1970s, the Allahabad High Court convicted Indira Gandhi her of election irregularities and banned her from electoral politics for six years. In response, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, imprisoned political opponents and suspended fundamental rights.
In late eighties, it was the turn of Rajiv Gandhi to face Bofors scam onslaught while in 1996 - P V Narasimha Rao faced various corruption including Hawala scam, stock market scam in which broker Harshad Mehta allegedly 'bribed' Late Rao and also the JMM bribery case wherein government leaders allegedly bribed the lawmakers to save Rao government.
The illicit neta-babu raj (politician-bureaucrat nexus) is often regarded as the chief malady in Indian administration but no major achievement has been made over the years to stem the rot vis-a-vis the corruption menace.
In fact, political observers were shell-shocked when the union cabinet in 2013 under Dr Manmohan Singh, tried to shield Lalu and other such offenders, especially a former Rajya Sabha Congress MP, Rashid Masood.
The union cabinet had recommended to the President Pranab Mukherjee to sign an ordinance that would have “shielded” at least the membership of Lalu Prasad and Masood in the Parliament.
It’s altogether a different chapter that bowing under public pressure, then Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi snubbed the Prime Minister calling the ‘ordinance’ draft a ‘non-sense’.
Under Dr Manmohan Singh there have been half a dozen cases and top political leaders such as Suresh Kalmadi, Kanimozhi and A Raja have gone behind bars.
In fact, it was not without good reason in 2012-13, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta lamented about the state of affairs and said : “The scandals have definitely nosedived the credibility of Indian administration and overall governance system. The fungus of corruption has eaten into all spheres of life".
For long it was believed that absence of Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act used to help the wrongdoers.
The Bill was passed in 1988 to put an end to illegal and 'benami' transactions and also to empower the government to recover such property. But the Rules for the Act were not framed. The UPA-2 government introduced a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, 2011, to replace the 1988 Act. However as elections were announced and the 15th Lok Sabha dissolved, the Bill had lapsed.

The Modi regime passed the Bill passed with amendments to make it stronger.
Official sources say the government of India has given a three-month window to people with undisclosed foreign assets to come clean or else face prosecution under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
How much it would succeed remains to be seen.
Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal once clubbed five types of people for practicing and propagating corruption in India- Neta, the politician, babu (bureaucrat), lala (industrialists), dada (criminal) and jhola (NGOs).
Some of these allegations are here to stay.
UNI DEVN AR 1325