History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second time as farce.” This quote by Karl Marx has been playing around in my mind lately. The reason? For the last 66 years, we have seen one form or the other of farce in Indian politics. The continuing debate about the Adani Group, an industrial giant of the country and the world, and its political connections is nothing more than an episode in this never-ending series of farces.
Let me take you to 1957 to explain my point. That year, Feroze Gandhi, son-in-law of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, alleged in the Lok Sabha that the then Finance Minister TT Krishnamachari and Finance Secretary HM Patel were pressuring LIC to invest more 1.5 crore in companies managed by stock market speculator Haridas Mundra. Nehru set up a committee headed by former Chief Justice MC Chagla to investigate the allegations. Chagla heard the matter and submitted a report within 24 days. Krishnamachari had to leave the post on 18 February 1958 after the report. Mundra was eventually arrested and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Six and a half decades later, we are seeing almost identical allegations being leveled against LIC. LIC was neither drowned then nor will it drown now, but once again water has turned on its trust. This is the never ending sad story of Indian politics.
This is because all the Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi have faced similar allegations. Indira Gandhi was arrested in Delhi on 3 October 1977. He was accused of pressurizing two companies to buy 104 jeeps for campaigning. The second allegation was that he abused his position to award a major oil drilling contract to a French company, ignoring lower rival bids. The next day, he was brought before a magistrate, but the CBI was unable to produce sufficient evidence. As a result, he had to be released after 16 hours.
Indira’s son Rajiv Gandhi was also targeted. On 24 March 1986, the Government of India and the Swedish armaments company AB Bofors signed an agreement. 1,437 crore contract for the sale of 400 155 mm howitzers. According to Swedish Radio on 16 April 1987, that arrangement included bribes to Defense Department personnel and some senior politicians. On 20 April, Rajiv Gandhi stated in Parliament that there was no middleman role and no commission was paid, yet the scam continued. Fed up, the government constituted a Joint Parliamentary Committee in August 1987. Despite the dissent of one member, the committee gave a favorable report to the government. On the other hand, the CBI investigation took a long time. The bribery charges against Rajiv Gandhi and Defense Secretary SK Bhatnagar were finally quashed by the Delhi High Court on 5 February 2004. Swedish police also said in April 2012 that no evidence was found against Rajiv Gandhi and former MP Amitabh Bachchan.
Narasimha Rao, who succeeded Rajiv Gandhi, was accused of personal corruption and had to face a long legal struggle after his tenure. The so-called coffin scam took place during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the tenure of Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues had to go to jail.
Let us now look at the current controversy. Politics took a turn in the third week of January following a report by American short-seller Hindenburg Research against the Adani Group of Companies. In the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi raised several pointed questions regarding the alleged nexus between Adani and the Modi government. It is a different matter that significant portions of the long speech have been expunged from the record as the allegations were baseless.
Obviously, Rahul is trying to surround Prime Minister Modi in this matter. He has done this before as well. He had alleged corruption in the Rafale deal before the last general election. They raised slogans like “”.the watchman is a thief“At his rallies. He didn’t get any benefit out of it. The BJP showed in the election that people’s trust in Modi has not diminished, but strengthened for a second term. Now, ahead of the upcoming general elections, United Progressive Party leaders The coalition (UPA) will try to beat this drum more and more loudly.Will they be successful this time?
Modi appears unaffected, like a batsman who can play the toughest deliveries with ease. That is why he did not make any mention of these allegations in his speeches in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He firmly believes that he has won the trust of the country’s 1.4 billion people.
If the opposition, which has accused Modi of corruption, fails to achieve the expected success this time, then Marx’s statement will be seen to be true once again.
Shashi Shekhar is the editor-in-chief, India. views are personal,
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