Gollapudi Maruti Rao
Two very i m p o r -tant institutions still evoke confidence and reassurance amidst the tarnished image of this corruption-ridden establishment, about which we hear day in and day out- Judiciary and the army. Sadly, these too are crumbling very recently- thanks to the former Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan, on whom there is a disproportionate assets case, and Chief of Army Staff General V.K.Singh, who fought with the establishment about his date of birth controversy before he puts in his papers. “Honesty and honour’’ are very often misused epithets, lost their sheen for being used by wrong people for right reasons of dishonesty. Hence, it is very difficult to separate the chaff from grain.
In all these 65 years, we were proud of our army and remember their objectivity and valour and celebrate their sacrifices every Republic Day. But now comes the denoument. The public memory is always short and short-sighted. But the first ever major corruption case of the Defence ministry is worth recounting. It happened in Panditji’s time in 1948.
The vitriolic and brash, but brilliant and more importantly personal friend of Panditji, Dr V K Krishna Menon, who was the High Commissioner of Britain then, bypassed all protocol norms to sign a deal worth Rs.80 lakhs with a foreign firm of shady reputation for purchasing jeeps to the defence ministry. While most of the money was paid upfront only 155 jeeps landed amidst 2000 agreed. Seven years after, the scandal case was closed ignoring the suggestion of the enquiry committee headed by Ananthasayanam Iyengar. What is more audacious is the fact that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declared : "as far as Government was concerned it has made up its mind to close the matter.
If the opposition was not satisfied they can make it an election issue". This is the bravado of a righteous leader with a massive vote base and charisma , could say in the face of blatant subversion of norms. Eventually, Krishna Menon became the minister without portfolio in his cabinet and subsequently the Nation’s Defence Minister! A vengeful nemesis or a rebuttal? Gone are the days of such tall leaders and gone are the days when such landslide mandate was given by the electorate. It took some 29 years before the electorate could unsettle his party from power. But that was history.
Exactly 32 years after, another scandal surfaced- this time with Panditji’s grandson Rajiv Gandhi in the centre of it, while he was the Prime Minister. He along with several others were accused of receiving the kickbacks from Bofors AB for the purchase of 155 mm field howitzer guns. The deal costed the government an extra 160 crore rupees and several millions changed hands with Quattrocchi, Win Chadha, Rajiv Gandhi, Defence Secretary S.K.Bhatnagar and many other names are associated with the scandal. But nothing came out of it with the blessings of ruling dispensation and all is well with the world.
With these two scandals stealing the show- the present scandal involving mere 14 crore can be termed as a storm in a tea cup. After all, the bribe never manifested into reality. Our General came out with a startling revelation of a bribe offered to him in his own den, by his own erstwhile colleague to subvert the system for clearing the purchase of sub-standard Tatra vehicles. This daring overture was promptly brought to the notice of the Defence Minister A K Antony but did not insist on proceeding any further. The minister obliged him, but not regarding his date of birth! And Brutus is an honourable man.
When the General chose to make this public, rather belatedly the minister immediately ordered a CBI enquiry. He assured the honourable members of Parliament about his intentions to stand for the truth with a generous sprinkle of tears- a melodrama not lost on the Oppostion.
Arun Jaitly assued him that they were not questioning his honesty but it is time to put things straight. In the meanwhile, pat came a recorded disk of the conversation between Lt.Gen.Tejinder Singh, former intelligence Officer, who had the gumption to offer 14 crore bribe to the army chief in his headquarters. This is the clincher, by any means. And promptly Lt.Gen.Tejinder Singh filed a libel suit against the Army Chief and four others.
The Tatra jeeps were of sub standard and overpriced according to the General. But why did he not insist on action against Lt.Gen.Tejinder Singh then? And why did the minister oblige the general by not taking up the case then. It reflects the paralysis of the establishment and not a political issue but a systemic failure. Is this a consequence of the misgivings of the Chief about his age issue? His utter frustration of the bureaucracy bungling his service papers and the consequent stifling he faced in the ministry led him to go to press now? With army and bureaucracy honing arms against each other publicly, the entire episode is taking the shape of a juicy crime thriller with the dignity and faith of the people at large as its high price. It is very sad that the image of the army is crumbling from top since 1948 and now the fall is total and complete. A pity
Source : The Hans India - 4th April, 2012
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