EDITORIAL

Petro-Scam: Institute Criminal Cases Against The Guilty

IT has now become routine that the Vajpayee government is in the dock in every session of the parliament on charges of  gross corruption.  And, each time, the gravity of the charges only increases.

As we go to press, giving in to the concerted opposition offensive, the  prime minister has announced the cancellation of the dealerships  for LPG and petrol pump stations allocated under the leadership of the petroleum minister Ram Naik.  By announcing the cancellation, Vajpayee has clearly admitted that his government is guilty of large-scale corruption and nepotism. 

Once there is an admission of guilt, what must follow is action against the guilty.  But for a party and a government that has long ceased to have anything to do with honour and decency, such a course is unthinkable.  For a government that has shamelessly re-inducted the defence minister George Fernandes even while the enquiry into the charges of large-scale corruption exposed by Tehelka.com is underway, it would be assuming too much to expect that it would ask for Ram Naik's resignation. 

But go he must.  In fact, he should be sacked. He was the presiding deity of the  ministry which doled out such unprecedented favours to near and dear of the BJP in a brazen manner. One of the "beneficiaries" was an inmate of the prime minister's official residence in Lucknow!

While the prime minister may have been forced to cancel the dealerships under the opposition's concerted attack, there is another aspect to it.  Former Justice Kuldip Singh who delivered the judgement on the abuse of discretionary quotas has publicly stated that in the background of that judgement, any one who would file a public interest litigation would force the court to cancell these dealerships and allotments.  The prime minister's decision, therefore, also seems to be prompted by the fact that the government did not want the  judiciary to also rap its knuckles. 

It is not merely ironic but shameless duplicity on the part of the BJP that while this exposure was being made public in The Indian Express, its National Executive  was patting itself on the back for painting not only a party but a government  with a difference.  Difference indeed, it has.  This just every government in independent India has turned out to be the most unscrupulously corrupt one that India has ever had.  The BJP's newly anointed president thundered  his defence of the allotments made by the petroleum ministry.  Such shameless defence cannot obfuscate the fact that a majority of 3,850 allotments have been traced to the kith and kin of the RSS/BJP.

To maintain decorum and  political morality, this government should have quit long long ago.  The list of corruption scams under this government  puts the country to shame.  Yet, this government continues to cling on to the office unmindful of the sleaze and immorality that it patronised. Even if under pressure Ram Naik  is forced to quit, then one should not be surprised to find him back sooner than later as was the case with George Fernandes.

The allies in the NDA should realise at least now that the BJP is pursuing its communal agenda as vigorously as it is indulging in corruption. The allies who used the fig leaf of making corruption the central issue in the current political scenario for their support to the BJP have absolutely no justification for continuing their support, particularly, after the petro pump scam exposure for the communal as well as corrupt agenda of the BJP.

This is a shameless government that is dragging the country into the pits of political immorality faster than anyone could ever have imagined.  The sooner this government is forced to demit office, the better for this country and the people.