Hypocrisy of the honest — The nation’s bugbear

Corruption is bad enough, but the worst of all is the reek of hypocrisy.Which leads up to one question: who is the most hypocritical of them all?Tough decision, with all the contenders around. But my choices are V. P. Singh and A. K. Antony. That’s right — the `Mr Clean’ of the Janata Dal and the Congress respectively.

There is nothing personal about that judgment. On an individual basis, both are among the most intelligent and honest men I have ever met inside or outside politics. But as leaders, well, let me say that I find their politics utterly repellent.

Let us begin with V. P. Singh. Here is a man who came out smelling of roses despite a quarter of a century as Congressman. Here is a man who embodied the crusade against corruption in the days of the Rajiv Gandhi regime. And here is a man who doesn’t utter a word against Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Can you make any sense of that? The former Prime Minister can hardly pretend that he hasn’t heard of the Fodder Scam. He can’t claim that he knows nothing of Laloo Prasad Yadav’s desperate antics as he struggles to cling on to the Janata Dal presidency. But V. P. Singh, the man who never hesitates to preach morality to all the “communal” forces, doesn’t have a word to say against his beloved chela in Patna. Why is he silent?

Some argue that Vishwanath Pratap Singh was never serious about corruption anyway. On the face of it, this is a strange argument. Wasn’t Singh the man who won a General Election by making Bofors the issue in 1989?

But there is kernel of truth in the charge. It is true that Singh used the Bofors issue extensively in 1989. I recall seeing him pulling a calculator from his pocket, punching a few buttons, and then announcing that he had the Swiss account numbers of the men who took the money.

But there was precious little progress in the Bofors probe after he came to power. His apologists plead lack of time. But the Deve Gowda ministry had even less, yet accomplished far more.

Whatever his reasons, V. P. Singh probably thinks it unnecessary to comment on the Bofors or St. Kitts cases following the death of Rajiv Gandhi. But Laloo Prasad Yadav is still around.

Laloo Prasad Yadav’s misrule did not begin with the Fodder Scam manipulations. Chanting “social justice” and “secularism”, the Chief Minister has taken Bihar even farther down the road of anarchy than anyone thought possible. There is something very wrong with a State where 14 murders are committed daily, a kidnapping takes place every four hours, and at least one woman is raped in and around Patna itself every day.

As for V. P. Singh’s pet plank of “social justice”, it has been reduced to a mockery by Yadav. It consists of the Chief Minister’s friends and relatives grabbing what they can.

His brothers-in-law, for instance, are now extra-constitutional centres of authority. (Rather like Ottavio Quattrocchi in the old days!) Even Yadav’s cook Kebab Master has found it easy to get a perch in the Bihar Legislative Council.

Nor is Laloo Prasad Yadav alone in the Janata Dal in acquiring assets beyond his means or in abusing the powers of this office. But V. P. Singh is silent on his proteges.

Perhaps it is because they are not foemen worthy of his steel. Singh was at his best when taking on the No. One — Rajiv Gandhi. He faltered when confronted by a No. Two — Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. And he has been silenced altogether when faced with his own disciples.

As silent perhaps as A. K. Antony. Here is another man who has nothing to say about Bofors. Or St Kitts. Or the Urea Scam. Antony is silent even when one ex-boss, Narasimha Rao, accuses another, Rajiv Gandhi, of masterminding the St Kitts Forgery. He wont’t even ask his partymen to clear themselves in a court of law (as the “communal” Advani did).

Twenty years ago, during the Emergency, Antony had the guts to speak up against Indira Gandhi in the Gauhati session. The issue then was the postponement of the General Election.

Today, there is another set of polls — the Congress organisational elections. Every independent observer, and hundreds of Congressmen too, have commented on the blatant-rigging. But the A. K. Antony who defied Indira Gandhi is silenced by Sitaram Kesri.

Antony knows just how undemocratic the entire exercise has been. In his home State of Kerala, the Pradesh Returning Officer, Kishore Chandra Deo, actually quit in disgust. But there isn’t a word from Antony — neither to restrain his own followers, nor to condemn others.

I honestly can’t blame a Laloo Prasad Yadav or a Sitaram Kesri as much as I do V. P. Singh and A. K. Antony. Can we blame fire for burning us or water for making us wet?

In pursuing their bully-boy tactics, Yadav and Kesri are being utterly true to themselves. As with fire and water, we must take precautions in dealing with them. But hypocrisy isn’t a sin to be laid against the presidents of the Janata Dal and the Congress.

That, I am afraid, seems to be a patent owned by the likes of V. P. Singh and A. K. Antony. You won’t hear Singh proclaim, “Corruption is better than communalism!” You won’t hear Antony state that “Dynasty is better than democracy!”

No, they shall spout quite the opposite. But their actions, that amazing silence about corruption within their own parties, gives them the lie. And the classic definition of hypocrisy is when a man knows there is a gaping gulf between word and deed.

The tragedy of India isn’t the corruption of the many. It is the silence of the few who should, and do, know better.