Bofors is dead, long live Bofors

Through an astonishing display of political maladroitness, the Congress government has managed to breathe new life into a dead scam. Ninetee...

Through an astonishing display of political maladroitness, the Congress government has managed to breathe new life into a dead scam. Nineteen years, and seven governments down the line, as well as millions of hours spent on tracking the beneficiaries of the Bofors gun kickbacks had yielded no evidence hard enough to nail anyone. The years went by. Rajiv Gandhi lost an election on the issue, and today he is no longer around. Win Chaddha, believed to have been an important player in the scam, is dead. The Hindujas have been exonerated. Bofors was almost a shut file in the absence of any substantive moves forward, and as the bigger scams of the 8217;90s appeared to cast it in the shade. But the recent handling of the Quattrocchi affair has served to put it back on the political centre-stage and given an opposition starved of issues something to bite on.

Legal aspects apart, the political handling of the whole affair has been far from wise, especially since the Bofors scam had had such a crucial impact on the country8217;s politics. After all, the Rajiv Gandhi government had lost power on this issue, and the prevalent perception was that Quattrocchi could flee India in 1993 because of his proximity to 10 Janpath. Given the stakes for Sonia Gandhi, and for the Congress, this was an avoidable crisis. There is not even the balance of advantage to justify it, for she has commanded respect ever since she gave up the country8217;s prime-ministership 8212; a move that has helped her ride many a storm since the UPA came to power.

The present controversy also has an unfortunate timing. It comes on the eve of the AICC session in Hyderabad, when the Congress is expected to showcase a new thrust on several fronts. There is also some indication that the session will see Rahul Gandhi being given new responsibilities. For the last two years, party workers have been waiting for this moment, in the hope that the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family will take the Congress on the path to rejuvenation. Priyanka Vadra is also expected to attend the session. That the ghost of Bofors should come to haunt the Congress a week before the new generation of the Gandhi-Nehru family is billed to play a larger role in national politics is certainly unfortunate for the party.

The real challenge in Hyderabad will be to pull the party out of the slumber that ruling parties succumb to once ensconced in power. It would also be a chance to signal that the Congress is anxious to shrug off the tag of having encouraged corruption. Twenty years ago, Rajiv Gandhi had talked about removing powerbrokers at the Congress8217;s centenary celebrations in Mumbai, and that still remains the primary challenge for the party.

Bofors also does not augur well for the party in the run up to five assembly elections. It will only put it on the defensive in its poll campaign, with the BJP eagerly seizing the issue as a stick to beat its opponent with. The Congress may not have much at stake in these states, but it will need every bit of goodwill it has to emerge with its credibility intact.

Whether Bhardwaj was trying to score brownie points with Sonia Gandhi by doing what he did, or whether the Congress president was herself behind the move to defreeze Quattrocchi8217;s London bank account, may never be known. The point is that it is widely perceived to be a step that had Sonia8217;s consent. And this cannot do her, or her party, any good, especially since it come in the wake of the Volcker affair. Both Natwar Singh and Hansraj Bhardwaj, the prime player in the latest drama, are known to be 10, Janpath loyalists.

The problem with the Congress, as always, is a certain lack of political acumen. Whether it was the delayed response to public sentiment on the Nanavati Commission findings, which finally led to the resignation of Jagdish Tytler; the procrastination over the Volcker affair; or the handling of the 8216;Q8217; controversy now, the apolitical nature of the government and party8217;s decision-making process is patent.

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For the moment there does not seem to be a grand alliance building around the issue, although both the BJP and the Left parties have criticised the move to defreeze the Quattrocchi account. Much will depend on the extent to which the Left chooses to push it. The controversy could well subside in the near future but it has the potential to resurface at a later stage 8212; when things start going badly wrong for the Congress and disparate opposition elements unite to mount a formidable challenge.

Politicians should remember that their wrong moves and wrongdoings 8212; even insignificant ones 8212; have a way of catching up with them.