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Journalism of Courage
This is not that closure. The discharge by the High Court of the Hindujas as well as the Swedish arms manufacturer in the Bofors case, is a very unsettled moment. A nation will share the judge’s anger and his exasperation as he quashed charges against both on account of the inadmissibility of documents furnished by the prosecution which did not pass the test of the Indian Evidence Act. “It is hoped that this elite investigating agency will be more responsible in future”, he said. Ever since it first flashed into the headlines more than 15 years ago, Bofors has been a story in search of an end. As it is virtually declared dead now, after meandering investigations financed by the public exchequer, the overwhelming feeling is not one of relief at having laid the ghosts to rest.
But perhaps we should feel relieved, after all. Ever since that first public outing, this scandal has cost an incumbent government an election and catapulted the issue of corruption in public life very legitimately into the arclights. But it has also been the impetus behind the growth of an unfortunate industry of scandal mongering and a politics of vendetta that thrives on smoking guns which are not found to bear irrefutable fingerprints. Looking back, it didn’t take long for the Bofors inquiry to lose its moral sheen. From a dogged pursuit of the truth behind a murky gun deal made by a government that was led ironically by a Mr Clean, it morphed into a political instrument of revenge, sheathed and unsheathed at will by the government of the day. Bofors became a shorthand for blood feuds in our public life; it spawned a rash of doomed inquiries into deals that similarly courted deadends, like that into the acquisition of the German HDW submarines. The Delhi High Court’s shutting the lid on Bofors will be welcomed by the people if it also closes the door on this culture of the never-ending inquiry.
The unease will remain. For, the truth is not out in the emblematic case of political corruption of our times. The people’s quest to know remains unrequited, despite the determination of the media to bare the facts. The system, the CBI, has worn down the energies that were harnessed in the search for answers about the pay-offs.
