George146;s dragon

It will certainly be amusing to watch the Congress as it strains to preserve its outrage against George Fernandes after its own government h...

It will certainly be amusing to watch the Congress as it strains to preserve its outrage against George Fernandes after its own government has issued him an apparent clean chit on Coffingate. Party spinmeisters have jumped gamely to the job. The government affidavit which has informed the court that there was no violation of any financial rules or defence procurement procedures on Fernandes8217;s watch doesn8217;t qualify as a clean chit, they insist. And surely a party has a right to carry on, regardless of what its own government says and does? But diverting as they are, the Congress8217;s impossible pirouettes must not take us too far away from the real story. We have a growing political culture that feeds off scams and suspected scams. In the drama that it contrives, facts are often seen to be inconvenient things. They take too long in the probing. And there are no real penalties for their disregard. For, by the time the facts do come out, an impatient politics has already moved on to the next story, the next big kill.

At this point, for Fernandes, it is rather late in the day. As defence minister, he was repeatedly denied the right to reply in Parliament by the Congress-led Opposition which walked out whenever he rose to speak. It was not incidental that Tehelka seemed to flow seamlessly into Coffingate till, in the end, they looked like they were umbilically fused the truth on Tehelka is still not out. In Parliament and in election rallies, allegations of corruption in the purchase of caskets for Kargil martyrs were squeezed for their last emotive echo. Looking back, it has not just been a lost time for Fernandes, now promoted to irrelevance in his own party. It is also that in the fuss over him, once again an opportunity was lost to kick off a larger probing. How healthy is the system of defence procurement in our country? Does the system lack transparency, do too many decisions duck behind opaque mantras of

8216;8216;national security8217;8217;?

Perhaps the real lesson of l8217;affaire Fernandes is this: in a system and society where accountability structures are weak, and discussions on them are steadfastly resisted, loud witch-hunts will often seize the ground and hold sway.