Those who continue to be shocked by taped evidence of political malfeasance should remember that communication technologies have only brought to public attention practices that have long been taking place in the dark corners of the republic. If the Dilip Singh Judeo videotapes exposed the nexus between those in the higher echelons of decision-making and vested groups looking for special favours, the audiotapes involving former Chhattisgarh chief minister, Ajit Jogi, highlighted the manner politicians are persuaded through cash and other inducements to switch party affiliations and make a pitch for power. As it happened, just as money-is-like-god-Judeo ended up being outed with tainted money on his hands, the oh-so-clever Jogi found himself trapped in his own elaborate strategy to ensure that a non-BJP government is installed in his state. Both protagonists must face the consequences of their acts if found guilty, without any protection from their respective political patrons, because their actions have brought disrepute, not just to their respective parties, but Indian democracy itself.This makes it imperative for political leaders of all parties to step in and speak up loud and clear for political practices that stand the test of transparency. Prime Minister Vajpayee, incidentally, is to make a statement in the Lok Sabha on the Judeo scam. We would expect him to root unequivocally for political morality. We would expect him to distance himself from his ministerial colleague who stooped to such unacceptable levels. We would expect him to announce a zero tolerance policy towards practices of this kind. Similarly, we would expect the leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, to publicly decry the despicable methods resorted to by her party colleague and chief ministerial candidate for Chhattisgarh to break a party that had won an election in order to prevent it from coming to power.The undeniable fact is that both parties can by no means claim the high moral ground. A party like the Congress, which has Bofors as its legacy, cannot claim that its functionaries have resisted the lure of paybacks and slush funds. The BJP today claims that Jogi’s action is the most shameful episode in the history of Indian democracy, even as the Union law minister personally presides over a sting operation to expose the man. It seems to forget the circumstances under which its chief minister in Uttar Pradesh had come to power in 1997. If the unspooling of the tapes on Chhattisgarh’s terrible twins, Judeo and Jogi, helps the country cleanse the mire from its political stables, at least some good would have come of them and the ugliness of the political reality they revealed.
