Now who says that this is not a tolerant Govt?

These statements are for public consumption. The track record of this Government and anti-corruption investigating agencies tells an entirely different story. Politicians are Janus-faced. Politics today is the art of doing the opposite of what you say.

Even the passage of time will not obliterate from public memory the images on celluloid of prominent members of political parties seen to be receiving money in seedy defence deals.

Whereas some members of the defence services have been proceeded against, this Government has shown exemplary tolerance towards its own kin whom it has embraced to perpetuate itself. What is even more intriguing is the studied silence of the anti-corruption agencies who are required to commence investigations as soon as they receive information of the commission of a cognisable offence.

Instead of investigating the politicians, the CBI is investigating Tehelka, just the opposite of what the Prime Minister said. The Government, ever since Tehelka broke its story, has waged a pitched battle in the media, a psychological siege through false and vicious propaganda to wear down Tehelka through a process of attrition.

The proceedings of the Venkataswami Commission reflect that the Government has not filed any affidavit against all those incriminated by the Tehelka tapes.

In fact, Government advocates have not cross-examined a single person incriminated by the Tehelka tapes, while Tarun Tejpal’s cross-examination lasted a day and a half. The CBI’s frontal attack directed at First Global directors Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra is one of the most chilling and shameful stories of state harassment.

The Government, in the process, seeks to protect the guilty; the CBI prosecutes the innocent.

Recent revelations evidence the ease with which this Government distributed largesse and corrupted the entire process of allotment of petrol pumps, gas and kerosene oil agencies.

The silence of the investigating agencies when confronted with charges of corruption levelled against this Government as well as members of the Sangh Parivar also speaks volumes for this Government’s ‘zero tolerance’ towards corruption.

Any investigating agency worth its salt should have realised that the allotments of petrol pumps, gas and kerosene oil agencies fall foul of the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which considers the conduct of a public servant to be ‘criminal misconduct’ if he, by abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage.

Ample evidence is available of willing members of dealership selection boards persuaded by means both fair and foul to make the alleged allotments. The wide definition of the term ‘public servant’ under the Prevention of Corruption Act will include all the members of the various dealership selection boards.

After the verdict of the Supreme Court in the JMM case, MPs are also deemed to be public servants. There can, therefore, be no impediment standing in the way of those who, in their capacity as public servants, committed criminal misconduct by making these allotments.

Yet, the Prime Minister has shown benign tolerance towards these acts of omission and commission. Instead of ordering a probe into the truth, the Prime Minister, in right imperial fashion, declared that all allotments be cancelled. The Government’s position is that they were vitiated not because of corruption and foul play but on account of unsubstantiated allegations.

Perhaps the Prime Minister’s conscience reacted to the allegations but was not stirred enough to order a probe. After all, by nature he is a tolerant man.

The Prime Minister’s penchant for tolerance is contagious. Other members of his Cabinet publicly proclaimed of no wrongdoing if some favours were sought and granted to members of the Sangh Parivar. There was nothing wrong in it, they said, because in the past too such alleged favouritism had been shown by another political dispensation.

Till date, advisedly no enquiry or CBI investigation has been conducted or launched. It is feared that in any such enquiry or investigation, the BJP along with members of the Sangh Parivar will be indicted for corruption. How can this Government be intolerant towards their own chosen few?

Distribution of largesse, however, did not stop with the pump allotments. Recent revelations about allotment of prime land to the creme de la creme of the parivar has brought to the fore the magnanimity of this Government in the distribution of public property.

Grants of land at coveted locations in prime localities at throwaway prices to members of the parivar or BJP functionaries explain the close proximity between the RSS and some tall BJP leaders.

The reason for the bonhomie was the gratuitous allotments made in favour of certain sansthas. Again, the Prime Minister’s tolerance towards these misdeeds is touching, and the CBI’s ability to look the other way, reflects its commitment to protect those who have flagrantly and wantonly violated the law.

Last but not the least, is the Ayodhya episode in which, despite an ‘‘autonomous’’ CBI, Hon’ble Ministers of this Government have been saved from the discomfort of being charged for conspiring to demolish the Babri Masjid. Proceedings have been at a standstill.

Mayawati has not moved a little finger to take the prosecution case forward. It defies reason to believe that the State Government requires a year-and-a-half to make up its mind to issue a fresh notification to remove an alleged technical defect in prosecuting known accused.

The CBI, perceived by the Prime Minister to be an autonomous prosecuting agency, seems to have developed cold feet.

Yet the Prime Minister’s public resolve at zero tolerance towards corruption must be appreciated. The facts, however, suggest his total commitment, not only to tolerate corruption, but to embrace all those perceived in the public mind to be corrupt.

As for the autonomy of the CBI, it is, indeed, autonomous in one respect: it is free not to prosecute those who are known to be and are corrupt.

The writer is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP