The latest in the Congress party’s stab at forging regional alliances is that it is talking to Sukh Ram. Remember Sukh Ram? The former Union telecommunications minister who was convicted by a trial court in the 1996 telecom scam. In which the government was said to have incurred a loss of Rs 1.68 crore on account of the minister’s decision to pay a higher price to a private manufacturer in an equipment deal. Remember Sukh Ram? During CBI raids at whose houses in Mandi and Delhi, currency wads tumbled out of bedsheets, plastic bags, suitcases in gay profusion. Who was booted out of the Congress government and the party but who quickly picked up the threads again. He floated the Himachal Vikas Congress, won the February 1998 assembly elections, joined hands with the BJP, and became de facto deputy chief minister in the BJP-HVC government in the state. Well, in assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh 2003, Sukh Ram may have arrived full circle.It’s telling, this ongoing courtship between the party and the prodigal on the eve of a crucial election. It speaks of the poverty of Congress strategy which must count on a Sukh Ram to shore up its claim to power. But the impending rehabilitation of Sukh Ram in the fold speaks of more than just that. It reminds us that in our system, the tainted and the discredited are given a very long rope indeed. While the Sukh Ram story is more spectacular than most, he is most certainly not the only one. There was, years ago, Chimanbhai Patel, the Gujarat Chief Minister whose corrupt administration was targeted by the Nav Nirman movement. Chiman Chor, who was defeated by student power, only to bounce back as chief minister one more time. Irony was, in his second avtar, Chiman bhai hopped on to V.P. Singh’s bandwagon, pledging to cleanse public life of corruption. Be it the political rehabilitation of the convicted J. Jayalalithaa or of the charge-sheeted Laloo Yadav, or the reinstatement as minister of George Fernandes before being cleared of the Tehelka muck, the Sukh Ram phenomenon is clearly much larger than Sukh Ram. Why does it visit us over and over again? Is it our short memory span? Or the short term politics of our leaders? Is it because corruption is simply not an issue, except for brief moments? As Sukh Ram readies to play a crucial role in the outcome of yet another election, the questioning is long overdue.
