One of the things I do not like being called is a ‘veteran journalist’. It makes me feel ancient. But I have no hesitation in admitting that I have been around in journalism for a very long time and that this has its advantages. It has enabled me to bear witness to a lot of history and a lot of elections and it has made me learn how to view political events and changes from a vantage point of some distance. This could be why I see the electoral bonds scheme with a degree of perspective. Do not get me wrong. I have no intention of defending this dangerously deceptive scheme. I am very happy that the Supreme Court demanded answers and forced the names of donors to political parties to be revealed along with their donations.
This scheme that turned ‘black’ money snowy white as soon as it became a political donation was ‘not perfect’ as the finance minister admitted at the India Today conclave last week. But she was right when she reminded the audience that the system that existed before was much worse. It might have been more accurate to say that it did nothing to improve corrupt practices from times of yore.
I remember elections in the seventies and eighties, and even in more recent times, when powerful politicians were able to coerce industrialists to make huge donations with the promise that if they won, they would ensure payback. Stashes of cash continue to be found regularly in the homes of politicians and their associates which means the practice is thriving. Money is concealed this way because it is usually dirty money. The election bonds were supposedly an attempt to make political donations more transparent, but this did not happen. The bonds failed to bring transparency or end black money which is what they were created to do. But they provided a useful cover for political parties who wanted to appear to have hands too clean to touch black money.
Congress Party spokesmen are taking a high moral tone on the issue and tarring the BJP. Hypocrites. Have they forgotten their own grubby history? In the seventies and eighties when elections came, Delhi’s political grapevine would buzz with rumours of ‘suitcases of cash’ coming from the Soviet Union. Nobody ever confirmed if this was true or not but many years later, when KGB spymaster Vasili Mitrokhin wrote his memoirs, he mentioned casually that several members of Indira Gandhi’s cabinet were on the KGB payroll. Mitrokhin’s revelations were damning and should have caused a furor in India. This did not happen because nobody seemed really surprised.
Anyone with the smallest interest in the Indian political system knows well that our elections are funded by money donated by rich businessmen and that often these donations are linked to a contract or a favour. What is worrying about the donations made through the election bonds is that some of them seem to have been made to evade environmental clearances. Others seem to have been made by people who feared that they were on the verge of being raided by the Enforcement Directorate or the Income Tax department.
It is not easy to break the symbiotic relationship that exists all over the world between big money and big politics but in countries that have better checks and balances things work better. If India’s political system continues to be reliant on black money it is mostly the fault of our political leaders. If they made it easier for businessmen to work without needing to rely on bribery and corruption there would be less black money. The question we need to be asking is why this has not already happened, and the answer could be that it suits our politicians to fund their elections with hidden resources.
The electoral bonds were an attempt to conceal this ugly truth rather than an honest attempt to bring transparency into the political system and this is why the Supreme Court has expressed its disapproval so strongly. So, will things change some day soon? The sad truth is that this is unlikely because what happens at the very top of our political system also happens at the very bottom. In rural India people talk openly about how their local leaders never let go of their position until they can give it to a relative because politics has become such a lucrative business. When they contest elections, they do it on other people’s money and not their own. This they use to build themselves big houses and buy their family big cars.
The Supreme Court’s resolve to lift the veils that concealed the names of the people who bought those election bonds and the names of the parties who benefited from them is a vital first step towards change. But, for real change to happen there will need to be a total cleansing of our political culture. When Narendra Modi first became prime minister one of his first ‘guarantees’ was that he would end black money. If he becomes prime minister for the third term, we must hope that he will deliver on this promise because there is no question that things need to change if India is to ever become a developed country.
Countries whose elections are fueled by black money usually remain trapped in the swamp and miasma that corrupt political systems wallow in forever.
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This scheme that turned ‘black’ money white as soon as it became a political donation was 'not perfect'
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17.03.2024
One of the things I do not like being called is a ‘veteran journalist’. It makes me feel ancient. But I have no hesitation in admitting that I have been around in journalism for a very long time and that this has its advantages. It has enabled me to bear witness to a lot of history and a lot of elections and it has made me learn how to view political events and changes from a vantage point of some distance. This could be why I see the electoral bonds scheme with a degree of perspective. Do not get me wrong. I have no intention of defending this dangerously deceptive scheme. I am very happy that the Supreme Court demanded answers and forced the names of donors to political parties to be revealed along with their donations.
This scheme that turned ‘black’ money snowy white as soon as it became a political donation was ‘not perfect’ as the finance minister admitted at the India Today conclave last week. But she was right when she reminded the audience that the system that existed before was much worse. It might have been more accurate to say that it did nothing to improve corrupt practices from times of yore.
I remember elections in the seventies and eighties, and even in more recent times, when powerful politicians were able to coerce industrialists to make huge donations with the promise that if they won, they would ensure payback. Stashes of cash continue to be found regularly in the homes of politicians and their associates which means the practice is thriving. Money is........
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