It is ingenuous to suppose that the CBI searches at Karti Chidambaram’s residence and offices on the one hand and I-T searches at Lalu Prasad Yadav’s homes and firms on the other have nothing to do with politics (“FIR filed against Karti on corruption charges” and “I-T raids over Lalu’s land deals”, both May 17). They hardly look like “operation clean-ups”. The narrative being scripted by the BJP that all leaders in the Opposition are corrupt while corruption is anathema to all its own leaders may not go far. The “relentless” fight against corruption becomes problematic when it is so transparently selective. Incidentally, the BJP refuses to make public the sources from where its funds come. What is worse is when sections of the media assume the role of overseeing the “moral battle”, even as they make the best use of “incriminating” hard disks, documents and data shared by “independent” government agencies to suit their brand of journalism. Is all this in aid of the 2019 general election?
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
One cannot fault the BJP for going about a key agenda of eliminating corruption. In this connection, one recollects BJP MPs being asked by the party high command to submit details of their wealth and assets. The common man and the Opposition have the right to know whether this was done. The CBI had earlier earned the sobriquet of being a “caged parrot” and the “Congress Bureau of Investigation”. If Opposition party leaders alone are subjected to raids then, unfortunately, the BJP is being double-faced about the extermination of corruption.
R. Krishnamachary,
Chennai
Even as the CBI and I-T sleuths go about their task of raiding the premises of top political leaders in the Opposition, questions are also being raised about the “go slow ” strategy of these agencies in pursuing alleged corruption in some BJP-ruled States. For instance, investigations by the CBI into the admission and recruitment scam —“Vyapam” in Madhya Pradesh — have not made much progress. Nothing is known about the alleged charges against the Rajasthan Chief Minister. Similarly, grave allegations against the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister in connection with the public distribution system have not been addressed. In Maharashtra too, there is silence about alleged scandal in irrigation projects. What about the DDCA scam ? There is discernible selectivity by the Modi-led NDA government in the use of investigating wings. The inexplicable delay in setting up the anti-graft institution of Lokpal appears to be politically motivated. Until then, all these agencies will continue to be “caged parrots”.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
It is easy for Mr. P. Chidambaram and Mr. Lalu Yadav to claim that the raids on them are a part of the ruling party’s “vendetta politics”. If these leaders and their kin have nothing to fear, the FIRs and charge sheets can always be challenged in a court of law. It is an open secret that the UPA regime had always gone slow when it came to nailing corrupt politicians. Now that the NDA government which came to power on a plank of fighting corruption is going about the task in right earnest, they will have to face the music.
C.V. Aravind,
Bengaluru
