Welcoming Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi’s advocacy for establishing a unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Union Territory of Puducherry, former MP M. Ramadass has dismissed as unfounded fears that the agency would be arrayed against any individual or individuals with malicious intent.
In a statement, he said the CBI was not intended to work against the interest of the politicians or legislators.
Therefore, the allegation that this agency was founded to intimidate the ruling party was baseless, he said.
The setting up of a branch of this agency did not cast any aspersion on the functioning of the police force in the Union Territory.
In fact, this measure would only strengthen the police force here, the former MP added.
According to Mr. Ramadass, the establishment of a CBI office had to be understood in the backdrop of the growing incidence of cases of institutional and governmental corruption, economic crimes , murders and so on in Puducherry.
“The magnitude of these crimes is assuming serious proportions in recent times and a branch of CBI can be a deterrent to this trend. There is also an imperative need to curb the growing tendency of political corruption in Puducherry practiced by some leaders who have converted politics into an instrument of personal aggrandisement rather than a tool of public service,” he said.
This new found political corruption has throttled the very process of democracy and vitiated the electoral process in Puducherry. The voters are brazenly bribed and the electoral verdict is manoeuvred towards the most affluent candidate. It is almost an unwritten rule that an individual should be worth Rs.5 crore and Rs.25 crore if he or she wishes to contest an Assembly or Parliamentary seat respectively in Puducherry, he alleged.
Unless political corruption is curbed, the sanctity of political process and democracy as envisaged by our national leaders cannot be restored. Equally disconcerting is the rising graph of corruption among the officers of public departments. “A branch of CBI is required precisely for the purpose of cleansing public life in Puducherry and helping it to grow on the right path,” he said.
Mr. Ramadass also wanted the Government to consider the setting up of a Bench of CBI Court or a Bench of High Court in Puducherry so as to pursue the cases expeditiously.
