By Daphne Clarance:
Corruption saunters in like a devil disguised as a little delicate girl with a bunch of flowers. That’s what I would describe the recent chopper scam where Indian air force chiefs accepted alleged kickbacks of 51 million Euros from Italian military company, Finmeccanica. Who’d wonder that honesty also needs a new definition in politics? After the fierce scandal in the 80s, the UPA seems to treat itself with a corruption badge on the palm of its hand. Or is it a misunderstanding? Why aren’t things ever clear when the Congress-led government is in power? With, supposed to be honest ministers like our defence minister A.K. Antony slipping through such a massive bribery scam on the Rs. 3546-crore chopper deal, it seems difficult to believe that even security moves under the belt of corruption.
The company’s CEO Giuseppe Orsi was arrested in Milan after the Italian investigators got hold of the case. The entire 2011 was spent in raising voice against the issue of corruption in India, but now I guess this has led to a chain of corruption leaders.
The fact that this VVIP copter scandal was a deal signed during the reign of A.K. Antony and the ultimate person to accept the kickback for this 2003 deal, former Air Force Chief, S.P. Tyagi was involved, makes it even worse for recuperating from the illness of corruption already reigning in India. Though I don’t want to make any prior judgments before the CBI report lets out its verdict, the entire affair is still digesting in my stomach. If the only remaining fair ministers in politics and the non-malign ministry of Air Force should also be labelled with honest corruption then there’s no way that future holds any space for improvement. But you never know, sometimes when one is too honest to let out a wrong, isn’t it still considered wrong-doing?
Now here’s the Swiss- based middleman Guido Haschke who claims to have met Tyagi six times for the accepting the bribe and Tyagi denies it. We want to know what the truth is. Why did the Congress send for CBI probe when CEO Orsi was arrested? Why not earlier when it came to know about the entire contract? There have been several other accused to have acted as middlemen to assure that kickbacks were given to the Chief in India and several others persons who were fed extra to keep shut.
India with its masses has dealt enough strategies, scams and scandals, all pointing towards the Government for poor sense of judgment and its delay in actions. The right time of verdict doesn’t seem to follow the main course. Corruption is a weed that can’t be removed except its foundation.
The only way where so much scepticism and the image of a person can be disrupted, is the air of imputing accusations that maybe discharged by the CBI report. Sultry meanings that can change the course of events might be on its way. What we need to see is whether the Government will try to act as a savoir after its own blunders or will the trend continue till 2014? When leaders like A.K. Antony can be dragged into this wormhole, worse days are yet to come.