by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Now that the Lokpal is a reality, and the political class considerably mellowed by the approaching electoral uncertainties, there is a new spring in the steps of the investigative agencies, be it the anti-corruption CBI or the anti-terrorism NIA.
It is evident from growing signs of independence from the demeaning servility to which politicians subjected them. It was such a bad state of affairs that it drew from the Supreme Court the biting remark of CBI having become a "caged parrot".
It is not known if the "parrot" has really been freed, or it is just a transfer of cage which is in the offing. But some of CBI's recent moves are no doubt unprecedented. It is reported, for instance, that the years-old case against Anil Ambani-managed Reliance Power about alleged misallocation of a large coal mine at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, to fuel an Ultra Mega Power Project in the state, is nearing closure. The stock price of Reliance Power has gone up in anticipation. The charge against Anil Ambani, who has long been pitted in corporate and family squabbles, was that the allocated mine had more than the UMPP's requirement, so he could sell off to the market the residual coal which was not his due. The CBI was in a dilemma as the allocation had been confirmed by two successive Groups of Ministers while another powerful political group outside the Cabinet wouldn't let the agency loosen up on the case. Now CBI has suddenly woken up to its newly acquired independence, and is preparing to close the case, which will of course be subject to a nod from the Supreme Court.
On the contrary, in October, when CBI began investigation against Kumar Mangalam Birla, the most active, if not richest, member of the 'first family' of Indian business, politicians were fuming at these "suicidal" moves that could put up the red flag to country's much needed investments. Birla himself is an extremely influential man with no dearth of friends in all political parties. But CBI has regardless lodged an FIR alleging that Birla's Hindalco had been granted a coal mining block that had been earmarked for public sector Neyveli Lignite Coporation, and it was precisely on this ground that the same block had been denied to Hindalco earlier. More the Group lobbied with political bosses, more the CBI tightened screw on it.
A similar treatment awaited NRI tycoon Anil Agarwal, known for his friendly ties with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, when he found the CBI knocking at his door on an issue that seemed to have passed into oblivion—that of his purchase, way back in 2002, of 26 per cent stake in state-owned Hindustan Zinc Corporation. The London-based billionaire owner of Vedanta Corporation, the FTSE listed company, is already cornered due to stubborn refusal by the Central Government's two successive Environment ministers, Jairam Ramesh and Jayanthi Natarajan, to allow mining of bauxite in the forest area of Odisha where Vedanta's one million tonne per year alumina plant is starved of the ore. Agarwal's woe is now compounded as CBI has reopened the legality, or otherwise, of a disinvestment that took place in the NDA era. Nor is the familiar 'helpline' of politicians working any longer. Then came the jaw-dropping revelation that there is no evidence of Amit Shah's involvement in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.
On a different front, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up to curb terrorism in the wake of the 2008 terror attack from Pakistan on Mumbai, has turned 180 degrees by dropping charges against Pragya Thakur in connection with a murder within the ranks of a group allegedly involved in the attacks on the Samjhauta Express, the India-Pakistan train, and the Malegaum blasts. In the six long years of her incarceration, Pragya Thakur became the face of the so-called "Hindu terror" and a convenient punching bag of both Pakistani propagandists and the 'secular' vote bank-seekers among Indian politicians. Her release is a slap in the face of those Indian secularists who had used her name all these years in the hope that it would keep the Muslim voters in their thrall. The point is, the NIA is not wary of such cynical politicians anymore.
It is obvious that the forces that kept politicians on top of India's pyramid of power, enabling the neta to have a rather nimble finger in every pie, and act like the Big Brother of Orwell's fable, have suddenly got wobbly. The downgrading of politicians has taken place largely because of a general feeling that the 2014 Lok Sabha poll will lead to unexpected outcomes. In the Delhi assembly elections, the outcome was truly unexpected, with a newbie like AAP forming the government, leaving the old warhorses of Congress and BJP speechless. The winds of change are blowing and fast too.
The nature of this transition will depend on the future balance among the people, the bureaucratic executive and politicians, and the extent to which the judiciary can retain its moral authority. For the present, though, the executive, specially the investigative agencies, has a free rein due to weakening of the control that politicians exercised over it. While this control was both self-serving and excessive, it does not mean that there should be a perpetual political vacuum; or that CBI, for that matter, will be answerable to nobody except the judiciary. The new Lokpal legislation has given it the required organisational freedom. It is now free to prosecute the corrupt without kow-towing to the Law Minister. Politicians can no more disrupt its investigation by transferring its key officers at the drop of a hat.
But the investigative agencies, in their turn, must liberate themselves from the “cage” that they have been so much used to living in. As politicians relished playing favourites, officers were busy drawing close to them, ignoring their primary job of serving the rule of law. There is a risk now that the investigators may play the same games that politicians were playing all the while, by practising corruption first hand.
Be it CBI, NIA or bureaucracy,
winds of change are blowing
with UPA collapsing
(The author is
National Editor of
the Lokmat group
and based in Delhi)
