Report

NDA Govt’s Scam Scroll

NEW DELHI : The BJP which made tall claims of being a ‘Party with a difference’, before coming to power is now neck-deep in the quicksand of scams. It promised transparency but today it stands accused of secret and shady deals. As Smt. Sonia Gandhi said, "this is the most tainted government." First, it was the UTI scam, then came the ‘Operation Westend’ which exposed their deeds in defence deals followed by the coffin scam. As if this was not enough, they landed in another scam in the disbursement of petrol pumps, kerosene and gas agencies followed by a whopping land scam. And last but not the least, a prominent leader is allegedly involved in the murder of a woman journalist. Maybe, more is in the offing before the BJP-led NDA term expires. Only time will tell.

UTI

The UTI’s decision to suspend transactions in the US-64 units, the flagship scheme, brought a rude shock to the millions of senior citizens, pensioners, ex-servicemen and salaried professionals who have put their hard-earned money into this scheme for a secured future. Three years back similar scene was witnessed, when ‘Big Bull’ Harshad Mehta was at the helm of affairs, on the same scheme and the government had to bail it out coughing up a whooping Rs. 3,300 crores. This time it was Ketan Parekh who influenced the UTI who invested the share money into not-so-famous companies even when there was downfall in the market. The UTI purchases were also higher than the prevailing rates.

The Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the Prime Minister to save million of investors and later the Finance Ministry asked all public sector banks to consider buying stocks held by UTI under US-64 scheme through off-market deals.

TEHELKA

The dust over the UTI scandal had just begun to settle down when another scandalous explosion took place to rattle the government. This was the Tehelka scandal where figures in public life were explicitly caught on camera taking bribe from the Tehelka investigating team who also collected evidence against the Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley who fattened the party kitty with hefty donations from suppliers of defence items. All the more shocking was that, all these transactions were held at Defence Minister George Fernandes’ house. The Congress Party made a nation-wide campaign against the Government and its inept handling of the issue with six crore signature being presented to the President of India. Moreover, the consequent prosecution in this case has not even begun while action has been taken against the Armed forces officials who figured in the Tehelka tape.

CASKETS

Earlier in 1999, with the interim Vajpayee Government in the seat, who started the ‘bus diplomacy’ with Pakistan, it looked that there was a breakthrough in the dialogue with Gen. Musharraf. But the Agra Summit proved a big failure and the reaction was witness in the Kargil war where over 500 brave sons of India sacrificed their lives for the security of the country. Here too, the BJP Government did not lag behind in making money when they purchased caskets for the martyred soldiers. The Defence Ministry awarded a contract for 500 caskets to a Texas’ firm, Buitran and Baiza for $2,500 a piece. But the first lot of caskets reached India in March, 2000, by then the Kargil war had long ceased. The caskets were rejected for being overweight but the ministry had paid up for the caskets. The CAG too objected to the deal saying that the price of the casket was inflated and that the Defence Ministry did not seek quotations from other casket manufacturers. The CAG report came out with a scathing indictment of the systematic corruption and irregularities in the emergency procurement during ‘Operation Vijay’ in May-June, 1999.

DISINVESTMENT

There seemed no turning back for people in the government who were busy filling their pockets at the cost of the nation’s exchequer. This time the Disinvestment Ministry was in the limelight. The Ministry was selling profit-making public sector units at throwaway prices. The prestigious BALCO aluminium plant at Korba which is worth Rs. 5,000 crores has been handed over to M/s Sterlite for a paltry price of just Rs. 551.5 crores. In other deals, the Modern Foods which recorded a turnover of Rs. 171.85 crores has been sold off for a mere Rs. 104 crores.

PETROL, GAS AGENCIES

The miserable record of the NDA Government over the last three years is multi-dimensional and covering such critical areas as internal security, communal harmony and economic management. The latest scam to surface was the distribution of petrol pumps, gas agencies and kerosene outlets. Over half of the 3,850 allotments made until May, 2002 were given to BJP workers, their relatives and the Parivar allies by the Petroleum Minister Ram Naik. After the deafening protest by the Congress Party, the Prime Minister was compelled to cancel all allotments made since January, 2000. This was termed by the Congress as the "biggest scam ever since independence" which involved more than Rs. 500 crores.

LAND ALLOTMENT

To top it all came the land scam with the blessings of Union Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar making arbitrary allotment of prime land in Delhi of which 50% of the plots were given to relatives and friends of the BJP and the Parivar family.

- Rattan Francis, with inputs from
AICC Department of Policy
Planning & Coordination