It would not be a hyperbole to say that, there is hardly any other periodical in the country at par with Radiance Viewsweekly, which has carried out a consistent tirade against corruption. The mere mention about the editorials and articles on corruption published by Radiance during 50 years of its existence would perhaps devour a large space. Therefore it would be sensible to review only a few write-ups from its archive.
Dr. Syed Ausaf Saied Vasfi is one among the finest authors who vociferously articulated against the scourge of corruption. The most outstanding piece among his contributions was published on 28 January 1996 under the title ‘Hawala scandal may prove a watershed’. He took pains to explain in plain terms “What is Hawala”, before attempting to expose as to how the CBI sat over the files for five years. In 1991, the CBI had laid its hands on the diaries of one Mr. Surendra Kumar Jain which had literally opened a can of worms… showing the details of kickbacks of over Rs. 65 crore paid to 115 politicians and bureaucrats, to get projects in the power sector cleared. The names of 36 MPs belonging to Congress and Opposition parties figured in the list of recipients – notable among them being Arjun Singh, Arif Mohammad Khan, L.K. Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Devi Lal and Kalpanath Rai.
Even as the CBI was doing its job, there was an attempt to mould the case into political opportunism. The then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao apparently tried to corner his own cabinet colleague Madhavrao Scindia by roping his name in the scandal – because of his clean image and secular-mindedness and also since he was thought to be a main contender to the top slot in the future. It was also opined by some political analysts that the Prime Minister also tried to ruin the political prospects of other main contenders in his party like Arjun Singh, Balram Jakhar and V.C. Shukla and used the CBI for the witch-hunt. Mr. Rao was also alleged to have tried to malign the image of Mr. Advani to eliminate a serious contender in the Opposition.
But all went turned topsy-turvy when Mr. Rao himself got entangled in the series of accusations related to corruption. BJP stalwart Atal Behari Vajpaee openly accused Mr. Rao to have received Rs.3 crore from the Jains for engineering defections to save his government.
Dr. Vasfi rightly said that the Hawala scandal had shades of Watergate that showed the doormat to Mr. Richard Nixon in the United States. But unfortunately, such a big scandal did not bring any shame to our politicians… let alone showing door to anyone… as almost all of them… either in the ruling class or in the opposition… were literally caught naked in the ‘bathroom’ of corruption (as the Hindi idiom goes… hammam mein sab nange hain).”
The article “Are We Living in the Corruption Age” (Radiance, 16 November 1996) was another brilliant piece by Dr. Vasfi. He explained in very simple terms as how the capital outflow hurts the national economy. The article was written at a time when Dr. Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister was implementing globalisation policies, which virtually reduced the domestic investments and forced the savings of middle-class Indians to move out of the country. Dr. Vasfi argued that such a situation would erode the tax base raising the fiscal deficit. He rightly articulated that this will in turn reduce the government’s capacity to spend on social welfare. His analysis made 17 years ago vindicates the present fiscal condition of the UPA government.
Dr. Vasfi’s article “The Scam-tainted Go Unwept, Unsung” (Radiance, 7 January 1995) brought to light the acts of wilful omission by the powers-that-be. The nation suffered a huge financial loss when sugar was not imported on time. The then Cabinet Secretary Zafar Saifullah wrote a letter to Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao that Minister of State for Food Kalpanath Rai was fully aware of the impending sugar crisis. But the Minister waited for the prices of sugar to go up to Rs.19-20 a kg before taking action. The cause for the criminal delay in ordering import of sugar was to protect the interests of the sugar millers by placing millions of consumers to suffering. The quantum of kickbacks received by the tainted minister and the then Prime Minister who shamelessly defended him in the Parliament is anybody’s guess!
Dr. Vasfi wrote two articles in quick succession… “Tehelka Tapes – Corruption of the Patriots” and “Unsuccessful Essays in Whitewashing Tehelka expose” published on 31st March and 14th April 2001 respectively. The BJP President Bangaru Laxman was caught on camera accepting bribe in a sting operation by Tehelka. In another sting expose, the Samata Party President was seen accepting bribe at the official residence of Defence Minister! An RSS man was the middleman in the supposedly “defence deal” enacted by the Tehelka. Far from being ashamed by such a misdemeanour, the BJP-led government chose to give it a conspiracy angle. The conspiracy, according to the Saffron stalwarts, was hatched by the media and foreign agencies, especially ISI and Pakistan. Dr. Vasfi was explicit in his remarks – “In all fairness, after the shameful revelations, the Vajpayee Government should have resigned gracefully.” “But grace, is perhaps, not our politician’s strong point,” he lamented.
Kuldip Nayar’s article “Corruption Sans Punishment” (Radiance, 28 June 1997) focussed the CBI’s deliberate mishandling of the Bofors and Hawala cases. Mr. Nayar expressed his dismay with his harsh comment: “Indeed, what has been alleged against the CBI has come true.” Despite repeated complaints to the court by Vineet Narain who had first brought to light about the Hawala scandal through an application under PIL, the CBI did not take any action against the tainted politicians. Kuldip Nayar however held Justice J.N. Verma in high esteem for taking the CBI head-on even though he was criticised for judicial activism. Once the cases related to Hawala and St. Kitts had gone out of the ambit of Justice Verma, the CBI gave them a silent burial.
Mr. Nayar wrote another article, “Corruption Ceases to be News in India” (Radiance, 24 October 1998). He opined that there could be a quid pro quo between the Congress and the BJP in dealing with each other’s corruption cases. Mr. Nayar assessed that the reason behind Vajyapee’s lackadaisical attitude to pursue Bofors case could have been a goodwill gesture by the Congress for loosening the grip around L.K. Advani in the Hawala scandal. He also quoted as how the Vajpayee government helped the AIADMK chief Jayalalitha by transferring out the officers probing her Income tax cases. Mr. Nayar opined that the only panacea to the malaise of corruption is to build a people’s movement which is not connected to any political party. A similar view was expressed by Surendra Mohan in his article “The mass must fight corruption” (Radiance, 17 July 1993).
The editorial under the caption “Why Corruption?” (Radiance, 12 March 1967) articulates that no worldly institution can root out corruption completely, because it is an off-shoot of selfishness and greed, which are ingrained in the human psyche. The only institution which has taught about selfless service to humanity has been religion. Religion has tried to convince men and women that death is not the end of life. Hence our selfish urges, if kept under moral restraint and subservient to the demands of society, can be fully satisfied in another life which begins with the end of our earthly existence. This eloquent, unequivocal and truthful message given by the Radiance to the readers would remain eternally relevant in the world to the people of all hues.