Rai verdict, bad omen for politicians being tried for corruption

George Iype in New Delhi

The conviction of former Congress minister Kalpanath Rai on Monday has spread terror among many senior politicians who face trial in several corruption cases.

Political observers believe Rai's ignominious lodging in the Tihar jail could be the beginning of a process to cleanse the body politic of the nexus between politicians and criminals.

"Rai's conviction does not augur well for India's politicians who have been harbouring criminals and indulging in corruption," social scientist Amit Sengupta of New Delhi's Indian Social Institute said.

"It is heartening that the law is taking its course in the 50th anniversary of India's Independence,"he told Rediff On The Net.

Analysts like Sengupta think Rai -- being the first Indian member of Parliament imprisoned under TADA -- could be a catalyst for a socio-political change, if the judiciary speeds up trials against other politicians.

Rai's conviction may be a pointer to the fate that awaits former Congress prime minister P V Narasimha Rao against whom Shailendra Mahato turned approver in the JMM case on Monday.

A volley of charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Rao are under various stages of trial. The prime case being that he was an accomplice along with Chandra Swami and his secretary Kailash Nath Aggarwal in cheating non-resident Indian businessman Lakhubhai Pathak of $100,000.

Close on the heels of this case follows the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery scandal in which Rao is the prime accused along with Congress leaders V C Shukla, Satish Sharma and Ajit Singh. The Congressmen are accused of paying Rs 30 million to four JMM members of Parliament to vote against a no-confidence motion sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party in July 1993.

Rao and another Congress leader, K K Tewari, have also been accused in the St Kitts forgery case in which he is alleged to have helped get some documents attested by the Indian consulate in New York in 1989 to prove that V P Singh's son Ajeya Singh had an account in a St Kitts bank.

Cases against over 40 politicians in the infamous Jain hawala scandal are also slowly, but surely, catching up with senior politicians like BJP president Lal Kishinchand Advani, Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav and Congress leaders V C Shukla, Balram Jakhar, R K Dhawan, Ajit Panja and Motilal Vora.

"The outcome of these charges against various political leaders will be equally damning as the TADA case," feels Supreme Court lawyer and amicus curae in the hawala case, Anil Divan.

"The law is equal for everyone, whether he is a politician or a common man," he told the Rediff On The Net.

The federal government introduced TADA in 1985 after terrorist attacks became routine in New Delhi and other parts of the country.

The government then cited the explosions as the reason for 'an exclusive legislation to contain terrorist activities in the country.'

According to the provisions of TADA, if anyone uses bombs, dynamite or other explosive substances to strike terror among the people, he can be tried and punished under a special court of law.

The government contended that terrorists were getting off with ease in ordinary courts under ordinary law.

TADA made drastic changes in bail provisions and trial procedures. Those arrested under TADA are tried under a designated court exclusively set up for them.

In July 1993 the government came under severe criticism when popular Hindi actor Sanjay Dutt was arrested under TADA.