"Nearly half of the Rs. 5 lakh - crore spent on poverty alleviation doesn't reach beneficiaries. Yet, nothing is done because at least some of the booty lines political coffers. A third of power generated is lost to theft but no party is willing to criminalise this.

Contrary to popular perception, much of the loot is in the system not stashed in vaults. It is disguised in land holdings, stock options in infrastructure companies, ownership of airlines, non - bank finance companies and even road toll companies that allow easy entry and exit for cash. By definition money is a medium of exchange and hence fungible." [Therefore, convenient for a corrupt politician and bureaucrat to take his share anytime and in any form — Editor].

— Shankkar Aiyar in the New Indian Express.

No matter the cat is black or white as long as it catches rats.

No matter Anna Hazare has a different agenda and Baba Ramdev is a businessman as long as they catch thieves.

And who are those thieves? They are the thieves who have been looting our country quietly since 1964, after Nehru passed away. Not that thieving, call it corruption, had not existed during Nehru's time. Certainly we have heard of Dalmia scandal, Defence Jeep Purchase scandal involving the then India's High Commissioner in London and later Defence Minister V. K. Krishna Menon and, of course, Nehru's favourite Chief Minister of [undivided] Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon. Nehru defended them all in the Parliament [with a little help from his Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari].

In the case of Kairon, Nehru was in a forgiving mood when he said that the corrupt Chief Minister had converted Punjab into India's rice bowl at a time the country was importing food to feed our teeming millions of poor.

Though Nehru, known for his flash temper, once said in utter despair that any “corrupt person should be hanged by the nearest lamp post”, he was in a mood to condone corruption. That he never found a lamp post despite finding many corrupt is a different matter. This at a time when 90 per cent of politicians in Congress were Gandhians!

Then came a different kind of Gandhi — both in gender and ideology — Indira Gandhi. No doubt she should be credited for nationalising the banks and enabling the poor and the middle class to avail credit for farming and small enterprises. It was a revolutionary pro - people step. I was happy, the pro - capitalist Morarji Desai “Syndicate” lost after Congress split in 1969. Probably this was in a sense a case of redeeming India from the money lenders and banks that had shut their doors for the poor. There was an instant resurgence of economic activity.

Sadly soon it degenerated into a Permit - license Raj, inherited from Nehru's era, making way for corruption. Unfortunately, just as her father Nehru, she too turned myopic to the evil of corruption and indirectly countenanced corruption saying that "Corruption is a universal phenomenon." Does it mean, she was helpless and unable to check it, even if unable to completely eradicate it? Simply there was no political will.

And then came on the Indian political horizon Jayaprakash Narayan (JP). A Gandhian. An authentic Gandhian. He roused the conscience of a distraught nation caught in the cesspool of corruption and lawlessness backed by ruling political patrons. It was as if Lord Narayan himself came in JP's avatar to save this country. He did save the country when in the 1977 elections Indira Gandhi was defeated. Sadly, again, the new leaders forgot the universal truth that “United we stand, divided we fall”. They cheated Mahatma Gandhi after swearing at Raj Ghat to stand united and serve the country when they soon quarreled and thus committed political harakiri. What was achieved for the country with great sacrifice by many students and patriotic citizens was sacrificed at the altar of bogus ideology and individual pride.

And the same Indira Gandhi, who was defeated and trampled, even jailed for a few days, returned triumphantly and mocked at all those who had faulted her as autocratic and corrupt.

And then the country lapsed into the same old rut of corruption and there was turmoil, what with Sikh Militancy under Bhindranwale. Indira Gandhi no doubt was a strong leader, Empress of India. But...

After her, Rajiv Gandhi came as the Prime Minister, spoke of ending corruption and also ending the regime of Congress "power brokers" at a Mumbai speech. Ironically, he himself was caught in a corruption charge in Bofors scandal. It looks as if this ghost of corruption in our country refuses to go away.

During P. V. Narasimha Rao's Prime Ministership too the ghost of corruption was haunting the country. Apart from himself being accused of corruption by an Indian origin “Pickle King” of England, the Congress party was also accused of corrupting MPs to save his government from a no - confidence motion.

But once again, economically, the country is saved from economic stagnation by a bold policy of liberalisation that broke away all the restrictive shackles that hindered free enterprise. Globalisation too helped. But the new kind of corruption seemed to hurt the people of the nation. Crony capitalism has come to find a place in our economy with resultant corruption paving way to the pernicious axis of evil — the nexus between politician – bureaucrat - industrialist.

Result:
Corruption, economic offences and related crimes. Many billions of rupees are stashed away in Swiss, Mauritius and other foreign banks in secret accounts by Indian politicians and industrialists through agents like Hasan Ali who is in jail now; 2G Spectrum scam involving over Rs. 1.75 lakh crores in which former Telecom Minister A. Raja, Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran are involved [with A. Raja and Kanimozhi in jail and Maran soon to join their “ranks”!] and, of course, Common Wealth Games (CWG) scandal, in which a few bureaucrats and CWG's Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi are in jail. I have a gut feeling that these cases are only the tip of the iceberg.

The “situation room” in the UPA Government is getting overheated even as Citizen India has lost his patience and is queuing up behind Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, the latter all set to fast – unto - death unless his demands are met. Instead of taking action to get back the black money, this government has ordered — to mislead and mollify Baba Ramdev — three studies by three different economic organisations to estimate the quantum of black money within the country?

We do remember Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh saying during election that if elected, his government will bring back black money in 100 days. Now it is more than 730 days. What happened? Sonia Gandhi, Congress High Command, said in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks." What happened? Still looking for correct address of the Swiss banks?

When will we get into the bottom of this seemingly bottomless crater of corruption? Well, the answer is: Now. And who are the Mahatma Gandhis and JPs of this war against all pervasive corruption?

Here are the knights in shining armour not with gleaming swords in arms, but attired in khadi, cotton and saffron with clean hands, pure hearts and prayers on their lips for the good of India. They are Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi, Aravind Kejriwal, Shanthi Bhushan, Prashanth Bhushan, Swami Agnivesh, Ram Jethmalani and the members of the civil society in thousands, nay in lakhs.

They will gather at Ramlila Maidan tomorrow with Baba Ramdev going on an indefinite fast till the goal is reached.

The goal:
Get the black money stashed in foreign country back to where and to whom it really belongs — India. Punish the corrupt. No honest, hardworking citizen will ever find fault with these demands. Unfortunately the UPA government thinks otherwise. Why? Ask the High Command!