End self-serving politics

THE SLAPPING OF a criminal case by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Mr. Vincent George, private secretary of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, was obviously politically timed, designed to divert attention from the Tehelka disclosures which have severely discredited the ruling BJP-led coalition which has been desperately trying to fend off the spirited protest campaign by the Opposition, especially the Congress(I). But this does not in any way mitigate the seriousness of the charge against Mr. George which must be fully examined. Striking indeed is the element of `parity' established between the BJP and its main opposition party vis-a-vis the anti-corruption plank. Mr. George who had served as secretary to Rajiv Gandhi during his tenure as Prime Minister has now been arraigned by the premier investigation agency for offences under the anti-corruption law.

The case, wherein he is charged with being in possession of assets beyond his known sources of income, relates to a period when he had been a public servant, and that was over ten years ago, although it is an offshoot of a CBI probe early last year into a frame-up racket involving an Enforcement Directorate official and some high-profile socialites with enormous political clout. On the face of it, the apparent lag in lodging the FIR and the timing of it (precisely when the present Government is forced on the backfoot by the Tehelka revelations) may suggest a political motivation. If anything, the way the various Governments have tended to use the CBI in the matter of prosecution of cases involving political personalities would seem to lend credence to such a perception. It would however be imprudent and unwise to see every action or inaction on the part of the CBI as motivated by extraneous considerations. It could well turn out that the timing of the FIR in the instant case was determined by its own anxiety to fulfil the requirements of the law and not to be faulted either on account of unseemly hurry or wanton delay.

What is clear however is that the beleaguered BJP and its coalition partners, whose `probity' platform has suffered a serious damage post-Tehelka, will capitalise on the CBI case against Mr. George to fend off opposition attack and, what more, take the battle into the Congress(I) camp, which is bound to find itself severely handicapped in its attempt to seize the high moral ground. If the BJP or its partners in the NDA seriously believe that they can exploit the main opposition party's predicament to get over the issues raised by the Tehelka expose and let those culpable of murky deals escape, they would only be deluding themselves. As for the Congress(I), it just cannot afford to sweep the allegations made against Mr. George under the carpet of `political vendetta'. The party leadership needs to indicate that it is more than ready to subject itself to the same moral imperative of banishing corruption in high places. The first step now is not to politically hinder the ongoing investigation against the party president's private secretary. In the meantime, it might be in the Congress(I)'s interest to distance itself from Mr. George. For the Congress(I) to adopt the line that the probe against Mr. George is only a political vendetta will dilute the moral advantage it currently possesses in demanding that the NDA clean its stables.

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Section  : Opinion
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