".... new political culture began with Bofors. It was the first time that a close associate of the Prime Minister was caught in an act of bribery .... Rajiv Gandhi denied in Parliament .... ordinary Indians did not believe him and one big reason why he lost the election in 1989 was Bofors," notes columnist Tavleen Singh in 'The Indian Express'.
She also recalls: "I remember having conversations about Bofors in tea shops in tiny villages. The outrage was huge, and rural musicians sang songs about how India could not be governed by ‘Italy’s son-in-law’."
"Boforsgate should make us ask more questions," Tavleen writes.
"Last week I read the most important book about India’s political culture that I have read in a long time. It is called ‘Boforsgate’ and has been written by Chitra Subramaniam without whose outstanding investigative journalism the truth about the bribes that Bofors paid to sell their howitzers to the Indian army may never have come out.
Chitra risked her life, her marriage and her sanity in pursuit of the truth. But this is not just her story. It is the story of the ugly underworld below the surface of politics in Delhi. An underworld where criminals, corrupt politicians and compliant officials thrive," she further says.
Tavleen also recounts:
"My journey as a political columnist began when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, so I remember well the events and cast of characters that Chitra describes in her book.
Immediately after Swedish state radio announced in April 1987 that Bofors had bribed Indian politicians and high officials to win Sweden’s biggest arms export deal the sordid plot to erase the money trail began.
In the circles in which I moved everyone knew that Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife, Maria, were the best friends of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi."
"Everyone knew that when Indira Gandhi was prime minister this fertiliser salesman had an extraordinary ability to win contracts for Snamprogetti where he then worked. We also knew that Sonia’s parents stayed in the Quattrocchi family home when they came to India.
After Rajiv became prime minister, Quattrocchi was often heard telling people in Delhi’s drawing rooms that if they needed something from the government, he could be helpful.
Then when it was revealed, in July 1999, that two of the secret bank accounts in which Bofors’ bribe money was traced belonged to him and his wife, he fled India never to return.
It is worth remembering that almost the last thing Dr Manmohan Singh did before the 2009 general election was to unfreeze a bank account that belonged to him in London and had been frozen by the Government of India.
The reason why ‘Boforsgate’ is such an important book is because corruption is still India’s biggest political problem.
It is to make money and not out of a desire to serve this country that most people come into politics today.
"Politics is the easiest way to make big money in our ancient land. This is why political leaders ensure that their constituencies pass onto their children.
I have closely observed how these political heirs almost magically make enough money to be able to buy properties in foreign lands, stay in expensive hotels and send their progeny to fancy foreign schools," the column runs.
"This new political culture began with Bofors. It was the first time that a close associate of the Prime Minister was caught in an act of bribery endangering national security.
Rajiv Gandhi denied in Parliament that he or any member of his family had taken Bofors bribes, but ordinary Indians did not believe him and one big reason why he lost the election in 1989 was Bofors. Once the campaign began, I remember having conversations about Bofors in tea shops in tiny villages.
The outrage was huge, and rural musicians sang songs about how India could not be governed by ‘Italy’s son-in-law’.
Tavleen Singh also says:
"After Atal Bihari Vajpayee became prime minister, I once ran into Arun Jaitley on a flight to Malaysia and he said that he was on his way to get Quattrocchi.
This never happened because for some reason Vajpayee lost interest in pursuing the case and for some reason Narendra Modi who became prime minister with the promise to end corruption has lost interest as well.
To quote Chitra, “Since 1997, India has had the documents of the Bofors case from Switzerland. Names of recipients, percentages of commission, instruction to the banks and much more that would help a genuine investigation to move ahead remain in boxes with the CBI.” Why?
Could it be because Modi knows that although no corruption charges can be pinned on him personally, there are BJP chief ministers and ministers in his government who are having a merry old time making money?
Could it be that when it comes to looting Mother India there exists a bipartisan consensus among politicians and high officials? It certainly seems that way.
As for us ‘watchdogs’ in the media, we know that journalists can be jailed and sometimes killed for exposing even the smallest little scandal.
Remember that journalist in Uttar Pradesh who spent six months in jail for exposing corruption in a Mirzapur school midday meal scheme?
Chitra is without question India’s finest investigative reporter but when I finished reading ‘Boforsgate’, I found myself wondering if she would have still been alive if she lived in India and not Switzerland.
"There are those who say that the media has only come under pressure since Modi became prime minister. They are wrong.
When I tried to investigate if there was a larger conspiracy behind the assassination of Indira Gandhi, I was hauled up before the commission investigating her death and asked many questions about ‘my Pakistani connections’. I immediately stopped asking questions."
Tavleen Singh ends the article with a veiled criticism of the incumbent Modi regime.
"What has changed since Modi became prime minister is that he is so allergic to criticism that almost the whole media has been ‘managed’.
Our vaunted private TV channels sound so much like Doordarshan that it is scary. Boforsgate should make us ask more questions. And Prime Minister, please finally open those boxes."
ends
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