Harshad Mehta, US Presidents and Vampires

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

On Wed, 15 Jul 1998, Charudatt wrote:
> 
> 	So are you saying if Harshad Mehta's payoff to the then PM [or
> pick your favorite big payoff scandal] were called "lobbying" or
> "campaign contributions" then it would not constitute corruption?

Yes. 

But not merely changing the name. Changing its character, as follows:

a) "Payoff" should be to the party, not to a person.
b) "Payoff" should be used by the party not stashed away in secret
	Swiss accounts or in bank notes at home.  
c) Exact use of payoff by the party (even if it for the marriage of a
VIP's child from party funds) should be audited and publicly known. 

Then a "payoff" - even if it is for the purpose of stealing public
property (which is what the deals are always for) - would NOT be
corruption. But note, in this process of making it transparent, we have
changed the very nature of the transaction. It no longer remains
corruption since there is no possibility of misuse of this money: parties
which have misued the funds for their children's marriages will be thrown
into the dust bin by the people. Hence no party will tolerate such use of
funds, knowing that people will find out and topple it. Once the end-game
is clear: defeat, then parties will not risk such misuse.

Today people cannot find out. They only 'suspect' the truth. Today, we
spend more money and effort as a nation trying to "dig" out the truth
behind these scandals than the actual size of these scandals. The moment
you bring transparency into politics, India will be free of corruption to
a large extent. Pay the potiticians a huge amount of salary so that the
best brains of India enter politics. People like you. Charu. I would trust
you. Believe me. Make sure that all donations are to the party and not to
individuals. Make sure that all party funds are fully audited and placed
on the Internet.

The moment this is done, the Prime Mafias and the Harshad Mehtas will
become fazed and shrink into the background of history as does the
nocturnal bat on sight of the bright and resplendent sun. Public scrutiny
will be too bright a light for these vampires to tolerate. They will
simply shrivel away. That will be the victory without a fight that Sun Tzu
was talking about. 

By the way, the US President (and he is no Prime Mafia) gives a copy of
his income tax statement to the whole world each year. I haven't ever
heard of such statements from Indian PMs. This President is virtually
"wired" from all sides: he is almost living in a glass house. One slip and
the guy is in deep trouble. They simply impeach their Presidents here, for
slightest proof of lack of ethics. How can we compare this PURELY CLEAN
politics of USA with the DIRTY AND FILTHY politics of India where "big
gun"  ministers carry wads of currency in their briefcases as do the drug
lords of South America (specially during election time). 

SS


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