Frederick Noronha: Corruption is not a Congress-versus-BJP debate. Neither is communalism.
Response: I agree with you wholewheartedly that corruption is not restricted to just the Congress or BJP. It is has become part of the system. Only labels change depending upon who is in power at the moment. That is why I said that unless the guilty are prosecuted and punished and their ill gotten wealth confiscated, nothing much is going to change . Resignations are a small price to pay for the kind of mind boggling sums that is siphoned off with depressing regularity. Worse, the size of the scams seem to increase exponentially. In comparison, Bofors appears small change. Interestingly, a few days back I had an animated discussion with a friend who is a senior lawyer in Delhi on the matter of corruption, where it will lead us and whether it will ever end. These are his views. According to him, corruption in a vibrant economy is a positive indicator. Corruption will always take place where the economy is growing and it is in fact good for the economy. More and faster development takes place where there is money to be ’had’. Every country including the USA and other developed democratic countries have gone through this phase. The only thing that is required is that from time to time the scams should be exposed and the guilty punished to bring about some balance. That is how democracies mature and limits of tolerance arrived at. I do not know whether you will agree with this kind of thinking but I found it quite interesting. On the issue of communalism too, I do not disagree with you. While the BJP plays hard communalism, the Congress plays soft/ subtle communalism. That is why there is no ban on the VHP or BD or SS despite their proven violent activities. But in this game, it is the minorities and weaker sections who get hurt in the middle. The Sikhs got hurt in 1984, the muslims got hurt in 2002 and the Christians got hurt in 2008.The dalits, marginalised and tribals get hurt all year around. Regards, Marshall