Arun Shourie said that the evidence against Bangaru Laxman was "direct".Evidence of what? Evidence of accepting a donation of Rs 1 lakh for his party from an armsdealer seeking a government contract. Laxman promised to facilitate the dealer'smeeting with an official. He passed the donation to his party coffers the same day.
This is how the corrupt system works. Not only did Laxman participate in this system.So did the party that received the same donation. It is the party of which both Laxman andShourie are members. All the other parties in Parliament participate in the same corruptsystem. But politicians and media are shaken because the evidence of Laxman'scorruption was "direct". He was actually seen on a videotape receiving themoney. That makes Laxman unique.
There is no videotape of Rajiv Gandhi reading the official communication fromIndia's ambassador in Sweden informing him that money had been exchanged in theBofors deal after which he lied to Parliament saying it had not.
There is no videotape of either Rajiv Gandhi receiving Rs 1 crore from Lalit Suri or ofLalit Suri receiving the same one crore from Surendra Jain of hawala fame.
There is no videotape of L.K. Advani receiving Rs 60 lakh from Surendra Jain nor anyvideotape of Advani visiting Jain's farmhouse.
There is no videotape of Narasimha Rao receiving money in the Harshad Mehta scam or anyother scam. In fact, there is no videotape of any other leader receiving money in anyother deal.
That's what makes Laxman so terrible. Accepting a donation for his party from adealer seeking a government contract was a serious mistake. Getting videotaped in theprocess was a bigger mistake. But being born in a Dalit family was the biggest mistake.
That makes it easy for everyone to kick him around. For the rss to describe him as afailed swayamsewak. For the bjp to keep him away from its national executive meeting.
The Opposition says the government should go. It cannot conduct a proper probe. Onlythen can Parliament have a meaningful debate.
But why not let this Parliament go? It cannot produce a proper government. Only thencan the nation have a meaningful debate.
Folks hear this MP and that MP,
The Congress and the bjp,
But what we really need to see
Are people hearing you and me!
