Corruption in US & India!

 

Political Downfall from Grace

Corruption is not Indian Democracy’s monopoly. While India lets free most big fish from its net, in US they are caught & taught, there are bitter consequences for betraying public trust.

James Kottoor

Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere. So is corruption anywhere, a threat to probity, uprightness and clean life everywhere. This is more so today since we are forced to live in a global village due to instant internet connectivity making everyone living anywhere in the world, our next door neighbour.

India may still be in the grip of a hangover celebrating the 67^th Independence Day and liberation from colonial looters of the country for years. Foreign domination has stopped but domination of looting continues unabated, what is worse, with gigantic Himalayan proportions. Only difference is, 67 years ago it was by white skinned foreign Lords, now it is by worse brown skinned Indian princely class called politicians of differing hues.

The tribe of Leaders who expelled the colonial conquerors did it without resorting to the brutal might of an army or the use of a deadly shot from any soldier gone wild. It was done by the moral might of the disarming smile of a single man ridiculed as the Naked Fakir. Yes to that extent he was self-emptying and gave up every comfort possible to comfort and enrich the Daridranarayans of his country. That singular example attracted a galaxy of men of moral power and selfless service for the nation like Nehruji, Patelji and Sastriji.

Corruption goes Scot-free

Corruption at high echelons of political power was almost unheard of then. But now after 67 years we hear of nothing else! We are deluged and suffocated, day in and day out, with torrents of corruption hurtling down to our nose from the dizzy heights of political power-wielders who have replaced our bygone foreign colonial looters. What is most bewildering is the callous routine reaction to this on-going day-light robbery as something quite normal and nothing unexpected, from both the electorate and elected leaders.

Even those who are caught with massive loot in hand and seen by the whole nation in candid cameras are allowed to go scot free on the plea they are not proved guilty in our courts of law. These courts, all know, work over time to cultivate job seeking lawyers in the legal profession to bleed for long, not to protect, the victims of injustice, so that the truth of the saying– “Justice delayed is justice denied” – is proved beyond doubt for the whole world to see.

Why this travesty? Because laws are made here for law makers who are law-breakers themselves, not to protect the helpless public called the Aam Aadmi.Reportedly there are any number of criminals in our parliament, 163 tainted MPs and 15 Ministers facing corruption charges. Think of entrusting rapists in parliament to come up with fool-proof laws to protect victims of rape!

That is why it has now become a topic of hot discussion: whether political parties should or should not come under the preview of RTI? Who does not know that honesty, transparency and rule of law should be golden norms for those who handle public office and public money? But even these golden rules must have exceptions for the benefit of our politicians and political parties, it is argued and insisted upon now.

What has brought this great nation of great minds like Mahatmaji to this miserable, shameful impasse? It is not, we don’t have enough rules to protect the exploited, marginalized and vulnerable. It is because no rule is applied when the culprits happen to belong to powerful political families, parties or corporations.

Political Fall from Grace

It is in this context that the case of Jesse Jackson Jr. 48, and wife Sandra Stevens Jackson 49, a powerful political couple in Chicago, caught and punished for using campaign funds for self-aggrandizement comes as a wakeup call. It should help to drive some good sense into our corrupt politicians trying to divert attention from prodigal misuse of campaign funds being collected already in view of elections 2014 and equally to wake us the electorate to be on the lookout to boot out such corrupt and criminal candidates at the voting booth.

On August 13^th former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to 2 1/2 years behind bars for stealing $750, 0000 from his campaign fund while his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, is to serve one year for filing false tax returns according to published reports. The Jacksons admitted using campaign credit cards to make approximately 3,100 personal purchases over seven years starting in August 2005.

Among the expenses were, a $466 dinner at the Mandarin Oriental’s CityZen restaurant; $10,000 for multiple flat-screen TVs and DVD players from Best Buy; $2,300 in transportation services at Disney World and much more. Prosecutors have rated this case as one of the worst abuses of campaigns funds ever documented. So it has attracted headlines and elaborate reports in various national dailies like Chicago Sun Times, New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Jackson was elected to US Congress in 1995 at the age of 30 from the South Side of Chicago with the help of his father, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. He became one of the most prominent young black politicians in the country, working on issues related to health care and education for the poor. But according to reports his reputation was damaged in recent years after revelations that he had an extramarital affair and there were also allegations that he might have been involved in a scheme to buy Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat after Mr. Obama was elected president.His wife used his campaign funds as a “personal piggy bank.”

Fruit of Outright Theft

According to Sun times he spent 17 years serving the district until he resigned in disgrace last November. “Jacksons’combined income in 2011 was nearly $350,000, putting the couple among the top 10 per cent household incomes in the country and giving them no financial need to steal. His journey from the halls of Congress to federal prison is a tragedy of his own making.”

U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said, “Jackson’s political potential was unlimited, but he instead chose to treat his campaign account as a personal slush fund, stealing from the people who believed in him so he could live extravagantly. He squandered his great capacity for public service through outright theft. The prison sentence imposed today should serve as a wake-up call to other public officials who believe there are no consequences for betraying the public trust.” It was indeed a fall catastrophic from pinnacle of power and pride, fashion and posh living.

“I was wrong”

“His public fall from grace has already made an example of him, warning other politicians and elected officials of the dangers of personal use of campaign funds,” Jackson’s attorneys wrote in their sentencing memos.

On his part Jackson admitted publicly: “I didn’t separate my personal life from my political life, and I couldn’t be more wrong….I misled the American people, I misled the House of Representatives….I was wrong and I do not fault anyone.”

Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence him to a prison term of four years, which falls on the lower end of federal guidelines. The defence team instead pleaded for shorter prison term on grounds of his mental health and “devastating consequences” to the couple’s two children – aged 13 and 9. It was finally settled for 2 ½ years for Jackson and one for his wife.

Lessons to Learn

There are any number of lessons to be learned from this incident. Political corruption happens in the oldest and largest democracies. In the US when the corrupt are caught they are transparently tried, shamed and presented as a warning for those prone to misdeeds. That seldom happens in India, especially in the case of politicians. In US those caught, usually admit publicly their wrong doing and beg for mercy from the public. In India political jail birds come out pretending themselves to be Mr. Cleans and even the public is not ashamed to give them a hero’s welcome and even to elect them for another term.

But as a towering exception like a lotus in the dirt there stands out Sri Manik Sarkar (CPI), Chief Minister of Tripura, called "cleanest and poorest CM in the country"(See Wikipedia & Google for more), also the purest and impeccably honest among Indian CMs since elected first in 1998 at the age of 49. He was elected 4th time in 2013 as CM, one time more than Gujarat’s Modi. Still he has no home or car of his own. He donates all his salary to CPI (M), and lives on a monthly allowance of Rs 5000/- the party gives. His bank balance is stated as Rs. 6500/- and he resorts to zero publicity in the media for self promotion.

It is not the lure of profits only but the vision of prophets that should guide Bharat. If India is to become an economic power and scale moral heights as the Light of the East it once used to be, it has to start a herculean national campaign to instil in our younger generation at least from high school level the ideas and ideals of selfless service of our freedom fighters, their honesty, integrity and probity in personal and public life, their esteem for work as worship and their self-discipline and dedication to unity and universal values, their commitment to live harmoniously in an unparalleled multicultural and multifaceted society that is India.

The writer can be contacted at:jameskottoor@gmail.com

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