[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 44 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E499-E500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CORRUPTION SCANDAL ENGULFS INDIAN GOVERNMENT
______
HON. DAN BURTON
of indiana
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, the world has been shocked by the
recent news stories about a corruption scandal that has engulfed the
Indian government. Already, the president of the ruling BJP and the
Defense Minister have been forced to resign after they were caught
taking bribes from two internet news reporters posing as arms dealers
in regard to a fake defense contract. The opposition is calling for the
government to resign.
The resignation of Defense Minister George Fernandes is no loss for
friends of democracy. Mr. Fernandes is the man who led a meeting in
1999 with the Ambassadors from China, Cuba, Russia, Libya, Serbia, and
Iraq aimed
[[Page E500]]
at putting together a security alliance ``to stop the U.S.'' This
meeting was reported in the May 18, 1999 issue of the Indian Express.
Those of us who have been following Indian and South Asian issues are
not surprised. The Indian Government has demonstrated many times before
how deeply it is infected with corruption. In India, people have come
up with a new word for bribery. They call it ``fee for service.'' It
has become necessary to pay a fee to get government workers of any kind
to deliver the services that they are mandated to provide. In November
1994, the newspaper Hitavada reported that the Indian government paid
Surendra Nath, the late governor of Punjab, $1.5 billion to generate
terrorist activity in Punjab, Khalistan, and in Kashmir as well. This
is in a country where half the population lives below the international
poverty line. Forty-two percent of the people live on less than a
dollar a day and another forty-two percent live on less than $2 per
day.
In India, corruption is endemic as is tyranny against minorities.
Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and others have been subjected to violence,
tyranny, and massive human-rights violations for many years. Christian
churches have been burned. Priests have been killed, nuns have been
raped, and many other atrocities have been committed with impunity.
Muslims have been killed in massive numbers and the ruling party has
destroyed mosques. The Indian government has killed Sikhs. Religious
pilgrims have been attacked with lathis and tear gas. This is just a
recent sample of the atrocities against minorities in India.
Mr. Speaker, India is a significant recipient of American aid. Why
should the taxpayers of this country pay taxes to support the
corruption and tyranny of the Indian Government? There is, however,
something that America, as the world's only superpower, can do about
it. America can stop sending aid to India and support self-
determination for the people of Khalistan, Kashmir, and Nagalim. Let us
take these steps to free the people of the subcontinent from corruption
and brutality.
Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record an article from the current
issue of The Economist about the latest Indian Government bribery
scandal. I commend it to all my congressional colleagues who care about
spending our foreign aid dollars wisely.
[From The Economist, Mar. 24, 2001]
India's Corruption Blues
Though it may well survive the latest corruption scandal, the authority
of the leading party in the government is badly dented
Fatalism is ever present in India, and the government in
Delhi seems to be hoping that a popular belief in the
inevitability of corruption will help it survive the biggest
scandal of recent times. That hope seems well founded. But
whether the government will regain the authority it needs to
pursue its two main initiatives--economic reform and peace in
Kashmir--is much more doubtful.
The uproar over the release of videotapes last week showing
top politicians and officials taking bribes from two Internet
news reporters posing as arms dealers has reached a noisy
impasse. The defence minister, George Fernandes, has
resigned, though he remains ``covener'' of the 18-party
ruling National Democratic Alliance. The NDA has lost one
member, the Trinamul Congress party of West Bengal, but
remains sure enough of its majority to dare the opposition to
bring a no-confidence vote in Parliament. The opposition,
equally sure of its minority, has declined. Instead, it has
blocked parliamentary proceedings for a week, relenting long
enough only to allow money to be voted for the state to
continue functioning.
Both sides have converted an occasion for shame into one
for self-righteousness. Sonia Gandhi, leader of a suddenly
alert Congress party, vowed at its plenary meeting in
Bangalore to ``wage every war'' to ``ensure that this country
is liberated from the shackles of this corrupt, shameful and
communal government''. But she herself was wounded when her
own personal assistant came under investigation in a separate
scandal. The prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has
blended penitence with defensiveness. He has promised a
judicial probe into the allegations, and a clean-up. But, in
a television address on March 16th, Mr. Vajpayee reserved the
word ``criminal'' to describe the hurling of allegations, not
the behaviour alleged.
It is true that tehelka.com, the enterprising website that
armed its reporters with cash and spy cameras, used
surreptitious means to persuade a variety of officials,
generals and politicians to accept a total of 1.1m rupees
(about $24,000) in bribes and gifts. It is also true that
some of the most serious allegations made against Mr.
Fernandes and Brajesh Mishra, the prime minister's top aide,
among others, are unsubstantiated gossip. But they have
concentrated discussion on how many more heads will roll and
when.
The real import of the tapes is the evidence they give that
corruption is the norm, not the exception, at every level of
public life. This does not surprise Indians, who are expected
to bribe everyone, starting with traffic policemen. India is
beset by what some call a crisis of governance, which
compromises nearly every public service, from defence to the
distribution of subsidised food to the generation of
electricity. Tehelka.com has simply rubbed Indians' faces in
it.
Politicians, in honest moments, admit this, Kapil Sibal, a
prominent member of Congress, says ``the system is thoroughly
corrupt.'' Pramod Mahajan, the minister of information
technology and a member of Mr. Vajpayee's Bhraratiya Janata
Party (BJP), thinks the voters face a choice ``not between
good and bad. It is between bad and worse.''
With turpitude so common, removing one group of parties
from power would not solve the problem. Given a chance to
fight political corruption, Parliament usually ducks it. It
now wants to shear the Central Vigilance Commission, the main
body implementing anti-corruption law, of its role overseeing
investigations of politicians.
The problem begins, says N. Vittal, the central vigilance
commissioner, with the 40% of the economy that is unaccounted
for. Indian democracy runs on this murky money. The total
cost of a campaign for a parliamentary election has been
estimated at 20 billion rupees (around $430m), which is often
paid for by undeclared donations of the sort proffered by
tehelka.com. Reformers such as Mr. Vittal want such donations
to be declared and made tax deductible. Some also want the
Election Commission to give the voters information about
candidates' criminal backgrounds, as Delhi's High Court has
directed. But that reform may also be stopped: the government
has appealed against the decision. No one in power seems to
back the promised cleaning.
Mr. Vajpayee's immediate concern is the fate of his closet
advisers, widely resented for accumulating power in the prime
minister's office at the expense of other ministries. On
March 19th, Mr. Mishra and N.K. Singh, his top economic
adviser, called a press conference to defend themselves
against claims that they had improperly influenced decisions
on deals in telecoms, power and, in Mr. Mishra's case,
defence equipment. Pressure for their dismissal, form some of
Mr. Vajpayee's best friends, is mounting. A fiercely right-
wing ally of the BJP, the Shiv Sena, is calling for their
heads. And although the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(Association of National Volunteers), ideological big brother
to the BJP, has withdrawn its calls for their removal, it has
done so only for fear of destablishing the government.
The departure of Mr. Mishra and Mr. Singh would probably
blunt the government's drive for economic reform. Even if
they stay, Mr. Vajpayee will have trouble enacting the most
controversial but valuable elements of the reforms announced
along with the budget last month. These include privatisation
and making labour law more flexible. The labour reform
requires the approval of Parliament's upper house, where the
government lacks a majority. The crisis may also strengthen
the home ministry, thought to be more reluctant than the
prime minister's advisers to make gestures to separatists in
Kashmir. If Mr. Vajpayee survives the tehelka scandal, he may
begin to ask himself what, exactly, he is in power for.
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