Two major exposes by an alert media seem to have changed the political scenario of the country. The first involving Jay Amit Shah, son of BJP national president Amit Shah, in a multicrore corporate fraud rocked the boat. The second, involving Shaurya Doval, son of national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval has done the same, more violently.
A leader and a party that came to power screaming their heads off against the corruption and nepotism committed in the decade-long, Congress-led UPA government has made the sounds coarser. The nation was desperate for succour from the terrible Congress attitude of negligence and corruption.
The attitude verged on ‘We are Born to Rule’. 2014 saw the demise of those very people who thought they could never be dislodged. It also proved that no political boss or group can retain office forever in India. The average Indian voter rose to the height where s/he proved that s/he was way beyond all leaders put together and also all their screaming and ranting supporters put together.
It is not that most people were fooled with the promises of 15 lakh rupees in everyone’s accounts or a victorious war against Pakistan or even throwing all the minorities, SCs and STs into the Indian Ocean. Simply put, the Indian on the street was tired of being taken for a ride by this very same people whom s/he had voted to power.
In the early stages, the changeover did not seem cosmetic. People accepted the constant foreign jaunts with a smirk. They accepted the irritating behaviour of Pakistan, being fully aware that India could never really respond appropriately.
Everything surgical smelt like antiseptic. They even tried to whip up a wee bit of fervour when they felt China might attack at Doklam. Later on, almost all those who know, understood that Doklam and nearby areas were already gone.
That was a non-issue for China. India did not know how to pull up its socks when OBOR confronted our foreign policy formulators. Indians took even demonetisation in their stride, thinking they were making the sacrifice for national good.
Then the blizzard hit. Jay Amit Shah and his corporate antics shook the people and made them wonder how someone adjoining the apex seat could goof up so miserably. Union ministers were pressed into service to explain the misdemeanours of this private individual.
The very necessity of making the railway minister Piyush Goyal hold a press conference and announce that a hefty defamation proceeding would follow somehow convinced many that the roots had gone deep. That Amit Shah is probably the most trusted man of Prime Minister Modi is a foregone conclusion.
His son acting in a manner unbecoming of a normal businessman was proof enough of wrongdoings at the highest level. Now, that incident being followed by Shaurya Doval’s misdeeds getting exposed has made many people sad and exasperated: Sad because the political class in this country could not manage to paint a better picture of itself even when given overwhelming trust; exasperated because both Amit Shah and Ajit Doval are the two mainstays of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Amit Shah is his Panzer Division with whose help not only are the elections being fought but the party too is being held under tight reins. The dependence on the other man, NSA chief Ajit Doval, is equally heavy. When Doklam was boiling over, just prior to the international meet on OBOR hosted by China, PM Modi sent Ajit Doval to deal with Xi Jinping. Indians now understand the drama behind Doklam.
Even an imbecile nationalist will understand that to deal with someone of the stature of Xi, India probably could find no one else but a retired bureaucrat like Ajit Doval. Sadly, because of his cloak and dagger official position, Doval cannot even deny knowledge of his son’s misdeeds.
‘India Foundation’, the think tank engineered by Shaurya Doval, which also has India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, and MoS External Affairs MJ Akbar, among others, is alleged to have accepted undue favours and funds from Indian and foreign entities for no rhyme or reason.
Both these allegations have come up in some news portals, including ‘The Wire’. The truth can only be surmised. Unfortunately for India, when the populace wants untainted clean politicians, those who rule the country seem to be intentionally muddling their acts. People are heartbroken!