The country has come to believe that no matter how big a corrupt person is, he will not be able to escape from the law.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating alleged old cases of land purchase irregularities, illegal mining and money laundering in Jharkhand state, has arrested Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Due to this action, the Jharkhand government was in trouble and he had to resign from the post of Chief Minister. Central agencies are currently sounding the alarm of action against corruption, due to which a new sun is visible rising to control the increasing corruption in politics, which is a great expectation for the world’s largest democracy to become ideal and strong. Only purification of politics and freedom from crime in the nectar of independence will make India a strong and developed nation. After Hemant Soren, now next is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. It is clear that now the boat of the corrupt is not going to cross. If these people think that because they are powerful the law cannot reach them, then they are in trouble. If they have committed corruption, they will definitely be punished for their actions. The leaders who have looted property worth crores and billions of rupees through corrupt practices probably do not know that there is a strong government at the Center which does not tolerate corruption. That is why the investigating agencies have complete freedom to catch those involved in corrupt practices. The central agencies are also engaged in their work free from pressure; instead of pulling their legs, their morale should be boosted.

These days, corruption cases are being exposed in large numbers in non-BJP states. Key constituents of the India Alliance, Satyendra Jain, who was the Health Minister of the Aam Aadmi government, Manish Sisodia, who was the Deputy Chief Minister, and Partha Chatterjee, the Industry Minister of West Bengal, are behind the bars. Their arrest shows that no matter how many claims Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal make about corruption-free governance, their senior ministers are also facing serious allegations of corruption. The increasing cases of corruption in various political parties and governments of various states is a matter of serious concern. It seems that today we are not living life but political compulsions. Politics has no longer had any meaningful and clear purpose, it has become a means of self-fulfillment. Political parties are not able to differentiate between good and bad, useful and useless. The word guide i.e. leader was so sacred and meaningful but now the leader has become a villain. The leadership became businessmen and corrupt. Today the word leader is an abuse. Whereas leader was synonymous with father. He should have played the role of a father. Father is not only the one who becomes the reason for birth but is also the one who teaches discipline, teaches the lesson of honesty and shows the path of development. Becomes a guide to move forward.

There is no debate in the India Alliance on corruption, political criminalization and violent urges of caste-community, there is no vision and direction for building an ideal nation. When people engaged in politics lose the patience and seriousness to delve deeper into these issues, then their platform dialogues first fall to a low level and then mud is considered an alternative to dialogue. This is what is happening these days. The actions that Modi government is taking against corruption are commendable. There is no dearth of such leaders in Indian politics, who have become synonymous with corruption, who believe that the government is theirs and they can do anything. This kind of misleading thinking is causing the downfall of Indian politics. Its purity and transparency is being tarnished. Earlier, politics meant serving the people, but later it started being considered as a medium to serve one’s people. States like Bihar, Bengal, Delhi and Jharkhand appear at the top in this. The developments that have just happened in Jharkhand itself, do not it give the impression that Hemant Soren has definitely done some such things that first he had to run away from the ED and when the pressure on him increased, he had to resign from the post of Chief Minister and was handed over to the ED officials. Had to be arrested.

The condition of Bihar is also no different from Jharkhand. There, the corruption of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has been continuously in the news, he has also been punished. His son Tejashwi Yadav and other family members are also accused of land scam. It is said that when ED asked questions to Tejashwi Yadav, he too could not give satisfactory answers. He said that he was a minor at the time of the scam. When ED officials asked how a company worth crores was formed, he said that he had no information about it. Whereas how Lalu Yadav accumulated so much wealth is not a hidden secret. Therefore, it is not wrong to speculate that sooner or later Tejashwi Yadav may also be seen in jail like his father. A similar story is happening in other states of the country too, where the Chief Minister and big leaders are on the target of ED, so it is possible that in the coming days we can see many more leaders in the dungeon.

It is not only about Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, wherever corruption occurs, action should be taken against it without any bias. BJP is a nationalist party, ready to create a new India and a strong India, so if there is corruption within its party, then cleaning it is more important. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trumpeting action against corruption among politicians, so this is a meaningful initiative to celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence, through which he will be considered as the unique and historical Prime Minister of India. If the credibility of politicians falls, it will not be easy to save the credibility of politics. Politics is the only reliable way for us for the betterment of the society and after criminalization and corruption, the third reason behind its discredit is this mudslinging politics, in which wrong is not considered wrong. These three are not tools of politics, hence lead politics towards destruction. The issue of criminalization and corruption is very deep and fighting against it requires a lot of time and energy, but by avoiding mudslinging and running meaningful debates, the reform movement of the country’s politics can be started. It should be expected from those who devote their lives to political work that they should not give political color to the actions taken against corruption. With such hopeful and clean politics, India’s democracy can prosper.

-Lalit Garg

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)