Who's Sooraj Toofani?
Celebrating sting operations
A few weeks back all newspapers highlighted the cash for questions scam that exposed the venality of our honorable Members of Parliament (MPs). It was funny and sad at the same point of time to see our MPs selling their souls. Thanks to modern technology and the intrepidity of Aniruddha Bahal, the MPs were exposed for what their countrymen long believed they are - corrupt individuals for whom there is nothing so low that they cannot stoop. Everything is fine as long as there are some personal gains to be made from it. And this was cutting across party lines. Of course, one may say that a few rotten apples do not mean all the apples are bad. But given the quality of people who get into politics and fight elections, a significant number of them fall into this category of venal, greedy politicians who will not hesitate to sell their mother if there was money to be made.
The 11 MPs who were thus caught live accepting money were shown not only as corrupt but incredibly stupid the way they were lured into the trap. As expected they claimed they were innocent and were victims of conspiracy! Of course, they were victims of the sting operations. And today comes another such sting operation. This time MPs have been caught asking for bribes or payback for approving certain development projects to be funded out of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which bestows a booty of Rs2 crores per annum to the MPs. It has long been suspected that for many MPs this is a good way to make money. Some of them do spend the money on developmental projects in their constituency and many are too busy to spend the money or look at projects. At the same time a significant many of the MPs see it as another money making opportunity.
In both the sting operations the journalists used middlemen who had access to the MPs and the operations were not directed against any particular political party. Our Honorable MPs seem to be united in two causes - when they get caught with their pants down as has happened this time around and when they want to raise their remuneration for the hard (some would say hardly) work they put in. Cutting across party lines the MPs were caught so that no one political party can claim higher moral ground as some tried to do during the Tehelka scandal.
There are two exceptions to the above. One there have been no women MPs caught in the sting operations (in Tehelka there was Jaya Jaitley who was allegedly involved but has been stridently defending herself in TV channels). Maybe they are so few in numbers that nobody approached them. Maybe they are actually honest. Or may be for many of them the men in their lives handle their affairs as was the case of a particular Chief Minister for Bihar. But whatever be the case, the fact that no lady MP has been involved should have been highlighted and championed by the media. Do we need more woman MPs and therefore, is it necessary that we should pass the Women's Reservation Bill in a hurry?
The second exception has been the absence of any MPs from the Communist Parties or the Left Front. According to a middleman quoted in one of the papers, the Left MPs are not approachable in such matters. Somehow they seem to be definitely more honest. Cynics say it is because who will approach them for favors when they do not have any power to influence (not true in the current UPA dispensation). In all likelihood the Left MPs actually are more principled although prisoners of their own dogma and therefore causing as much harm to the country's interests as the venal corrupt ones are doing. But that is another story and for now it is worth pondering what makes them more honest and principled?
I urge the media to highlight and champion the fact that there are honest politicians. While indeed we look at a majority of our politicians with disgust, there indeed are honorable men and women within their ilk and we need to celebrate their existence. We do not need to celebrate the venalities and crassness of the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav, but we need to celebrate the integrity and honesty of people like Somnath Chatterjee. Here is a man who has been talking about limiting the MPLADS even before he became a Speaker probably knowing very well what his colleagues are like.
Similarly celebrate Saroj Toofani. I am sure you will be asking who is Saroj Toofani. Mr. Toofani is a Samajwadi Party MP from Saidpur. I mention him because according to a report in the Hindustan Times he is the only MP approached who was "outraged at the idea of accepting a cut for sanctioning MPLADS money. Threw the sting team out." While revile the men who wanted bribes, champion a rare person like Mr. Toofani. Let us all know that there are people like Mr. Toofani in the political world of rogues and charlatans. Hopefully his sense of outrage and his probity will inspire other politicians and also other honest people to take up politics. Invite him to the TV studios and carry his interview in the front pages instead of inviting the rogues and their defenders. Please do not relegate him to single cc on page 10. He provides hope, where the others depress.
A few weeks back all newspapers highlighted the cash for questions scam that exposed the venality of our honorable Members of Parliament (MPs). It was funny and sad at the same point of time to see our MPs selling their souls. Thanks to modern technology and the intrepidity of Aniruddha Bahal, the MPs were exposed for what their countrymen long believed they are - corrupt individuals for whom there is nothing so low that they cannot stoop. Everything is fine as long as there are some personal gains to be made from it. And this was cutting across party lines. Of course, one may say that a few rotten apples do not mean all the apples are bad. But given the quality of people who get into politics and fight elections, a significant number of them fall into this category of venal, greedy politicians who will not hesitate to sell their mother if there was money to be made.
The 11 MPs who were thus caught live accepting money were shown not only as corrupt but incredibly stupid the way they were lured into the trap. As expected they claimed they were innocent and were victims of conspiracy! Of course, they were victims of the sting operations. And today comes another such sting operation. This time MPs have been caught asking for bribes or payback for approving certain development projects to be funded out of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which bestows a booty of Rs2 crores per annum to the MPs. It has long been suspected that for many MPs this is a good way to make money. Some of them do spend the money on developmental projects in their constituency and many are too busy to spend the money or look at projects. At the same time a significant many of the MPs see it as another money making opportunity.
In both the sting operations the journalists used middlemen who had access to the MPs and the operations were not directed against any particular political party. Our Honorable MPs seem to be united in two causes - when they get caught with their pants down as has happened this time around and when they want to raise their remuneration for the hard (some would say hardly) work they put in. Cutting across party lines the MPs were caught so that no one political party can claim higher moral ground as some tried to do during the Tehelka scandal.
There are two exceptions to the above. One there have been no women MPs caught in the sting operations (in Tehelka there was Jaya Jaitley who was allegedly involved but has been stridently defending herself in TV channels). Maybe they are so few in numbers that nobody approached them. Maybe they are actually honest. Or may be for many of them the men in their lives handle their affairs as was the case of a particular Chief Minister for Bihar. But whatever be the case, the fact that no lady MP has been involved should have been highlighted and championed by the media. Do we need more woman MPs and therefore, is it necessary that we should pass the Women's Reservation Bill in a hurry?
The second exception has been the absence of any MPs from the Communist Parties or the Left Front. According to a middleman quoted in one of the papers, the Left MPs are not approachable in such matters. Somehow they seem to be definitely more honest. Cynics say it is because who will approach them for favors when they do not have any power to influence (not true in the current UPA dispensation). In all likelihood the Left MPs actually are more principled although prisoners of their own dogma and therefore causing as much harm to the country's interests as the venal corrupt ones are doing. But that is another story and for now it is worth pondering what makes them more honest and principled?
I urge the media to highlight and champion the fact that there are honest politicians. While indeed we look at a majority of our politicians with disgust, there indeed are honorable men and women within their ilk and we need to celebrate their existence. We do not need to celebrate the venalities and crassness of the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav, but we need to celebrate the integrity and honesty of people like Somnath Chatterjee. Here is a man who has been talking about limiting the MPLADS even before he became a Speaker probably knowing very well what his colleagues are like.
Similarly celebrate Saroj Toofani. I am sure you will be asking who is Saroj Toofani. Mr. Toofani is a Samajwadi Party MP from Saidpur. I mention him because according to a report in the Hindustan Times he is the only MP approached who was "outraged at the idea of accepting a cut for sanctioning MPLADS money. Threw the sting team out." While revile the men who wanted bribes, champion a rare person like Mr. Toofani. Let us all know that there are people like Mr. Toofani in the political world of rogues and charlatans. Hopefully his sense of outrage and his probity will inspire other politicians and also other honest people to take up politics. Invite him to the TV studios and carry his interview in the front pages instead of inviting the rogues and their defenders. Please do not relegate him to single cc on page 10. He provides hope, where the others depress.
posted by Mishti's musings at 6:03 AM
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