Who wants to commit suicide on a sunny day?

Whenever a new scam surfaces, it reminds me of ‘Namak ka Daroga’ , the story on earning black money, penned by Munshi Premchand. In the story, the father preaches his son Munshi Vanshidhar that ‘Vetan Purnavaasi ke chaand ki tarah hai, jo dhire-dhire ghaT-te hue lupta ho jaata hai. Upari aaya bahta hua shrot hai, jisase sadaiv pyaas bujhaati hai. Vetan manushya deta hai, isise usme vriddhi nahi hoti.Upari aamdani-ishwar deta hai, isise uski barkat hoti hai’.

It seems, our political masters along with their top brigade in various government departments and offices have taken the above preaching in letter and spirit. They are therefore leaving no stone unturned to make the most from the opportunities that they steal. And, they are in a race to outdo each other. Plethora of scams coming to light one after the other, from different corners of the country, has left the general public dumbfounded. From the figures that are coming out on Black Money, from sources none other than the Swiss Bank itself, India has more black money than rest of the world combined! India tops the list with 1500 billion dollars in black money!! Also, Government has the list of those contributing to the treasury of Swiss bank, but won’t disclose it!!! And to top it all, they also have valid reasons for not making it public!!!! Phew!!!!!

More than anything else, what is difficult to understand is that – what purpose all this huge sum of money serves to them, lying for years and years together in some corner of a Swiss bank? It doesn’t do any good to the money launderers, but certainly has put a lot of strain on the already weakened and fragile backbone of the common man. Let good sense prevail on the government to bring back the money, disclose the names and mete-out harshest punishment to all those involved in it- without any trial or enquiries; come whatever! But, Alas! It seems many in the government too have vested interests and they are having a field day in sharing the loot. Who wants to commit suicide on a sunny day?

However, it is heartening to learn from news reports that in Agra hundreds of ordinary people from all walks of life turned up and joined the march against corruption on Sunday, January 30,2011 . The march was a part of the nationwide campaign against corruption, organised by various social organisations on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination - which is observed as Martyr's Day. Gandhi stood for transparency in action. Let's hope the protests by ordinary people take the form of a revolution. 

Madhukar Mohan