Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has done that work which till date no Prime Minister or Chief Minister of the country could do. Have you heard that a minister was not only dismissed by his own Chief Minister on charges of corruption but also got arrested? Chief Minister Mann has taken such a strict action against his Health Minister Dr. Vijay Singla, which should be emulated by every Prime Minister and Chief Minister of the country. Singla and his OSD Pradeepkumar were arrested because they both demanded 2 per cent bribe from a contractor.
58 crores Rs. This bribe is made in the work of, Rs 1 crore 16 lakh! The contractor complained to the Chief Minister. This complaint was made on April 21. The Chief Minister kept a watch on this minister. When Singla was called and questioned yesterday, he confessed to the bribe in front of Bhagwant Mann. Often bribery politicians refuse to accept such things and they are removed from the cabinet on some pretext.
Many Chief Ministers and Prime Ministers have told me secret stories of such ministers many times, but the real question is, who is the leader in the country who can claim that he has never taken a bribe while in power? It is a different matter that sometimes people are compelled to give bribe to get some work done and sometimes people keep giving bribe as a tribute so that the help of that briber can be taken when the work is done.
The character of politics, not only of India, but of the whole world, has become such that it cannot work without bribery. Which country’s Presidents and Prime Ministers have not been tried for corruption and who are those who have not served jail? Lucky are those who have escaped from jail. About one and a half-two thousand years ago, in ‘Nitishtak’, Maharaja Bhartrihari wrote that “Politics is like a prostitute. He is polymorphic. She spends a lot and money keeps pouring into her regularly.” That’s why I was not surprised at Singla’s arrest.
One wonders what is happening in other states and at the Center on similar allegations? Are all our ministers and officers a wash of milk? A large part of the bribe taken by politicians is often used for their party, but the officers who take bribe under their watch, they digest it completely. They don’t even burp. One such case has been caught in Jharkhand so far.
Many cases of bribery of officers are still coming to the fore, but these are just flowers. The real root of corruption lies in the leaders. If the leaders are honest, then what is the courage of an officer to even wish to take a bribe. The youth who wants to move ahead in politics must wear two weapons. One is happy and the other is bribery. Both of these are very high quality arts.
