This Article is From Aug 22, 2014

An Honest Officer Persecuted by Congress, Then BJP

(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)

On May 26 2014, when Narendra Modi formed the government and was sworn in as the new Prime Minister, I did not expect his government would be exposed so soon and so fast. The twin issues which engineered the fall of the Manmohan Singh government were corruption of unprecedented proportions and escalating prices. People gave Modi an unexpectedly massive mandate with the expectation that he would deal with these issues in a definitive and decisive manner and Modi emerged as one of the most powerful prime ministers in Indian history because of the sheer size of his victory. But his brief tenure till now has been hugely disappointing and people's hopes are diminishing rapidly. His government's record on the issue of corruption is the most appalling.

Modi had claimed that he would not indulge in corruption or allow anyone else to. But media reports on Wednesday belied his tall claims. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has had the temerity to transfer the Chief Vigilance Officer of AIIMS. The officer, Sanjeev Chaturvedi, happened to be a whistle blower and a victim of the earlier Congress regime in Haryana.

As the deputy secretary and chief vigilance officer, of AIIMS, Mr Chaturvedi has a four-year fixed tenure and was supposed to continue in his present posting till 2016 but he was abruptly transferred last week without any explanation. On being questioned, the Health Minister said the officer was not eligible for the post in the first place, which is nothing but a blatant lie.

Mr Harsh Vardhan should know that three days before the Modi government took charge, his own ministry has passed an order stating that there was nothing wrong with Mr Chaturvedi's posting and was done as per the rules. This was in reply to an objection raised by BJP leader JP Nadda about the continuance of Mr Chaturvedi as chief vigilance officer. Now the same ministry which found no problem with Mr Chaturvedi's appointment is telling the whole world that he is not eligible for the post. The question then is why has the ministry changed its stance? Was it done under some pressure? If yes, then who and why? The question should also be raised as to why Nadda, a senior member of the BJP, sought clarifications on Mr Chaturvedi's appointment. Is there an ulterior motive? It is also pertinent to ask if Nadda wrote that letter in his own wisdom or was he trying to oblige someone. Mr Chaturvedi had ordered investigations against a senior officer at AIIMS from Nadda's home state Himachal Pradesh; his continuing at his post would have meant corruption at senior levels being exposed. Was it this that Nadda was trying to brush away?

As per the Health Ministry's written response by the joint secretary of the department, Mr Chaturvedi was appointed to the post as per guidance of the standing committee of the Parliament and a written assurance regarding this was given by then Health Secretary himself to the parliamentary committee. The department in its letter has also admitted that Mr Chaturvedi's performance has been exemplary and he has helped unearth a lot of corruption and many scams in AIIMS.

There is no denying the fact that Mr Chaturvedi is a controversial officer. He is known to be a whistle-blower who was transferred 12 times in five years by Haryana's Congress government. He was also suspended half a dozen times  - in four of those cases, his suspension was revoked by the central government; amazingly, he was brought on deputation to the Centre with specific instructions from the PMO itself that he should not be shifted out of his present posting without informing the PMO. Harsh Vardhan apparently ignored this order of the PMO in his haste to transfer him.

It therefore makes me wonder how the Modi government is different from the discredited UPA government on the issue of dealing with corruption. If the Hooda regime went on a witch-hunt for Mr Chaturvedi, then the Modi regime is no different. He was victimised by both.

This is not an isolated incident. Recently, the Modi government has clipped the wings of the anti-corruption bureau of the Delhi government stating that it can no longer investigate matters of corruption related to the central government. AAP had used this bureau to file an FIR against then Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and Reliance Chief Mukesh Ambani in the KG basin case; this was conveyed to the Delhi High Court which has been hearing the case. It seems obvious that this was done to save Reliance and others.

I am not even getting into the other cases of corrupt practices which have come into notice in the last two months. These two cases prove the point that there is hardly any difference between the Congress and the BJP. I would love to be proved wrong if Modi shows gumption and sacks Harsh Vardhan and penalises Nadda for bringing disrepute to the party and his government. Will he do that? I don't think so! The track record of his governance in Gujarat and till now at the Centre does not give any hope in this regard.

In the end, therefore, I am forced to say that the recent parliamentary elections have not brought any systemic change. It's merely a change of government. And it also shows that if the country has to get rid of corruption, it's has to look for a real alternative. A new paradigm has to be constructed and a new dawn has to be discovered.

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