Author: Saubhik Chakrabarti
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 16, 2006
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=85994
I have the scoop on the Bofors/Bhardwaj controversy.
The inside story of what transpired before a harassed and hounded Italian's
frozen British bank accounts almost melted in the warm glow of compassionate
Congressism...
HR Bhardwaj had a chat with B Dutta. It's
wholly and only my decision, the law minister told the law officer. I can't
bear to see Quattrocchi suffer any longer. I have disagreed with the CBI before
and now it's time for some action. But remember, he sternly added, neither
the PM nor Sonia Gandhi knows anything about this. Just because Manmohan Singh
is my government's boss and Mrs Gandhi my party chief doesn't mean they are
in the loop about decisions involving high profile and potentially explosive
issues.
With Dutta looking a little puzzled, Bhardwaj
clarified: Remember Jharkhand and what some people called the MLA market;
the governor was described as our storekeeper? PM and Sonia didn't know anything
about that either. Or about what Laloo Yadav and Buta Singh were up to in
Bihar before the elections. Or about what Natwar and Jagat Singh were up to
in Iraq, allegedly on behalf of themselves and the Congress.
This is how the UPA functions, Bhardwaj explained.
When we pass the employment guarantee law, it's thanks to Sonia Gandhi's conscience.
When we get the Americans to end nuclear apartheid against India, it's courtesy
Manmohan Singh's cleverness. But when the UPA appears to subvert the Constitution
(Jharkhand) or governance (Bihar) or contractual probity (Iraq oil kickbacks)
- what I propose to do about Quattrocchi will be called subversion of official
investigation, the minister added parenthetically - it's always the case that
Sonia and PM get to know about it only from the newspapers and/or television.
The shock of that revelation, the minister
continued, stuns both Manmohan and Sonia, which is why there's often no official
or party response for a while. Mrs Gandhi is usually more affected - Bhardwaj
now provides fascinating details about India's most enigmatic politician -
and that's the reason she most often doesn't say anything at all. How can
she, he demands in that forthright, open manner he's so closely identified
with. If no one tells her anything, she can hardly help being confronted with
nasty surprises.
People keep on saying she's got so much power,
Bhardwaj lamented. But she doesn't. And the PM has even less. Just look at
what I am about to do. And that, despite knowing that Mrs Gandhi knew Quattrocchi.
I know Bofors can still singe the Nehru-Gandhis politically. I also know the
PM is in charge of the personnel department which oversees the CBI which,
in turn, is investigating Quattrocchi. You would think that given these circumstances,
in any party hierarchy and government set-up, I would have to inform Sonia
and PM that you are to be sent to London. But you would be wrong.
We are, after all, unique political animals,
said the law minister to his additional solicitor general. Never in the history
of India's governments and ruling political entities have the top few known
so little about so much. True, in every government or ruling party, or indeed
in any organisation, the boss doesn't always know what his - and, in this
case, her - juniors are doing. You don't burden the leader with every little
thing. Why we are unique is that we frequently don't tell the bosses even
about the really big things.
Therefore, when government and party spokespersons
indicate that the PM or Sonia "didn't know", they don't mean, contrary
to what carping critics think, that our leaders are trying to shirk responsibility.
Not knowing is not a defence, it's not even an excuse for a defence; it's
simply an explanation of how this government and this political entity work.
So do your job, the minister instructed his officer, and keep on doing it
even after I resign and, let's say, Kapil Sibal (Bhardwaj looks distinctly
pained at this point) gets my portfolio.
Surely you understand, he asks, why I may
have to resign? Once the media informs Sonia and the PM about what their government/party
has been up to, they will quite naturally 'distance' themselves from whatever,
or whoever, grabs the headlines. But sadly, there's only so much distance
my party bigwigs can put between themselves and a controversy-generating colleague
as long as that colleague remains in the cabinet or in powerful party committees.
Political smells carry a long way.
Natwar Singh, poor chap, forgot that, the
minister reminisced about his former colleague. I know that if this Quattrocchi
thing comes out, Sonia and the PM might not be able to find enough distance
between them and me as long as I am in the government. Hence the likelihood
of my martyrdom.
On that poignant note, Bhardwaj's briefing
ended.
When I received (as is the custom these days)
the secretly recorded CD bearing this moving soliloquy of a man preparing
to 'sacrifice' himself, my first reaction was of deep sadness. To carry the
burden of so little knowledge must be terrible for his higher-ups. My second
instinct was to call up Amar Singh to tell him that, even assuming there's
an official angle to what has been agitating him, he's being unfair in accusing
certain people of knowing the kind of things their own partymen keep them
in the dark about. But I remembered just in time: Amar Singh's phone might
be tapped.
So I just sat and thought about the CD and
came to the conclusion that Bhardwaj hadn't addressed something far more crucial:
would all of these things have happened if the PM and Sonia did know?
