A culture of impunity is the factor that stands out in the recent scandals — Adarsh and 2G among them — that have made us squirm as a nation, exposed the high and mighty, cast a shadow on India as a place to do honest business in, infused political uncertainty in the system, and made us introspect as a society. It is quite clear that the culture of impunity is now deeply embedded in every aspect of our life. This, arguably more than anything else, is something the country will agree on. Powerful, influential or wealthy people who seek to bend rules at their will for purposes of self-aggrandisement are able to do so because they know they won’t be interrogated for their actions. Mostly this is on account of the fact that too few people who operate the system — party affiliations are immaterial — are above board, and therefore too many may be expected to look away even when they know that wilful wrong is being done. There is no knowing how many skeletons are rattling in the cupboards of the powerful while they pretend to be going about in pursuit of the national interest. It is for this reason that environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s order to bring down the Adarsh Society flats in Colaba, Mumbai, within three months makes sense. The order is dramatic, it is overwhelming, but it has come not a day too soon. It also makes us breathe a sigh of relief. At last there is a no-nonsense order from high levels that signals that will be zero tolerance for wilful disregard of regulations. Since at the formal level we remain a democracy, those whose malign interests take a hit on account of the environment ministry’s order will take recourse to the law courts to fight off demolition. The kleptocrats cannot be denied due process although it is well known that in India due process often permits the devil to cite scripture.
The Adarsh complex treated the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules of 1991 as though these did not exist. We may be certain that many are waiting in the wings to make a mockery of this regulation. It is just possible that the environment ministry order will give them pause. It will also alert public opinion and exert pressure on politicians, bureaucrats, bent businessmen and other high-fliers to step back. Not so long ago, it was commonly supposed that minor officials in government departments took advantage of a shortage economy to line their pockets, giving rise to the idea of the “inspector raj”. Today we can be certain that it is the elite who are twisting the rules out of shape to milk the system. They will stop at nothing unless the political executive stands up to be counted. But for the scandals that have lately come to light, the UPA-II government appeared to be on a steady-state path. Now the Manmohan Singh government and the Congress party, the core of the ruling coalition, has to fight its way out of the corner. It can do so only if it is able to demonstrate that it means business in dealing with the crooks. It will not do for it to point fingers at its opponents. Rules and procedures need to be tightened, investigations hastened without compromising quality, and examples made of wrong-doers. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi noted recently that our moral universe had shrunk even as growth rates had expanded. She must now move to show that her party has the will and the capacity to go beyond words.