The arrest of Suresh Kalmadi by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday does not close the file on corruption of surprising magnitude that is said to have surrounded preparations for last year’s Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. The case has only just begun. It is not unthinkable that, in due course, some in the Union sports ministry
, the Delhi Development Authority, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, as well as other Delhi government authorities — in short, individuals from departments that prosecute civil works and infrastructure projects in the nation’s capital, and those who were remiss insofar as application of mind is concerned — come under sharper scrutiny. The Shunglu Committee appointed by the Prime Minister to examine CWG preparations in depth has, after all, not restricted itself to analysing the Games-related expenditures of Mr Kalmadi’s fief. It cast its net wider, and has gone to the extent of asking a question or two of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and lieutenant-governor Tejendra Khanna. Nevertheless, the seizing and holding by the law of the president of the Indian Olympic Association who was chairman of the CWG organising committee does mark a moment of catharsis.
The throwing of a pair of slippers at Mr Kalmadi by an onlooker — that he may have been of unsound mind only rubs the point in — as the former was being taken to the courts the day after his arrest offers a confirmation of sorts that the wider public is relieved to see that the czar of sports administration, who exploited his political career to reach this spot and to make money, as is alleged, is at last behind bars. It may be recalled that even relatively junior officials gave Mr Kalmadi the cold shoulder when he sought to preen himself at the national games in Ranchi not long ago. After the CWG ended, this was the first indication of how low the Games boss had fallen in the barometer of public opinion. He was wont to give clever television bytes, protest his innocence in seemingly unassailable terms, and even hold out oblique threats that if he went down he would drag many others with him. The last was no doubt an attempt at buying insurance. Fortunately, from the point of view of not incentivising irregular practices, none of this worked, and the law stays on course. The nature of the CWG-related cases may depend on the nature of offences cited against Mr Kalmadi in the legal realm, for he is the linchpin in a sense. Even so, it is reassuring to know at this stage that every effort will be made by the government, the law enforcers and the courts to hold Mr Kalmadi’s feet to the fire.
The man who so flagrantly courted controversy even at the risk of being deemed corrupt is a Congress Lok Sabha MP. He was also secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party, from which post he got ejected when details of his alleged corruption first became public. Now Mr Kalmadi has been suspended from the Congress’ primary membership. These steps were necessary, but it is plain to see they have been taken ex post-facto. The Congress and the government leadership must devise measures that would reassure the people that they are capable of checkmating corruption at the first hint of it, and will not watch helplessly until the judicial machinery begins to operate. Of course, the Congress and its governments are not alone in this. All ruling parties at the Centre and in the states have shown signs of suffering from the same malady. At a fundamental level, corruption issues are systemic and party-neutral. It is our political system that needs to heal itself.