Corruption case against Jagan Mohan-split

Lord Acton, the British historian wrote - "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad man."

A corruption charge against any minister who has turned hostile towards the ruling party is not a new phenomenon. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former MP of Congress and son of Late YSR Reddy (Ex Chief Minister of A.P.) was charged under prevention of corruption act for his assets amounting approximately Rs. 365 crore. He left Congress in 2010 because Congress had given another candidate's name for the seat of Chief Minister instead of Jagan's name. This made Jagan furious who was one of the most deserving candidates for the Chief Minister's seat in Andhra Pradesh. There were also hopes among the people that the son of Late YSR Reddy would be the new successor after he died under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash. The injustice made Jagan launch another party named YSR Congress (after his dead father). But, this did not go well with the Congress party. They used every trick in the book to curb his growing power in the state. They launched a monumental, devastating and permanent injury to his reputation by misusing the CBI and naming him in a disproportionate assets case.

CBI which has often been dubbed as 'Congress Bachao Institution' (Save Congress Institution) is known to have misused its power when it has to save the government or teach a lesson to the erring ministers. It makes one ponder on the question – Why were such allegations made against Jagan Mohan Reddy only when he left the Congress party?

Many cases where Congress ministers have come under the scanner have been in limelight only because they have been Supreme Court monitored cases. For eg. 2G, CWG (where the Shunglu Panel investigated the scam), Adarsh Scam,etc. How ironical is it that only when Supreme Court monitors cases where there has been involvement by the Congress ministers, we see Congress ministers coming under limelight and not when CBI independently investigates.

Every government has been accused of misusing the CBI for their own interest. That is why the government in power often allows its ministers to go unpunished. We saw that it was a major demand in the Jan Lokpal Bill to make the CBI independent and remove its functioning from the clutches of the government.

This is a prima facie case where Jagan Mohan has to pay the price for going against the ruling party. Till the time he was in Congress, he wasn't accused of having illegitimate money to the tune of 360 crores. Now, when he left the ruling party, the Congress sends CBI after Jagan to howl him. The issue to be debated here is not whether Jagan is an honest man or a corrupt man. The issue that comes to the forefront is that why is CBI misused by the Congress to such an extent. Kalmadi still hasn't got any punishment even after the Shunglu panel accused him of gross corruption. He still walks in and out of the CBI office as if it is just another day at work. He has been not behind the bars only because of his loyalty to the ruling party.

Patriotic Indians should question such gross abuse of power by the ruling party and not let the innocent get punished.

Abhishek Dixit

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