While the Bofors scandal remains the by-word for corruption in high places in India, the AgustaWestland helicopter purchase is on the verge of overcoming Bofors in magnitude. Once again, it's the Congress which is on the back foot but trying to brazen out the mounting evidence of kickbacks.
Yesterday, the Rajya Sabha was continuously disrupted by Congress MPs vociferously levelling allegations against the BJP for an alleged case of graft in Gujarat. There was little substance in the Congress's charges and even if there was any merit in it, that was drowned in the cacophony caused by Congress members exercising their vocal cords.
It was obvious that the sole purpose of the sloganeering on this issue was to prevent BJP members from raising the Agusta matter once more. The nervousness of the principal opposition party has been apparent over the last few days, especially after Dr Subramanian Swamy was inducted as a BJP member of the Upper House. He caused an uproar on the very first day of his present term by wondering aloud whether Mrs Sonia Gandhi was a recipient of the Agusta largesse. Predictably, the Congress did not allow the House to run thereafter.
On the next occasion, the mere mention of "Italy" in the context of the kickbacks sent Congressmen into paroxysms of rage, prompting a witty member to ask if, henceforth, even mentioning "pasta" in the House would result in an uproar!
On a more serious note, the Congress Party, particularly in the Rajya Sabha where they have considerable strength, seems determined to derail proceedings of the House for the remaining part of the Budget Session so that the Agusta mud does not stick.
The supply of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland had come under scanner after Italian authorities alleged that bribes were paid by the company to clinch the Rs. 3,600 crore deal
To many Congressmen, the Agusta episode must seem like an eerie re-run of the devastating Bofors drama. Although no smoking gun has yet been discovered, the kickback allegations cascaded for long enough to convince the public at large that bribes were taken by the then ruling party's bigwigs to sanction purchase of the high-quality Howitzers. Unlike Agusta, there was no charge that specifications were modified to suit Bofors, but nevertheless, corruption charges boomed despite Bofors' suitability for the Army.
The bribe amount in Bofors, reportedly Rs 64 crore, was paltry by current standards. In the case of Agusta, the exact amount is yet to surface. But the Congress Party appears to be as much on the back foot now as it was in 1987. And the party will not forget in a hurry the fallout of Bofors which included the resignation of VP Singh over another unrelated scandal over submarines. This resignation snowballed into the formation of the Janata Dal and Rajiv Gandhi's staggering defeat in the 1989 general election.
This time the Congress Party does not have to fear losing power - it does not wield power today except in a handful of states, mostly in the North-East. But what is at stake for the party is total erosion of the credibility for its ruling family. At a time when the mother and son leadership of the Congress was busy overcoming the devastation of the party's crushing 2014 defeat and making strenuous efforts to regain some traction in forthcoming elections in the states, particularly Uttar Pradesh, the Agusta revelations have come as a crippling blow. Indian journalism is much more fiercely investigative than it was in the Bofors era, and more sophisticated technical methodology is available to investigators today compared to 1985, so it is clear that the Agusta scandal will keep popping up each time the Congress tries to get over it. In the process, its readiness for the upcoming state assembly polls will be gravely disoriented, and any hopes of recovery before the 2019 general election, badly hampered.
The ruling BJP says that Sonia Gandhi and other top Congress leaders have been implicated in the scam - a point the Congress disputed in Parliament (File photo)
Unable to convincingly refute the kickback charges or counter the negative public perception, the Congress is certain to fall back even more aggressively on the only instrument at its command - its numbers in the Rajya Sabha. In other words, whatever hopes may have existed till a fortnight ago of the Congress softening its stance on the GST Bill have faded if not disappeared altogether. Despite being its original author, the Congress had adopted a belligerent posture on the Bill knowing that this could well be the economic game-changer Prime Minister Modi was hoping for. But still there were hopes that a compromise could be reached if the government conceded the Congress' demands half-way. However, now that the party's first family has been dragged into the murky controversy, it is most unlikely that the Congress will budge an inch from its hard-line opposition to the proposed Constitutional Amendment required for the passage of the Bill.
Dark clouds of the Agusta issue are hovering over Parliament House, although rain-bearing clouds are nowhere in sight in sweltering Delhi. Before the session resumed, there were hopes that if the opposition were allowed to vent their grievances during the first 10 days, the government might be able to table the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha in the latter part once tempers cooled and some deft backroom negotiations were held with the opposition. All such hopes have faded with Agusta usurping the headlines and even public mindspace.
One cannot expect the Congress to rise above its tit-for-tat strategy which had begun even before the Agusta allegations broke out afresh. But now that the party's first family has been dragged into the controversy it is certain that the Congress will not relent, refusing to cooperate with the government on any issue. In fact, this attitude may provide a bigger handle to the Modi Government. The BJP will surely argue that faced with charges of corruption in yet another defence deal, the Congress is adamant on blocking India's economic progress. It is doubtful if the Congress leadership has the necessary sagacity to separate the Agusta issue from the need to enact dynamic economic legislation.
Considering that it will take a very long time for Agusta investigations to conclude and, if at all, nail Congress leaders, the sagacious way forward would be to allow crucial bills like GST to be passed and take credit for originally initiating them. The Congress party's paranoia over any suggestion that the first family may get embroiled in a legal imbroglio will not allow it to take a less combative approach. In the final analysis, both the party and the nation stand to suffer the wages of such cussedness.
(Dr. Chandan Mitra is a journalist, currently Editor of The Pioneer Group of Publications. He is also BJP MP of the Rajya Sabha.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.