How to convert black money into white: learn from Arvind Kejriwal

It is hard not to be corrupt in Indian politics. Despite claims of honesty by Arvind Kejriwal and other megaphones of the Aam Aadmi Party, the truth is that AAP does all that every other party does to win and retain power. It is no different than other political parties. Being relatively new, it is given the benefit of doubt, though there is evidence to prove that AAP too resorts to the usual skullduggery associated with most political parties.

 

In fact, Kejriwal can be far more cynical in the use of devious tricks to hoodwink voters than most other politicians, not relying solely on the free-water and free-power planks.

 

For proof, let us recall how Kejriwal had proclaimed from housetops that AAP is an `honest’ party. That it would clean up political finance, that it would not accept a penny in black money, etc. It had promised to put the name and address of each donor, including his PAN number, on its website for the sake of transparency. Of course, it was an empty promise which was meant to fool people.

 

The lid was first lifted off the neat little scam run by Kerjiwal by a group of idealistic young men who had joined AAP during the days of the Anna Hazare movement. Soon, they were disgusted after witnessing first-hand the sordid goings-on. They left AAP and undertook to expose Kejriwal’s dirty doings.

 

They claimed AAP freely accepted huge donations in black money. To buttress the charge, photocopies of four bank pay drafts of ₹50 lakh each were brandished at a press conference in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls. It was black money which Kejriwal had arranged to have deposited in the AAP bank account after getting the same turned into bank drafts, they had claimed.

 

Having been a mid-level Indian Revenue Service officer before he quit to join politics, Kejriwal would naturally be familiar with the way black money was laundered into white and vice versa. So, having accepted ₹2 crore in cash from a couple of donors, the AAP leader set about making it appear legit political funding.

 

 

For this purpose, the services of a hawala trader were requisitioned. He was given ₹2 crore in cash and asked to convert it into legitimate bank instruments so that the money could be deposited in the official bank account of AAP.

 

For the payment of the usual fees hawala traders charge for providing such services, four bank drafts of ₹50 lakh each were made in favour of AAP. In other words, black was converted into white so that Kejriwal could boast that `we do not accept a penny in cash donations.’

 

Curiously, while other parties accept huge sums in cash from big corporate donors and palm it off it as contributions from tens of thousands of well-wishers in small denominations in order to escape the obligatory disclosure of information about the donors, without bothering to convert it through hawala transactions into white, the former IRS officer-turned-politician did the opposite. He too received crores of rupees in cash but in order to prove his political chastity he had it laundered into white through a notorious hawala trader who overnight produced four bank drafts of ₹50 lakh each from as many fictitious companies. 

 

But should you be surprised? We think not. For, Kejriwal has all along been something of a con man. He joined government service, never putting in an honest day’s work. He drew full pay and perks while doing `social work’ with a Ford Foundation-funded NGO and getting paid a substantial sum as `out-of-pocket expenses.’

 

As a social worker, he used someone else’s car, while saving his own money to invest in flats.

 

When he quit his government job to become a politician, he left without paying nearly ₹7 lakh he owed it. Again, someone else paid that money for him, though it was his own personal debt. We can go on and on in the same vein.

 

Suffice it to say that he is as worldly-wise as they come. In fact, the AAP boss is neither honest nor democratic. A highly ambitious man, he can do everything which conventional politicians do plus more for the sake of power.

Incidentally, last year, following the leak of e-mails of a business group, a couple of journalists were made to resign when it was discovered that they had used the car and/or guest house of the said business house for a couple of days. But Kejriwal is ‘honest’ even when he uses someone else’s car and relies on others to pay his personal debt. A case of clear double standards, isn’t it?

 

Reverse discrimination needs a relook

 

An interesting debate on social media concerns all of us. It pertains to the pernicious and long-term effect of unbridled reservations in services and educational institutions. It focuses on the need to cap the special privilege of preferences in jobs and admissions in educational institutions to one or two generations for each nuclear family. The quality of the all-India services is at stake should caste-based preferences continue to distort the selection process indefinitely.  

 

The case in point is that of the recent IAS `topper’. Curiously, though Tina Dhabi barely got 50-odd percent marks overall, yet she was the topper in this year’s all-India civil services exam. But what is not widely known is that she had failed in the preliminary exam, but using the reservation route still succeeded in sitting for the main examination.

 

However, what has really rankled a number of aspirants who could not pass the prestigious exam despite having done far better than Dabi in both preliminaries and mains, is that she is a third-generation beneficiary of reservations. Her grandfather got into the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research using the reservation route. So did her father in the Indian Telecom Service. Ditto for her mother who joined the Indian Engineering Service through the SC quota.

 

Also, wonder what will remain of the once much-vaunted Steel Frame of India if candidates with barely fifty percent marks can emerge toppers in the IAS? Of course, no sensible person can question the need for affirmative action for the traditionally disadvantaged groups, but to extend it indefinitely is bound to render the system ineffective, especially when they are now insisting on reservations in promotions as well. Merit cannot be sacrificed fully at the altar of political expediency.    

 

Virendra Kapoor is a Delhi-based journalist. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Asianet Newsable