First about the facts before one goes into the political aspect of these happenings.

Much has been written about the booth-capturing by Akali goons at many places, particularly in Mann village of the Chief Minister’s Lambi home constituency, during the recent zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections. On-the-spot media reports had spoken of how the police shut its eyes to booth-capturing attempts and took action against those who resisted these attempts. On the complaint of a single Akali worker wounded during the clash at Mann, the police registered cases against 125-150 residents, mostly Congress followers, but refused to register the counter complaint against the Akali goons who tried to capture the booth. What was worse was the police letting loose terror forcing most village male residents to flee. Reporters who visited the deserted village were told by some fear-stricken women that the policemen came to their houses and asked if they had voted for or against the Akalis promising that their male members would not be arrested if they had voted for the Akali candidate.

Now the issue of ruling leadership’s promise to zero tolerance of corruption.

The latest case of the ministers facing charges of corruption is of the Chief Minister’s loyalist Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka. He faces the charge of irregularities in the purchase of library books which even contained objectionable contents, science kits or map guides under the Central-funded Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhya Shiksha Abhiyan schemes for government schools at a cost of Rs.46 crore. The purchases, since suspended, were allegedly made at prices much higher than the market prices from some favoured firms. What has added to the controversy was the shifting of the minister’s controversial daughter-in-law Parampal Kaur from the Rural Development Department and posting her as Additional Project Director of the SSA, incharge of handling the purchases.

When politicians find themselves in dock on tricky issues, they always try to make officials as the scapegoat. To counter the clamour for his resignation, Maluka has shifted the responsibility for lapses to the Director General of School Education. Simultaneously, the district education officers are being verbally pressurized to hold rallies in support of their scam-tainted minister.

Under the all-round pressure, chief minister has ordered a probe into the scam by a retired judge which the opposition has rejected alleging that the judge has close ties with the Badal family.

If the minister is sacked, which at the moment seems doubtful, he would be the third minister to be dropped from Badal ministry. Earlier Badal’s another loyalist Bibi Jagir Kaur and Tota Singh had to be shown the door. Jagir Kaur, a former president of the Sikhs apex religious body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was sentenced to five years R.I. for abducting and forcibly aborting her daughter. The court had also ordered imprisonment of Tota Singh for misusing his powers. Another minister Gulzar Singh was also sacked on the charge of misappropriation of the centrally-provided border area funds. But he managed to return to the ministry after securing a “clean chit” from the state Vigilance.

Punjab’s financially virtually bankrupt Akali-BJP government has been charging the UPA government for discriminating against the state in the grant of funds. But the school books purchase scam and border areas funds misuse cases are the latest examples of how the funds granted by the Centre are being misutilised, diversified, or not being utilized because of the state government’s failure to contribute its mandatory share for the central grants.

Besides the growing number of corruption cases, the other most disturbing issue is the trend of unchecked police highhandedness against government’s opponents, both political and those agitating in support of their demands. The main factor for such a sorry state is the authoritative functioning of the Akali Dal’s ‘halq’ (constituency) in-charges. Nominees of the Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, they are acting as the unconstitutional centres of power whose writ runs in their respective areas police stations and civil administration.

Reflecting Sukhbir’s mindset these happenings remind one of the Emergency era’s excesses. Parkash Singh Badal’s admirers are surprised that a leader like him who had fought for preserving democratic values during his 56 years-long legislative career and also led historic agitation against Emergency excesses has been allowing such happenings under his tutelage. Being an admirer of Badal who has practiced what the noted thinker James M.Barrie said “Life is a long lesson in humility”, one wished Badal had nipped in the bud violations of democratic norms and the lawless functioning of the unconstitutional centres of power. This would have prevented his image from getting sullied and his government’s credibility from being dented.

It is not only the Akali leadership but the BJP leaders are also guilty of abetting the occurrence of such unpalatable happenings. The party which, notwithstanding its own Bangaru Laxmans, Yedyuruupas and even Nitin Gadkaris, misses no opportunity of lambasting the scam-tainted UPA government leaders corruption has preferred to remain silent on reports about Akali ministers corruption. Perhaps its love for the chair is preventing it from speaking against its senior partner’s leaders. What is shocking is that even BJP’s Punjab in-charge Shanta Kumar who had not spared even his party’s former Prem Kumar Dhumal-led Himachal government on the issue of corruption refused to comment about Maluka’s case saying “I do not have much information” about the alleged corruption in the purchase of school books and science kits by the Punjab Education Department.

History teaches lessons but cannot make the unwilling learn them. The ruling Akali-BJP leaders have also not learnt any lesson from the UPA ministers corruption. (IPA)