First, it was the Modi government’s honeymoon period which started losing its sheen within three months of coming to power. Then it were the attempts to communally polarize India’s pluralistic ethos by saffronising the established institutions and the inflammatory utterances by some BJP MPs, leaders of RSS affiliates and the so-called sadhus and ‘saadhvis’. And now it is the misdeeds of some of the BJP ministers and charges of corruption against some party leaders.

The media, particularly electronic, has on the basis of documentary evidence, been reporting how some ministers are misusing their authority to commit illegalities. Both External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhra Raj have been charged with helping the absconder and scam-tainted former IPL czar Lalit Modi for facilitating his entry into India. Theirs is the clear case of conflict of interest as Swaraj’s husband and daughter have been the Lalit Modi’s counsels in their court cases and Raje’s son has allegedly been financially benefitted by Lalit Modi. Now HRD minister Smriti Irani faces the charge of misrepresenting her educational qualifications in election affidavits. A Delhi court has taken cognizance of the complaint against Irani fixing August 28 for hearing of the case.

As though these stigmas to tarnish the Modi government image were not enough reports have started appearing in the media about alleged corruption by some BJP leaders. The latest is about Maharashtra’s Women and child development Minister Pankaja Munde, daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde facing allegations of placing orders in a day for material worth Rs.206 crore without inviting tenders. Another case is of the Karnataka Lokayukta police filing three graft cases against BJP’s national vice-president and former chief minister Y.S.Yeddyuruppa for allegedly freeing from government control prime land in and around Bengaluru during his 2008-2011 tenure as chief minister.

All these developments have dented the Modi government’s image. The irony is that Modi’s senior most ministers -home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley- have made illogical statements to defend the defaulters. Jaitley says “Nobody in the government is tainted” and Rajnath says “Our ministers do not have to resign. This is not their (Congress) government, this is NDA government”.

It is the classic case of prosecutors also acting as judges to exonerate the accused. What is intriguing is the sphinx-like silence the prime minister has maintained on all such happenings. He perhaps believes that silence is golden. If he continues with his present stance, his critics will start describing him as P.V. Narasimha Rao-II.

There are three most worrisome issues confronting the Indian polity. One is the full blast launching of the RSS’s Hindutva agenda in governance, cultural and social arenas. Key government, educational, social and cultural bodies and top-level training institutes including Film and Television Training Institute are being filled with RSS/BJP loyalists ignoring more meritorious personalities. In course of time, such steps are bound to have serious implications for India’s integrity and pluralistic ethos.

In this context, the latest case is of Rohini Salian, Special Public Prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. The blasts claimed the lives of four Muslims and alleged Hindu extremists are the accused in the case. Rohini has said that over the past one year since the new NDA government came to power she has been under pressure from the National Investigation Agency to go “soft” in the case. “I got a call from one of the officers of the NDA which is investigating all the alleged Hindu extremist cases telling me that there is a message that I should go soft in the Malegaon blasts case. On June 12, before one of the hearings in the case in the Sessions Court, I was told by the same NIA officer that “higher-ups” did not want me to appear in the court for the State of Maharashtra and that another advocate will attend the proceedings.”

The case which exposes the mindset of the BJP leadership reminds one of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots of Gujarat when Modi was chief minister. The government had reportedly come to the rescue of some of the police officers facing charges of allegedly playing a dubious role in the riots. The BJP president Amit Shah who was also one of the accused of the Gujarat riots, has since been acquitted by the court.

The third case is of more serious nature as it involves threat to Indian democracy. Modi is being widely charged with autocratic style of functioning which in extraordinary situations can even lead to dictatorship. In this connection, the senior-most BJP leader L.K. Advani’s recent comments assume significance. Advani said “Forces that can crush democracy are stronger (today)……I don’t have the confidence it (Emergency) cannot happen again”.

Given the above scenario, the question arises whether Modi and BJP will be able to check the sharp slide that is taking place in governance. More crucial issue will be ensuring India’s unity and integrity, essential for the stability and growth of the country, but is increasingly becoming under threat of the RSS/BJP’s Hindutva agenda.

The incumbent rulers must realize that the people had punished the UPA government by booting it out of power mainly because of its governance failures, particularly its mega scams. The Modi-led NDA government will also meet the same fate if the saffron forces fail to remedy the deteriorating situation. (IPA Service)