Defensegate: A scandal with a difference

George Fernandes resigned as defense minister over 'Defensegate'

By Mark Tully

NEW DELHI, India -- India is no stranger to political scandals. They stain reputations but the stain is not indelible. Before long the accused are back in public life again, their kurta pyjammas, their dhoti, their lungi, or whatever other regional dress they adopt whiter than white.

But will the latest scandals revealed last week by the Internet company Tehelka.com be different?

This is certainly a scandal with a difference. It's the first time Indians have seen a senior politician, Bangaru Laxman president of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), taking a wad of notes and stuffing them in his drawer.

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It's the first time the president of another political party, Jaya Jaitley, has been seen discussing taking money. The journalists who filmed her were posing as agents of a defence contractor, and Jaya Jaitley's partner George Fernandes was defence minister.

More victims than most

Tehelka has already collected three scalps, which is more than most scandals do.

Bangaru Laxman, George Fernandes, and Jaya Jaitley have resigned. But all three continue to protest their innocence, and George Fernandes retains his position as convenor of the governing coalition.

The foundations of the fragile multi-party coalition built by the BJP did shake and one of the partners walked out. But, after some wobbling, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has stabilized his government.

The leader of the opposition, Sonia Gandhi -- widow of the assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi -- realising that she can't defeat the government in parliament has announced that her Congress party will demonstrate in every district of India to force Vajpayee to resign.

Protestors took to the streets over the scandal

She has taken it to the streets, but she may well be frustrated there too because the Congress is an effete party whose roots do not go deep, but the BJP has dedicated local cadres.

In fear of another election

It's the enemy, or rather enemies within, the prime minister has to fear.

He has survived because members of parliament don't want to face another election. They didn't want to face one in 1999 yet that coalition led by Vajpayee collapsed in a morass of conflicting personal ambitions and an election followed.

A repeat of that accident cannot be ruled out.

The Tehelka tapes have also brought into the open the rift between the prime minister and the RSS, the shadowy Hindu organization which commands the loyalty of many senior members of the BJP and provides the local cadres.

The RSS saw the tapes as a chance to get at the prime minister who although an RSS member himself, has not been implementing their Hindu agenda.

Vajpayee has stood by the two senior officials in his own office attacked by the RSS which has retired to lick its wounds. But a wounded RSS can be a dangerous beast.

The positive outcome of what is now being called Defensegate is that politicians and bureaucrats -- both military and civilian -- might be less willing to be bribed.

The negative outcome is that decisions on crucial economic policies like privatisation, and on much needed defence purchases, will not be taken because no one will want to sign a deal for fear that there may be, as they say here, some dirt in the dal.

As for the longer term, the excuse offered on all sides was that money was being taken for party funds so the BJP is now calling for government funding of elections. If the past record of scandals is anything to go by Tehelka won't achieve that or any other significant reform even though India's governance is now manifestly corrupt.

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