CONGRESS ON BACK FOOT IN VYAPAM SCAM

Vyapam scam takes an unexpected turn. But will it benefit BJP, politically?

NK SINGH

This was probably the best anniversary gift that Sadhna Singh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's wife, could have wished for. Even as the couple was preparing to celebrate silver jubilee of their wedding anniversary at Ujjain’s Mahakal temple this week they received news that increased their joy. The CBI said in an affidavit to the Supreme Court that it did not find any evidence of tempering of the computer hard disk seized in Vyapam scam. Congress leader Digvijay Sigh had filed a petition in Supreme Court alleging that MP police had tempered with the hard disk “to save some influential persons”. The CBI affidavit, based on a report of Central Forensic Science Laboratory, finally clears the couple, whom the Opposition has tried to implicate in the most notorious scandal in the history of Madhya Pradesh.

Sadhna Singh has been a favourite punching bag for the Opposition ever since Chouhan became Chief Minister in 2005. Congress allegations often caused the couple to spend sleepless nights. “I was so upset that I could not sleep in the night,” Sadhna Singh told a Bhopal court in 2013, deposing in a defamation case against Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh for allegedly casting aspersions on her financial integrity. The case is still pending in the court. Her husband also shared her pain. An emotional Chouhan told media, “I could not sleep the whole night” after the Opposition targeted his wife in the dumper case, in which the couple got a clean chit from Lokayukta, and Vyapam scam, of which they finally came out this week. Chouhan feels that his wife and family had to suffer for no fault of theirs.

Now they can not only sleep, but sleep soundly. Vyapam scam has taken an unexpected political turn. The CBI report has turned the table on Shivraj’s bête noir, Digvijay Singh. Responding to another petition by ‘whistle blower’ Prashant Pandey in Vyapam case, the CBI informed the Supreme Court that people involved in making the allegations of tempering had created “false digital records” to support their claim. Creating false evidence on the basis of forged documents is a criminal act, punishable under law. The CBI informed the Supreme Court that it was taking action against the “culprits” in accordance with law.

BJP, which was at receiving end in Vyapam case for last four years, immediately pounced upon Congress. Three of its ministers rushed to CBI office at Bhopal and submitted a memorandum demanding arrest of Digvijay Singh and other “culprits” for creating false evidence to tarnish the Chief Minister’s image. The case has come full circle.

Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, earlier christened Vyapam, conducts examinations for government jobs and admissions to professional courses in the State. Acting on a tip off from a whistle blower, Indore police unearthed the scam in 2013. Senior politicians, corrupt government officers and unscrupulous businessmen involved in the well-oiled racket systematically rigged medical admissions and recruitments to government jobs for nearly a decade.

After the gang was busted and its high profile members arrested, Congress leaders, assisted by whistle blowers, tried to prove complicity of the Chief Minister. They even tried to link his wife to the scam and “produced” call records to prove that some of the racketeers were in touch with CM House. The case is now the subject of another ongoing defamation case.

Clearly, Congress did not need this overreach. As it is, even without a personal angle or involvement, Vyapam has been a source of big embarrassment for BJP Government that has been in power for 13 years now. It is definitely the biggest scam in the history of Madhya Pradesh. Police have made over 2,000 arrests and the CBI investigated mystery deaths of at least two dozen key accused and witnesses. Among those arrested were a former cabinet colleague of Chouhan, a BJP politician who enjoyed the status of minister of state, a high profile BJP leader with deep roots in RSS and even a Congress leader who had contested the last assembly election. People in other parts of the country kept cracking uncharitable jokes about PEB and the product of its medical education system.

Chouhan had always maintained that he was nowhere involved in the scam and his detractors’ charges about tempering with the records were politically motivated. In fact, he claimed that he was himself a whistle blower in the case and his government had started action against all those involved. The chief minister and his wife have so far emerged victorious in all court cases in this connection, right from the lower courts to high court.

However, Congress politicians say they will challenge the CBI findings in the Supreme Court. The party is not unduly worried over the development. A section in the Congress party feels that any action against Digvijay Singh or other whistle blowers will benefit it, politically. Legal position and public perception are two different things. Action against Singh, who is facing a tough time in his own party due to Goa fiasco, may benefit him politically. In fact, many feel that if the CBI arrests Digvijay Singh, as the BJP ministers have demanded, it may lead to his resurrection. It ultimately comes to a game of political one-upmanship.

Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of 7th May 2017

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