CONTRARY to the strident statements against black money and corruption, the Modi government and the BJP are, in practice, taking step after step to shield corruption and to allow the rich to launder black money.  Three such instances have occurred in the recent period.

In the first case, the Modi government has raised the upper limit for buying jewellery without submitting PAN-Aadhar details to Rs 2 lakh per transaction.  Earlier, in August this year, the government had amended the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to make PAN and Aadhar mandatory for jewellery purchases above Rs 50,000 per transaction.  So, buying gold and other forms of jewellery beyond Rs 50,000 required stringent “Know Your Customer” (KYC) norms.  The purpose of this amendment was to curb the purchase of gold and jewellery for conversion of black money.

By diluting this measure, the government has undermined its own claim to fight black money by not insisting on registering jewellery purchases upto Rs 2 lakhs. Repeated transactions of jewellery purchases below Rs 2 lakhs will facilitate conversion of black money and money laundering. 

What this step signals is that the rich can evade taxes and convert black money under government’s auspices while the poor have to face stringent conditions of being linked to Aadhar to get their PDS rations and other basic facilities.

The second instance is the ordinance promulgated by the BJP government in Rajasthan to shield public servants, judges and magistrates from allegations of corruption.  The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance 2017 came into force on September 6, but became known only when the government decided to introduce a Bill in the Assembly to make it part of the law.  Though as per the existing law, public servants cannot be investigated without prior sanction from the relevant authority, the ordinance has made it more difficult to pursue such complaints.  Six month’s time is given to the authorities to decide on sanction.  Further, any disclosure of the identity of the person against whom a complaint is made will lead to penal action with imprisonment upto two years in jail.  This is meant to effectively gag the media and any private citizen from exposing any case of corruption.

After widespread opposition to this measure, the Rajasthan assembly has referred the bill to a select committee, but the ordinance is still in force.

The third example is the manner in which the central government and the ruling party is going about gagging the media in the Jay Shah affair.  The report in an online news portal `The Wire’ about the business of the son of Amit Shah has led to a defamation suit against the editors of the publication and an injunction from a court in Ahmedabad that no news concerning Jay Shah’s business should be published by `The Wire’. The Modi government has permitted the additional solicitor general to appear on behalf of Shah in court. Far from investigating the matter, the Modi government seems bent upon assisting Amit Shah’s son to escape any scrutiny for his business dealings.

Given this blatant protection of those facing allegations of corruption, it is not surprising that the BJP government has not taken any step to constitute the Lokpal as per the law, even three and a half years after it came to power.  More and more authoritarian measures like the Rajasthan ordinance and intimidation of the media through defamation suits are being resorted to, to shield the corrupt. 

(October 26, 2017)