SCAMSTERS INC.

India was witness to one of the most crucial political battles in Indian history. July 22, the D-Day for the Manmohan Singh led union government that faced the litmus test on the issue of nuclear deal, was interspersed with thrill, nail-baiting finish, allegations, frenzied emotions, animated political personalities and high-voltage drama.At the end, the union government succeeded in saving its skin, not before going through a tiresome grind.

For the last few days, Indian politics and nuclear power agreement had managed to hog the headlines in all types of media. Political pundits and bookies were busy calculating numbers, making mental calculations about possible permutations and combinations and the level of commitments to party ideologies individual members have and the possibility of leaders changing their stand at the last minute in the name of national interst. The media had also identified some of the leaders who it said, were on the fence and might jump any way at the crucial juncture.

On the D-day, Lok Sabha saw an animated drama set into motion by the BJP, which claimed that three of its members were offered cash amounting to three crore rupees each for being absent during the trust vote. Three of the MPs belonging to the NDA who said that they were offered lure in the form of the above sums by Samajwadi party's Amar Singh and Ahmed patel of Congress for favouring the union government by staying away from casting their votes, brandished wads of currency notes they said they received from these leaders. They produced the entire cash amount said to have been received by them in the Lok Sabha and raised slogans against SP, Congress and UPA.

BJP chief and opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Advani launched a scathing attack on the UPA government, terming the said lure as an act smacking of 'Immoral' 'Unethical' 'Unjustified' and 'Illegal' ways to which the UPA can stoop to, to save its government from collapsing.

What he however failed to recollect, was that it was his party which has been at the helm in Karnataka since a few weeks, which offered ministerial berths to independents irrespective of their capacities, to conjure up a majority in the legisltive assembly here. The BJP, through the mining lobby, has been able to wrest five of the opposition legislators too into its fold by offering them ministerships and chairmanship of the government run corporation. If these legislators could change hearts and loyalties and come into the party fold duly 'accepting the ideologies and principles of the BJP' in exchange for power and money, why can't the members of parliament follow suit? This is a pertinent question the BJP has to answer. If the act of the state BJP was not 'bribe', what else can it be termed?

Offering cash for not voting against the union government and offering bribes in terms of power and positions to MLAs is one and the same. Both fall under the 'bribes' cateogory inspite of efforts being made to coat the acts in a jugglery of high sounding words to look them as legitimate. It is really hard to believe that the BJP which is well versed with the act, kicked up ruckus in the Lok Sabha on a similar issue but in a different situation.

If any other party was surprised and infuriated by such developments, perhaps it could have been digested.

If the BJP can bribe independent and oppostion MLAs to save its government and welcome them into the party fold, then why does it gets agitated and cries hoarse when it finds that some other political outfits have owned the same strategy to save themselves from being marginalised?

This 'cash for abstention' incident (God knows whether this is a genuine allegation by BJP) shows, that none of the political parties in the country work for the welfare of the people and the country, but their struggle is always for their own survival.

One is not very much sure about the genuineness of the alleged 'cash for abstention' scam that occured at New Delhi'. At the same time, there must be something that fuelled the furore. There cannot be flame without fire!

But the people are sure of one thing. A political party can not play two political cards in two different situations. The BJP cannot have one policy at the state level and another at the centre. If something is unethical at the state level, it should naturally be construed as unethical at the national leavel too.

Perhaps, very few politcal pundits will take 'cash for favour' blame levelled by BJP seriously, as it neither has any authentic evidence in its possession, nor will it be of any help in changing the political scenario in the country.

As BJP blamed the UPA for bribing its MPs for staying away from voting during the trust vote to save itself from the ignonimity of having to rsign, the media from around the nation put forward a few questions to the BJP, for which answers are still awaited.

From which bank the money in question was drawn?
How this money was bought inside the parliament?
How come BJP MPs did not choose to register any complaint with the police or exposed it to the media?
Why BJP preferred to break this news only in the parliament?

Perhaps, by the time we get the answer, it would have lost its relevance and the people would have forgotten the entire episode, making it totally redundant.