Politicisation of scams and their glorification is an ugly act that shows a country in poor light and demeans the virtues of democracy
About a year ago, furious at their blatant arrogance, I had taken to Twitter to highlight the plight of a daily wage earner, Bobby, who had been trying to open an account with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana. He had the eligibility and requisite papers but the bank denied it on the basis of whims of an officer. less than a year ago, while seeking a small loan from another nationalised bank, I was made to provide them with innumerable proofs — from the place I was born, to the jewellery my wife possessed, and the insurance details of my children. Even as I hated the frivolousness in the first case, eventually I admired the rigour. Thanks to the overzealous bank manager and rigid protocols, there is no way I can even dream of defaulting on the tiny loan that I am ever grateful to the bank for granting it to me.
However, this confidence was shattered when the Nirav Modi scam came to light. The message from the PNB fraud was clear: Even as the banks were being obsessively cautious in lending money to small retail customers, its underbelly was rotting with deep malaise; its officers conniving brazenly with crooks; and, hence, governance was massively compromised. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the scam, this incident has yet again buttressed a few truisms on the Indian society. The foremost being that we are a nation that thrives on hype and is full of knee-jerkers. Reason and rationality often suffer because of this.
let's look at the key responses by those who matter — media, Government, political parties — in this entire controversy to understand what's meant by the above. The media, especially television channels, was hysterical in its response. For an Indian audience, which is so used to seeing drama, the way Nirav Modi story was packaged was no surprise. The dramatisation of the scam and its funny portrayal trivialised a serious fraud that has consequences for every Indian.
Sensationalism dominated sensibility and Nirav Modi turned into the worst villain of the century. Sadly, the frenzied media which portrayed the scam resemble the proverbial Nazi plunder, failed to use this occasion to ask and explore some pertinent questions. Frenzy is fine, but where does it lead us toIJ What have been the outcomes of the other such banking fraudsIJ What has the Government done to plug the apparent systemic loopholesIJ Why has the Managing Director of the bank not resigned or been forced to resign to infuse some semblance of morality in the societyIJ What's the timeline for the investigationsIJ Why is it that singleton crooks, such as Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, are able to take a gargantuan system, which has layers of checks and balances, for a rideIJ Sadly, hype prevails over reason, yet again.
There are two critical players when we refer to the Government. One is the set of agencies investigating the case. The other is the Ministry of Finance, under whose jurisdiction nationalised banks fall. From the word go, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have swung into action and we do keep hearing and reading about raids and seizures. Even while many may not suspect the intent of the reporters who dig out information from these agencies to construct narratives for public consumption, in instances such as these when the public gaze and interest is at its peak, the least these agencies can do is to create a robust public communication system — issue public release, and not only press release, on whatever is shareable. This shall keep distortions at bay and people's confidence high.
For instance, while the CBI Press release of February 16 posted on its website estimates the “alleged loss” caused by this ‘managing director of Mumbai based private companies and others’ at Rs 4,886.72 crore, figures given by PNB floating in public is Rs 11,400 crore. Now, what does one make out itIJ ED's website doesn't have a Press release section. The Finance Minister has given a warning and spelt out the anxiety of the Government — one doesn't get even a sense of where will it lead to.
Responses from political arena were stale as usual. Sadly, while for the Congress it was an occasion to regale as to how, finally, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi a scam was born, the BJP too was equally reckless in its response resembling the fight of street urchins. Others political actors danced with equal glee even as Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi would have watched with rare delight. Political parties should note that politicisation of crime and scams, and their glorification to show the Opposition in poor light is an ugly act, and demeans the virtues of a thriving democracy like India. Hype hypnotises political actors, reason is damned.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)
