One should not think that people are always innocent and harmless. They too do evil and encourage evil. In an elected democracy, every one is in need of people’s mandate and support. No one, who has public face, dares to pass a remark on People’s opportunistic thinking. People give their sanction even to the evils, that are declared crimes as per law. Classic examples for this sanction are — dowry and corruption. They take pride in giving and taking dowry. They consider it a status symbol. If they are unable to give, they curse their poverty and not the dowry system.
Though the people deliberately practice this evil, it is being conveniently termed as social evil. Though people constitute society, they blame it on society, giving an impression that they don’t belong to it. People accord their sanction to corruption, as long as they can afford to pay.
Most of the parents prefer to keep their kids in ‘ lucrative’ jobs such as postings in Commercial tax department and Income tax Department, when they grow up. They find those jobs ‘lucrative’not because of the pay. They always dream of collecting kickbacks their children are likely to get. If people themselves are not upright in thinking, how can they expect that their rulers and bureaucrats to be free from corruption and all other evils. Perhaps that might be the reason, IndiraGandhi, made a startling revealation in the House, when she was the Prime Minister of India”. Corruption! It’s every where,” she said. Corruption and its unique quality of omnipresence have remained intact.
Though media make much noise on political corruption, bureaucracy enjoys Lion’s share in bribery. Unlike Politicians, bureaucrats are fortunate in winning less professional enemies. The latter believe in the maxim — ‘rob and let rob’. Political rivalry has no bounds. They go to any extent in exposing their counterparts to dethrone. Scandals like Bofors and Hawala have been the fallout of ‘ neighbours envy. ‘No one astonishes at such exposures in India. We know pretty well that only those who get caught are not thieves.
First Published on October, 2000 in Vaartha.com