Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Late verdict' that was published in Newsband

Late verdict

Rashtriya Janta Dal leader and MP Lalu Prasad had lost his Chief Ministership to the Rs. 950 crore Bihar fodder scam. Now after sixteen years comes Rashtriya Janata Dal chief’s conviction, along with 44 others, in the Chaibasa treasury case. This case is related to the withdrawal from the State treasury of Rs. 37 crore. This is one of six fodder-related cases against Mr. Prasad and the first in which the verdict has been pronounced.

Finally a huge scandal involving ministers, bureaucrats and even sections of the Opposition have burst open. Lalu Prasad’s fall was as dramatic as his rise.

Lalu Prasad was all set to get back into the political reckoning. He would have likely succeeded in the plan had the UPA government pushed through the ordinance aimed at preventing the disqualification of lawmakers. But Rahul Gandhi’s public fulminations proved to be harmful for Lalu Prasad.  

Lalu Prasad Yadav let down his own people. He looted his very own people he promised to uplift. Our country today is no different than it was before independence; only before foreigners looted us and now our own countrymen.

But everything is not over for Lalu Prasad. There is a scope for appeal in higher courts. If again it will take another decade to decide about the conviction of Lalu Prasad Yadav, he will promote his son Tejaswi Yadav as new leader of his party. So ultimately power will be retained by Lalu Yadav via his son.

Lalu Prasad's guilt is proven now. But what about the Congress's guilt who has backed this corrupt man for 16 years. How much money has the Congress extracted from him for this bargain?

President Mukherjee had clearly hinted his disapproval of the ordinance to prevent disqualification of law makers by calling three Union Ministers asking them to explain to him the need and urgency of this ordinance. It was this signal from the President that prompted Rahul Gandhi to fulminate in public, in an effort to occupy the moral high ground.

A renaissance is necessary for us to see the corruption free India we all dream of. Though this verdict is welcome, it is certainly inglorious in the sense that it took 16 long years to come to this stage due to a combination of factors including exploitation by Lalu Prasad of loopholes in judicial process that need to be urgently plugged, and political interference to suit the exigencies of the ruling party at various times. There is still a long way to go because Lalu Prasad can go in appeal to higher courts.

The people of this land are fed up with these long overdrawn judicial processes, something that this poor country can ill afford, and one hopes that at least the next leg of the legal battle in Lalu Prasad's case will be decided quickly enough within a year or so, so that just punishment is meted out to all those convicted. One hopes for a quick disposal of the pending cases too leading to the recovery of people's money that was looted by a few greedy politicians and bureaucrats. This must be a precedent for many other politicians who face similar charges.