The noose is tightening and the myth is breaking. The Lalit Modi saga is getting bigger and murkier. The government, which a few weeks ago was looking impeccable on the issue of corruption, is now thoroughly exposed and it turns out that the Modi government is no different from the Manmohan Singh government. The only difference is that exposing the Manmohan Government took five years, the Modi government, only a year.
Rajasthan Chief Minister and powerful BJP leader Vasundhara Raje Scindia is in serious trouble. She is no ordinary leader. She is running a state with more than 3/4th majority and is a second term Chief Minister. She is also the daughter of Mrs Vijaya Raje Scindia, a member of the original triumvirate of the BJP along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani. Vasundhara Raje is the second-high profile leader after Sushma Swaraj who, as it turns outs, helped Indian fugitive Lalit Modi, the original IPL commissioner and the czar of Indian cricket. There are tremendous similarities between both the leaders. Both went out of their way to help him. Sushma, being Foreign Minister, was not supposed to interact with a fugitive of the law, forget about bailing him out. Vasundhara was bolder. She wrote a secret letter to facilitate Lalit getting immigrant status in London, knowing well enough that she was on the wrong side of law and morality, and that is why she asked British Authorities to keep her name secret and not disclose it in public.
Both have enterprising Next-Gen kids. Lalit Modi, through his company, was so benevolent that he paid a premium price of Rs 96,180 for shares worth Rs 10 in a company owned by Vasundhara Raje's son. Sushma's daughter was a member of Modi's legal team who fought to get his passport restored. And once the Delhi High Court restored Modi's passport, the government chose not to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court. Lalit Modi was also instrumental in getting Sushama Swaraj's nephew admitted in Sussex University when she was Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
Sushma Swaraj's husband has admitted that he helped Lalit Modi for the last 22 years in legal matters. The same Lalit Modi was known as "Mr Fixer" when Vasundhara was serving her first term as Chief Minister. In fact, Lalit Modi was so powerful that he was called the de facto Chief Minister, the real power behind the throne. So we have to accept the fact that Lalit Modi and the BJP go a long way back and both have been mutual beneficiaries.
Conflict of interest is the least of the crimes committed by these two very powerful women politicians of the BJP. In fact, this episode is an interesting study in the BJP/RSS understanding of nationalism and patriotism. The first day when the Sushma story broke, senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar said, "Sushma is a nationalist, patriot and she can't do any wrong." Party president Amit Shah said, "What is wrong if an Indian has helped another Indian? She did not let a Quattrocchi and Anderson run away." Quattrocchi was involved in the Bofors Scam and Anderson was the villain in the Bhopal tragedy. In the eyes of the BJP/RSS, nationalism can kindly be defined in the context of a foreigner and if an Indian breaks a law, cheats his own country, then it's not unpatriotic.
Sushma helped a man wanted in India to answer charges of money laundering, hawala transactions, match fixing and tax evasion. I want to ask the RSS if the same had been done by a Congress leader, would it have dubbed this an act of nationalism? Vasundhara's crime is much graver. She knew she was wrong, still she helped and wanted her help to Lalit Modi remain hidden from Indian authorities.
The RSS' selective definition of nationalism is laughable. On the 800th anniversary of the revolutionary Magna Carta, the true nationalistic obeisance to the motherland would be the strict adherence to the rule of law and if anybody is found violating it, they should be dealt with accordingly.
(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.