Political scams: India
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10 political disgraces
India Today, December 29, 2008
1. The Emergency, June 1975-March 1977: It effectively bestowed on Indira Gandhi the power to rule by decree, suspending elections as well as civil liberties, such as the right to free press.
2. Operation Bluestar, June 1984: It was a political disaster and an unprecedented act in Indian history. Its aftermath and the increased tensions led to assaults on the Sikh community in India.
3 The Bofors scandal, 1987-1996: One of the biggest political scams in the country till date, involving Rs 64 crore. It was responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s defeat in the November 1989 general elections.
4. Demolition of Babri Masjid, December 1992: The date has remained etched as a blot in Indian history.The mosque was destroyed by 15,000 strong Hindu extremists as BJP leaders watched.
5. The JMM Bribery Case, July 1993: The democratic values of the country were put to shame when the then PM P.V. NarasimhaRao was accused of bribing members of Jharkhand MuktiMorcha to vote in his favour in the confidence motion.
6. Fodder Scam, January 1996: The scam involved millions of dollars in alleged fraudulent reimbursements from the treasury of Bihar for fodder, medicines and husbandry supplies for non-existent livestock. It forced Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then CM of the state, to resign.
7. The IC-814 Hijacking, December 1999: IC-814 was hijacked by terrorists and taken to Kandahar. The government was forced to release dreaded terrorists for the passengers.
8. The Arms Bribery Scandal, March 2001:India’s coalition government began to fall apart when video tapes of highly-placed officials taking bribes in arms deals were released in 2001, forcing the then BJP president BangaruLaxman to resign.
9. Gujarat riots, February-March 2002: The riots were horrific blotches of communal hatred in the country’s secular history.Despite the killings of 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims, the state government chose to sit in a cushy corner, doing nothing to stop the wave of hatred.
10. The vote of no confidence, July 2008: Parliament was adjourned after BJPmembers waved around wads of money, claiming they were offered cash in return for their support.
10 scandals and shame
1. Antulay trust (1981): A.R. Antulay, the then chief minister of Maharashtra, allegedly garnered Rs 30 crore from businesses dependent on state resources.
2. HDW commissions (1987): The German submarine maker was blacklisted after allegations that commissions worth Rs 420 crore had been paid in the 1987 deal in India.
3. St. Kitts forgery (1989): Documents were forged to allege that former prime minister V.P. Singh was a beneficiary of his son Ajeya Singh’s account in the First Trust Corp. at St Kitts, with a deposit of $21 million.
4. Airbus scandal (1990): Indian Airlines’s signing of the Rs 2,000-crore deal with Airbus instead of Boeing caused a furore following the crash of an A-320 airliner.
5. Securities scam (1992): Harshad Mehta manipulated banks and the stock market, pushing shares like ACC from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000. The stacked-up claims of the brokers were a staggering Rs 10,000 crore.
6. Urea scam (1996): Born out of a shortage of fertiliser in 1996, a clutch of businessmen in connivance with top officials of the National Fertiliser Limited, fleeced the government of Rs 133 crore for the import of urea, which was never delivered.
7. Telecom fraud (1996): Former minister of state for communication Sukh Ram was accused of causing a loss of Rs 1.6 crore by favouring a Hyderabad-based firm in the purchase of telecom equipment.
8. Stock market scam (2001): Pentafour bull Ketan Parekh used UTI, Calcutta Stock Exchange and his own index K-10 to swindle investors.When the scam broke out, it wiped off over Rs 1 lakh crore of investor’s market capital.
9. Stamp paper forgery (2003): Using lax regulation, unregulated trade and old machines, A.R. Telgi forged stamps to defraud exchequer of Rs 30,000 crore.
10. Oil-for-food scam (2005): Congress Minister Natwar Singh and his legislator son Jagat were indicted for procuring contracts in the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
