Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement

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<b>The General Theory of Revelations and Responses</b>
<i>ARUN SHOURIE </i>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>First, ignore, look the other way, pretend indifference. Second, deny. Deny vociferously. Third, lawyerly evasions and explanations — the cleverer these are, the more they undermine the credibility of the individual putting forth the defence as well as of the government. Fourth, counterattack: “You did it when you were in power.” Little does the individual or government realise that with every fact which it puts out to establish that its opponents had done wrong, it is convincing everyone that this group — the one that had claimed to be different from its rivals - is no different. Fifth, denounce the persons who are pursuing the matter, for instance the paper. Paste motives on them, conjure conspiracies</b>.

With every passing day, the government’s miasma encompasses more and more. First members of government conclude that one paper — usually The Indian Express — is against them, that it is out to topple them, and that it is doing so in league with, indeed at the behest of unseen forces. This used to be the “foreign hand”, then it became Reliance, these days we are back to the Americans. Then that the “media” — the whole of it — is congenitally against the government. Then that the chief vigilance commissioner is against it — he is an appointee of the previous regime, after all. Then that the Election Commission is out to embarrass the government. Then that the judiciary is exceeding its ambit. The more self-righteous the group is, the more, for instance, it identifies itself with the country or some great cause, the more loyalists it has among its members, the more courtiers and tale-carriers, the more swiftly it convinces itself that everyone who is criticising it is doing so, not because he has a different opinion or because he is pursuing facts per se, but because he is a conspirator. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> My friend, Shekhar Gupta recalls a delicious story that Giani Zail Singh told him. Gianiji was responsible for collecting some funds for the Congress. The traders of a bazaar in Patiala had agreed to contribute. But they just wouldn’t pay up. Gianaji called the SHO, asked him to get hold of a tawaif, seat her in a rickshaw, and send word that she was being brought to the bazaar, that whomsoever she identified as having been a customer, will be taken in to the havaalaat. The rickshaw, with the lady in it, had but to reach the gali, the traders downed their shutters, and rushed to settle their dues! For they knew, everyone would believe the tawaif!</b> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->