By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 13 July 2015: Less than a week after India’s law minister and cabinet colleague of Prime Minister Narendra Modi DV Sadananda Gowda called the Vyapam scam a “silly issue on which the Prime Minister need not answer”, New York Times has found the case fit enough for a strong editorial in which the world’s reputed daily has questioned PM Modi’s silence over the scam of “astounding proportions, even by India’s terrible standards.”
“Simmering for nearly a decade, the scam was catapulted into public view by the suspicious death on July 4 of the television journalist Akshay Singh. He reportedly began foaming at the mouth after sipping tea while interviewing the family of a student involved in the scam who was found dead,” writes NYT.
More than 45 people allegedly connected in some way with the scam have mysteriously died in the last few years. Some 2,000 others have been arrested since the state opened an investigation in 2013.
“On Thursday, India’s Supreme Court ordered the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation to examine a corruption scandal of astounding proportions, even by India’s terrible standards. It has been dubbed the “Vyapam scam” after the acronym for an examination board in the state of Madhya Pradesh that has a lot to say about who gets government jobs and coveted slots in medical schools. The scam involves bribes paid by students to get the high marks needed for these slots. Some of this illicit money was channeled into political campaigns, or so it is suspected,” writes the editorial.
“The new investigation should shed much-needed light on how the funds were used and who benefited. But the sordid tale is yet another startling example of the way corruption corrodes India’s politics. In this case, the public has also been put at risk by unqualified doctors and other professionals whose main asset was their ability to bribe their way into school or a government job.”
The NYT editorial says that people of the country voted Modi to power in May last year hoping he would end corruption but he is “studiously silent” on two mega scandals that have come to light in one year.
“The scam can only dishearten voters who voted last year to elect Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party in the belief that he would end corruption. But the Vyapam scam comes on the heels of another scandal that exploded last month dubbed “Lalitgate” involving India’s profitable professional cricket association. Both scandals have taken place in states governed by the ruling B.J.P. Mr. Modi has remained studiously silent on both affairs,” says NYT.
The paper asks PM Modi to speak on these scandals and ensure fair probe by CBI.
“Mr. Modi needs to speak out against these scandals now. He must also ensure that the Central Bureau of Investigation remains free of government interference and that whistle-blowers, witnesses and journalists working on corruption cases are protected,” says NYT.
