What can anyone say? Financial scams are taking place in India with unfailing regularity. A lot has already been said about the latest banking scam which came to light in the third week of January. But what is not being mentioned is when the offenders will be brought to book? From the government side it is being said that law will take its own course. Investigating agencies are enquiring in to the matter. On the other hand, the opposition are demanding a statement from the Prime Minister. But will a statement from the Prime Minister be enough to restore the citizen’s faith in our banking system? Will it be enough to bring back Rs. 11, 500 crores to the country? Will a statement from the Prime Minister be able to make our banking system scam-proof?
Clearly, both sides are more interested in making public postures, rather than bringing the culprits to book and making our banking system scam-proof as soon as possible. From the turn of events, it has already been proven that the scam went unnoticed for so many years because of sheer negligence on the part of higher officials and also due to the connivance by bank officials. It is quite inexplicable how the entire government machinery failed to sniff the scam. The very fact that the government has failed to prevent the scam and in the process allowed the masterminds to escape from the country, has instead shown a different picture of the Modi government’s governance. A poor lady had to die as she was denied food grains from the public distribution system as she didn’t have Aadhaar or the unique identification card made compulsory by the government. On the other hand, under the watchful eye of the same government financial offenders like Vijay Malliya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Chowksi, Lalit Modi and couple of others had slipped away from the country. No one knows when will we be able to bring them back to the country or when can we be able to recover the money which they took as loans from various banks be recovered?
If the government has failed to protect the wealth, the opposition too on its part has also failed to perform its duties. A scam can take place anytime, anywhere and under any regime. A scam should not be used as a tool to score over political opponents. No one should see scams as an opportunity to grab power. Scams tarnish the image of the nation. As proud Indians, we all have the responsibilities to work hard so that the reputation of the country remains intact. So instead of making efforts to corner each other, the warring parties should sit together and formulate stringent laws to prevent scams. Here, they should keep one thing in mind. A stringent law becomes a toothless tiger if the culprits are not punished but our country’s track record is very poor in that. So, besides formulating stricter law, efforts should be made to nab the culprite and exemplary punishment should be given. Otherwise, India will always remain vulnerable to scams which will earn a bad name for the country.
