Read the article 'Da Vinci Koda' by Jug Suraiya (under Jugular Vein) in today's Times of India, which instigated me to write this.
We, the people of India seem to have forgotten the gospel truth that if you owe $100 to a bank, they will sue you, but if you owe $100 million, they will make you the Director of the bank!
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s residence in Ranchi was sealed amid allegations that he amassed illegal assets worth crores. The IT department (most honest govt. department according to some), which was probing a disproportionate assets charge against Madhu Koda, conducted raids in eight Indian cities at 70 places belonging to the former Chief Minister and his associates. Documents relating to illegal transaction of Rs. 2,000 crore were recovered from his house. No wonder the electronic and print media is demonizing him day and night these days.
When I heard about the alleged seizure of four Rupee counting machines in his house by the Income Tax officials, I was disturbed. Imagine all the hard work he'd put in to earn these crores. How can we expect politicians to work for the people after forcing them to spend so much time collecting, counting, converting and investing cash? He'd have been better off depositing all that money in his mines, hotels and other assets directly. Koda had to make trips to foreign countries like Liberia, Bangkok and Dubai while he was the Mines and Geology department minister. Munda, the then CM, instead of feeling sorry that he didn’t provide opportunities to invest black money in India complained that he went without informing him as per the protocol. If it wasn’t a state visit, Koda must have spent his own money. Where in India will you find such honest politicians where not only the ministers but their families also travel on Govt. expense?! How many people is he suppose to inform: his father, mother, wife… and Munda also expected to be a part of the list! Bah!
For God's sake, Madhu Koda is an adult and should be treated like one. On top of that he suffered jet lags, ate hotel food, missed mum and dad during that period and his opponents accuse him of money laundering. I'm sure the gall bladder stones for which he was operated upon were the result of all that bahar ka khana. Poor man, he's still in the hospital due to that.
I trust Rasika Koda (Madhu Koda’s father… yes father) when he says that “Madhu is a simple human being like me. His character is clean. My son is paying the price for being one of the most popular Chief Ministers and tribal leaders the state has ever produced.” A son who had invited his father to stay with him in his plush official bungalow after becoming the Chief Minister can't do anything wrong, can he?
There is a specific qualification required for different professions. In most countries people with excellent extortion and corruption skills are fit to join the underworld; in India they are drawn to politics. It's not that an Engineer is being asked to perform a brain surgery!
Madhu Koda’s assets grew from Rs. 35 lakh in 2004 to over a staggering Rs. 30 crore in 2009 as per his own declaration to the Election Commission. What better example do you need of India Shining? The costliest advertisements by the govt couldn’t have proved the progress made by India and Indians in a more convincing way. We are proud to say that we are the largest democracy of the world but forget that democracy is expensive. It takes huge sums of money to get elected to public office. Somebody said, "A politician is “honest” if he takes money and delivers the promised goods. A “dishonest” one is he who takes the money but doesn't come through!" This should be the basis of judging Madhu Koda, any other way would be unfair.
Kindly open your heart. I'd seen Mr. Koda’s picture in the news along with his wife - with a white and red cap adorning his head; he seems to be such a family man. It's not that the poor man has taken his oath in Maharashtra assembly in Hindi or refused to sing Vande Mataram, all he did was made some money which is his right as a politician. Imagine the number of people who will be motivated to become politicians after hearing his rags to riches story. There are role models required – move over Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Laloo; you are not enough to inspire the people of the country. Let us all pray that conditions outside the hospital are soon conducive enough for him to recover from his illness and his counting machines are again put to use.
