All at Sea A Communal dismissal of Navy Chief Crime no Punishment Crimes in Delhi, no sign of abettment

by Political Correspondent

This country has seen governments come and go and retrenchments have often become the source of many agitation and movements. But the sacking of a defence official always raises many questions; if that action is taken against the highest official of the Navy, then these questions turn themselves into national issues. Admiral Vishnu Bhagawat , after 40 years of serving the nation, has been sacked. The reason offered by the Government is that he had ``crossed his limit'' and was ``autocratic.'' The defence minister, George Fernandes, has now finally said that he was `sorry'' for the entire episode. The matter, however, cannot end there. No sacking can be a fortunate event for anybody unless there is widescale corruption and abuse of power involved; in Admiral Bhagawat's case, the matter has been compounded by the sheer politicisation of the entire episiode.The sacking has become a national tragedy.

On the other hand, the director of the enforcement department, M.N.Bezbaruah, has been shifted though he has not yet been assigned a new job. This also is a tragedy of sorts; it was this same Bezbaruah who had created a national furore when he had been removed from the same post a couple of months back but had to be reinstated after the Supreme Court intervened. Bezbaruah had been then been ``faulted'' for taking up the FERA violation case of Ashoke Jain, the Times of India Group chief. This time, the Government has been somewhat more discreet; to add a veil of circumstance to the entire effort, Bezbaruah's deputy,Ashoke Agarwal, has also been transferred. Obviously, the government perception is that the entire department, and not one individual, is making matters go wrong for smooth governance. Yet again, the CBI, another key institution of the country, has been affected with its temporary chief, Trinath Mishra, having been removed alongwith the other transfers. The Government is now leaving nothing to chance.

But the scene is now quite explosive. Niloufer Bhagawat, wife of the Admiral and a lawyer of some repute, has challenged the government action and said that her husband has been the victim of ``communal politics'' and that the government was only helping ``arms traders'' by his sacking. On the other hand, Bhagawat's deputy, Harinder Singh, who has since been named as the chief of naval staff, has said that his former boss has ``communist links'' and that he had papers to prove this. And political parties_both allies and foes of the BJP Government- are now clamouring for the ``truth'' to come out.

All this charges and counter-charges are not only unsavoury; they are simply sordid and have dangerous portends. The prestige of the nation is at stake and what is equally important, the area under scrutiny and in the eye of the storm is the faculty which is best kept unsullied. The defence services had never been given a bad name before and even if a gun or two had been purchased on political considerations and pay-offs from Swedish companies in the past, never ever has allegations of this nature been made against the top brass of the services themselves. And, definitely, not sackings. Coupled with this, comes the changes in the CBI and Enforcement directorate and the wheel seems to have turned full circle. Corruption is being singled out for protection and heads are rolling where they should have been allowed to think for the development and protection of the country. The BJP is now openly getting desperate and the frustration is now showing. The conspiracy is as deep as it is diabolic. If any of the charges that are being bandied about are proved to be true, then that might spell the doom for our democracy. And if political corruption and misuse of office are now taken to be accepted facts of life, then these are sad times indeed for India.