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The arrest of a Deputy Inspector General of Police in Punjab will haunt the Aam Aadmi Party government in the crucial election year ahead. Even if the opposition parties did not react to the issue much, but the visuals of the bundles of cash with graphic details of other items like gold, luxury watches and documents related to properties owned by the officer, are already in the public domain being shared and circulated widely and extensively in the virtual world on multiple social media platforms.

 

So far, neither the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann nor the AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has reacted to the arrest. There is little defence available to the ruling party against this arrest, which was played "live" and the seizures shown to the entire world. The revelations have fallen thick and fast on the AAP regime that has always proclaimed loudly to provide an honest and corruption-free government.

 

It is quite obvious that the particular DIG must not be the only one to have resorted to such large-scale corruption amassing huge wealth. There is always a chain of command, particularly when there are so many people involved in settling cases for which the complainant in this case was asked for money. As it turns out, initially he appeared to have agreed to pay the bribe, as the amount was "bearable". But after the DIG allegedly increased the demand he apparently decided to complain.

 

There have been allegations of corruption against the government for all these years. The common refrain among people is that nothing has changed as the current government is "as good or bad on corruption" as the previous governments.

 

People appear to have resigned to the harsh truth that the services "come at a price", whether these be registration of properties or any other work that needs to be done in any government office. People really do not complain. There are only a few exceptions, who once pushed to the wall, when they feel that instead of being "charged for the service", they are being subjected to "extortion" they try to resist and revolt as happened in the DIG's case.

 

There appears to be complete consensus of silence among the political leaders of all hues about this case. This is apparently because the particular DIG, like most of the "proactive" officers in the Punjab Police, is well connected across the political spectrum whether the ruling party or the opposition. There is a "breed of officers" in Punjab Police who end up as "darlings of all regimes" for multiple reasons. "Administrative efficiency" is not necessarily the only eligibility criterion.

 

But the opposition's silence is no consolation for the ruling AAP. For the ruling party, this is sort of the "Channi moment" for it. Ahead of 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections, the Enforcement Directorate seized Rs 8.5 crores in cash from one of the nephews of the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Charanjit Singh Channi. There was no defence for the Chief Minister or the Congress party. Given the seizures made on the spot, the Chief Minister could not cry even persecution. His supporters had been openly boasting about him having stopped the Prime Minister Narendra Modi from reaching his public rally venue ahead of the elections in Ferozepur. They even tried to link the ED raid and seizure with that incident.

 

Normally each and every political party and leader would cry persecution and victimisation at the hands of the BJP-led central government on such occasions and that too when the election process was in progress. Despite having no defence, Channi and his supporters also did try to play the persecution card and it did not work.

 

In hindsight the Congress realised after elections that it was not wise on its part to let Channi continue as the Chief Minister after the seizure of such huge cash. The message went across the people and they made their own decision. Congress tally fell from 77 to 18 and the AAP swept the state winning 92 of the 117 seats. There were multiple factors for Congress defeat. The cash seizure was one of those.

 

The arrested DIG is no doubt not the nephew of any leader or the Chief Minister. But he happened to hold an all-important position of the DIG, Ropar range. Prior to that he was the DIG Patiala range and before that Joint Director Vigilance Bureau Punjab. That suggests his proximity with the powers that be. There are dozens of DIGs serving in Punjab. Very few manage to get the "field postings" like that of the DIG in a particular range. Patiala and Ropar ranges are counted among the important ranges in "all ways" and how important these can be has been proved beyond any doubt with the seizure of huge cash, gold and property documents. Not all "ranges" are so lucratively fertile.

 

The question that has started haunting the AAP government is who should be held responsible for such "fatal error" of omission that one senior officer went on a "corruption rampage" without anyone getting any whiff of it. Either there was connivance or ignorance and both do not reflect well on the efficiency of the government. Presuming that you are personally honest, but how do you justify such a level of corruption that is worse than extortion, under your nose?

 

There is definitely going to be deep and intense introspection within the ruling party. The problem with the AAP government is that it has multiple power centres. Everybody knows how the important postings in the government, particularly in the police at the Commissioner, SSP, DIG, IG and DGP level are done. That will raise the question about who shall be held accountable. When there are multiple centres of power, fixing the responsibility and accountability for various omissions and commissions becomes practically impossible. Eventually the buck is made to stop at some scapegoat.

 

This reminds of the state of affairs in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh in its second term around 2012-13. The 'Anna Movement' was at its peak. The CWG scam, the 2G scam and the "coal scam" had dominated the public discourse. The government was on complete defensive. Prime Minister Singh, being the head of the government, was obviously being held accountable, despite his scrupulously incorruptible personal image and integrity. He was the soft target.

 

Eventually he confronted the then party president Ms Sonia Gandhi that all the coal allocations by his government had been made at the recommendation of her, then all-powerful, political secretary Ahmad Patel. But Singh was held responsible for not acting despite being a person of highest integrity personally.

 

Same is the case with the AAP and those at the helm of affairs in the government. They will need to do a lot to redeem their image. The arrest of the DIG and the accompanying disclosures could not have come at a worse time for the ruling party.

Maybe there would be some churn and some purge for redemption. The AAP has no other option. Silence of the opposition on the issue can be no consolation in the times when social media is so powerful and operates mostly on the autopilot mode.