Top 15 worst political scandals of independent India

New Delhi, Apr 22: India has witnessed a number of political scandals in recent times but a closer look at the history of Independent India reveals that scams and political scandals have been part and parcel of Indian political discourse since independence.The first scam took place in 1948, just one year after independence. A fierce Feroz Gandhi, the son-in-law of the then PM Jawahar Lal Nehru, set an example by opening a front against his own father-in-law in Mundhra case of 1958 that led to the resignation of the then finance minister. But times have changed now. Political resignations on moral grounds have become a thing of the past. The politicians of this country have become so thick-skinned that they no longer care for public outrage over embezzlement of public money. They believe that Indian public have very short memory and they will forget everything in due course of time.The fragmentation of Indian polity has often proved them right as the public voted the same corrupt leaders to power.Let's have a look at some of the major political scandals of independent India:1. Jeep Scandal (1948): It was the first political scandal of independent India. V K Krishna Menon, the then high commissioner to UK, placed orders for procurement of 155 jeeps worth Rs. 80 lakh from a foreign firm allegedly without following normal protocol. These jeeps were to be used in troubled regions of Hyderabad and Kashmir.The army received only 155 jeeps although most of the money was paid upfront. It was alleged that the then Prime Minister forced the govt to accept these jeeps.Govind Ballabh Pant, the then Home Minister, announced on September 30, 1955 that the Jeep scandal case was closed for judicial inquiry ignoring suggestion by the Inquiry Committee led by Ananthsayanam Ayyangar. Pant said that if the opposition was not satisfied they can make it an election issue.Soon after this scam, Krishna Menon was inducted into the Nehru cabinet as minister without portfolio. Later on, he was made defense minister and Menon was blamed for 1962 defeat. 2. Mundhra case (1958):Mundhra scandal led to the resignation of the then finance minister T.T. Krishnamachari.Haridas Mundhra was a Calcutta-based industrialist and stock speculator who got the government-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest Rs. 1.24 crores in the shares of six troubled companies belonging to Mundhra.It was alleged that the investment was done under governmental pressure and LIC lost most of the money. The irregularity was highlighted in 1958 by Feroze Gandhi of the Indian National Congress party, who represented the Rae Bareli seat in the Parliament of India. As Feroz Gandhi was the son-in-law of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the matter escalated in the family and soured the relationship between Nehru and Feroz Gandhi.Subsequently, the parliament had passed the Life Insurance of India Act on June 19, 1956, under which 245 firms were nationalized and consolidated under the Life Insurance Corporation.3. Nagarwala scandal (1971):In 1971, a telephone call came to the head cashier of SBI, parliament street, instructing him on behalf of the then PM Indira Gandhi to hand over Rs. 60 lakhs to a man in connection with Bangladesh crisis. Later it was discovered that former army captain, Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala, then attached to Indian intelligence or RAW, collected the money from Malhotra, the chief cashier of SBI, by "mimicking the voice of Mrs. Indira Gandhi", presumably for being diverted to the Mukti Bahini in its guerrilla-liberation campaign from West Pakistan.Nagarwalla was arrested immediately. Malhotra went in person to collect a receipt from P. N. Haksar, Indira Gandhi's personal secretary, informing him that the requested payment was done. A stunned Haksar informed Malhotra that Mrs Gandhi had instructed nothing of the sort and urged him to inform the police immediately. The opposition parties suspected that the money belonged to Indira Gandhi and that it was happening on a regular basis.The matter became more controversial after the investigating officer, D. K. Kashyap, was killed in a car accident. Nagarwala was sentenced for four years and died in prison in February, 1973.4. Bofors case (1987):Bofors scandal was independent India's one of the biggest political scandals in which the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was alleged to have received kickbacks. It was alleged that the Swedish firm Bofors AB paid Rs. 64 crore in kickbacks to top Indian politicians including Rajiv Gandhi and key defense officials for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer. The matter came to light on April 16, 1987, when Swedish Radio alleged that Bofors paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to seal the deal. V P Singh, the then defense minister, took a very tough stand and finally resigned over the issue.Leading newspaper ‘The Hindu' followed the story relentlessly in one of the finest examples of investigative journalism. The middleman associated with the scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who was reportedly close to the Gandhi family and emerged as a powerful broker in the 1980s between big businesses and the Indian government.Bofors scandal resulted in a huge face loss for Rajiv Gandhi and he lost the 1989 general elections as a result of public backlash over this issue. Although Bofors scandal cost Rajeev Gandhi heavily, nothing could be established by investigation authorities. First, it was alleged that Congress govt was obfuscating the investigation but even BJP government failed to take the case to its logical conclusion.Despite all the controversy, the Bofors gun was used extensively as the primary field artillery during the Kargil War with Pakistan and gave India 'an edge' against Pakistan.5. Hawala scandal (1991): Hawala was a US $18 million scandal that implicated some of the country's leading politicians including the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, L K Advani, V C Shukla, P Shiv Shankar, Sharad Yadav, Balram Jakhar and Madan Lal Khurana.The arrest of the Jain brothers, the hawala brokers, led to the seizure of now famous `Jain diaries' that had details of all the payments.However, the CBI's entire case against the prominent personalities cutting across party lines named in these diaries collapsed in court. Special CBI Judge V.B. Gupta held that none of the statements and confessions of the accused was admissible in court since they were given to the CBI.Ruling on the PIL filed by Vineet Narain, the Supreme Court of India directed that the Central Vigilance Commission should be given a supervisory role over the CBI.6. Fodder Scam (1996):Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal of Bihar that involved the embezzlement of about Rs. 950 crore from the government treasury.The list of accused persons included many political bigwigs including the then CM Laloo Prasad Yadav and ex-CM Jagannath Mishra. The scam had its origins in small-scale embezzlement by some government employees submitting false expense reports, which grew in magnitude and drew additional elements, such as politicians, and businesses, over time, until a full-fledged mafia had formed.Lalu Prasad Yadav was arrested in this case and had to spend time in jails of Bihar and Jharkhand.Fodder scam became a major political issue and Lalu Prasad yadav was forced to tender his resignation from CM's post. The scam contributed immensely in the dethronement of RJD regime in Bihar.7. Sukhram Scandal (1996):Sukh Ram was an influential leader of Congress belonging to the state of Himachal Pradesh. He was part of the P V Narasimha Rao government. In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized from his official residence Rs. 3.6 crores in cash concealed in bags and suitcases, which he had allegedly collected in awarding a telecom contract.The cash was seized from his puja-room. He was convicted on 18 November 2011 and sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court.8. Cash-for-votes scandal (2008):The cash-for-votes scandal took place in the aftermath of CPI(M), one of the major pillars of UPA-I, withdrawing support to the Manmohan Singh Government over nuclear deal with USA. On July 22, 2008, BJP members waved bundles of cash which they produced from bags in parliament during the debate, accusing the government of giving it to them in order to buy their support or abstention in the vote.The UPA won the confidence vote with 275 in favour and 256 against. on August 2, the BJP offered "documentary evidence" to support its allegation that three of its members Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahaveer Bhagora had been bribed.The evidence included transcripts of video recordings and explanatory letters from two of the MPs, all of which was passed to the investigatory committee that had been set up by parliament to probe the entire matter.Rajya Sabha members Amar Singh and Ahmad Patel were alleged to have played major roles in this bribery scandal. Samajwadi party had supported the confidence vote despite its well known anti-US stand. The parliamentary committee reported in December 2008 that it had found no evidence of bribery in the case of Amar Singh and Ahmad Patel.An application was made to the Supreme Court on 2 April requesting that it ordered a Special Investigation Team to probe the affair.Two BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora along with Sudheendra Kulkarni were arrested in this case. Even Amar Singh had to go behind bars in this case. US diplomatic cables leaked on WikiLeaks purportedly say that payoffs had been made to MPs to ensure majority for the UPA government in the confidence vote. Nachiketa Kapur, a political aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma, is quoted in the US embassy cables as saying that a fund of Rs.50 crore had been formed to pay MPs.9. Commonwealth scandal (2010):The Commonwealth games 2010 proved disastrous for India's reputation and its ability to manage big-ticket international events.The govt spent around Rs. 70,608 crores on these games and it was revealed later on that massive corruption was involved in most of the CWG contracts.Apart from the contractual irregularities, player's residential complex also came for sharp criticism owing to its poor quality and standard. Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games, was the main accused in the corruption cases and he was arrested on April 26, 2011 for awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the 2010 Commonwealth Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer.He was released on bail on 19 January 2012. Suresh Kalmadi is a renowned politician and a former of Congress party. He is also a Lok Sabha MP from Pune. Kalmadi's membership of the Indian National Congress Party was suspended after being arrested. On April 26, 2011 he was sacked from the post of president of the Indian Olympic Association. 10. Adarsh Housing Society Scam (2011):Adarsh Housing Society is based in Mumbai of Maharashtra. In 2002, a request was made to the office of the Chief Minister to allot land for the construction of a housing complex for "the welfare of serving and retired personnel of the Defence Services".It so happened that politicians from different political parties, bureaucrats and other officials colluded to bend several rules and perpetrate various acts of omission and commission in order to have the building constructed and then got themselves allotted flats in this premier property at artificially lowered prices.Names of three former Chief Ministers, Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan have cropped in as major beneficiaries of this scam.11. Bhanwari Devi – Mahipal Maderna Scandal (2011):Bhanwari Devi, a 36 year old auxiliary nurse and midwife, from Rajasthan came into limelight after her husband alleged that Mahipal Maderna, the Congress minister in state government, got his wife abducted.The investigation of the case revealed that Bhanwari Devi was blackmailing Maderna and Congress legislator Malkhan Singh and demanded crores of Rupees based upon a CD in which Maderna and others were seen in a compromising position with Bhanwari Devi. Maderna and Malkhan finally decided to get her eliminated with the help of supari killers. Maderna is under custody and court has framed charges against him.12. 2G spectrum scam (2010):2G scam related to the deliberate undervaluation of 2G spectrum frequencies in 2010 that were allotted to favoured mobile companies like unitech wireless, Reliance and Swan telecom, who in turn sold them to third parties for hefty sum of money. According to the CAG report, the shortfall between the money collected and the money which the law mandated to be collected is estimated to be Rs. 176,645 crore. However, the actual loss is highly disputable. The Supreme Court declared allotment of spectrum as "unconstitutional and arbitrary," and quashed all the 122 licenses issued in 2008 during tenure of A. Raja who was the minister for communications & IT at that time.Besides A Raja, M K Kanimozhi, the daughter of DMK leader M Karunanidhi, was also named as a beneficiary of this scam. Both were arrested and put behind bars. Siddharth Behura and R K Chandolia were key bureaucrats who were arrested for being part of the entire controversy. A number of corporate executives including Sanjay Chandra of Unitech, Shaid Balwa of D B Reality and Ravi Ruia of Essar group were arrested in this case.13. Karnataka Video clip controversy (2012):Politicians are expected to conduct themselves in a way that inspires confidence in general public so that they feel assured that their representatives are men and women of character but certain incidents had seriously damaged the image of public representatives in India.Two ministers of Karnataka assembly were caught watching porn video clips inside Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The two ministers were Laxman Savadi and C C Patil.The video clip related to a rave party of foreign tourists at Udupi beach where they were openly indulging in sexual activities.On 8 February all ministers offered resignation letters and the party accepted their resignations.14. Coalgate (2012):Coalgate is one of the biggest political scandals of India according to the draft report of CAG. The allegation was that the govt did not invite competitive bids before allocating coal blocks to both private sector firms as well as public sector firms. The CAG estimated a loss of Rs. 1,067,303 crores to the government exchequer. The CBI has named a dozen Indian firms in the FIR. The govt led by Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has firmly denied any irregularity in the allocation of Coal blocks and has raised serious objections to the loss figure quoted by the CAG draft report. 15. UP NRHM scam (2012):UP National Rural Health Scam is first of its kind as it involves both siphoning of money meant for poor people of rural areas as well as multiple brutal murders. Around Rs. 10,000 crores of fund meant for health care deliveries in rural areas was looted by the ministers and officials of UP government. The NRHM scam came to the limelight after two Chief Medical Officers, Dr. Vinod Arya and Dr. B. P. Singh, were successively murdered in posh localities of the state capital, Lucknow. Deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan, supposed to be part of the conspiracy, was arrested, but died mysteriously in prison.Former Health and Family Welfare minister Babusingh Kushwaha, who was expelled from the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, after the case came into light, was arrested by the CBI. Kushwaha switched over to BJP before 2012 assembly elections.Some other people who were under investigation have also been murdered or died under suspicious circumstances.