Vilasrao's latest scandal

Quiz: A distressed farmer in Vidarbha approaches a loan shark for a loan. The shark loans the amount to the farmer at the monthly interest rate of 10 per cent. Later, the loan shark and his goons harass the farmer for loan repayment. Two other farmers who’ve taken loans from this shark commit suicide. So does the a daughter of another farmer, unable to bear the consequences when her father could not pay the loan. When the said farmer files an FIR against the loan shark, against whom FIRs are already registered, what do you expect? (Here’s a hint you don’t need: the loan shark’s son is an MLA at the Maharashtra state assembly).

Obviously you expect the police to go easy on the loan shark, perhaps harass the farmers for filing the complaints. This is exactly what happened, with the blessings of Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. When the farmer approached the High Court, the court slapped a INR 25,000 fine on the state government. As the Maharashtra state government’s primary duty is towards land-grabbers, builders and loan-sharks, it challenged the fine. Overturning the fine and slapping a INR ten lakh fine on the government, the Supreme Court said:

“The camouflage of sophistry used by Vilasrao Deshmukh in the instructions given by him and the affidavit filed in this court is clearly misleading. The message to the authorities was loud and clear i.e. they were not to take the complaints against the Sananda family seriously and not to proceed against them.

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Cases involving pervasive misuse of public office for private gains, which have come to light in the last few decades, tend to shake people’s confidence and one is constrained to think that India has freed itself from British colonialism only to come in the grip of a new class which tries to rule by the same colonial principles.”

How would you expect Mr. Deshmukh to react? The last time he was compelled to react to a public event was after the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, when Mr. Deshmukh was the serving Chief Minister. His reaction then was memorable: as a tour-guide, he accompanied the film-maker Ramgopal Verma to one of the disaster sites, to explain the workings of the attack. No such tours are expected (dying farmers are less cinematographic then terrorist attacks). So Mr. Deshmukh has stuck to the usual: he has dismissed calls for his resignation, terming “These are political things.”

PS: The joker even asked the corporate sector to understand the need for ‘adherence to good corporate governance practices and increased sensitivity to social obligations.’