Pinarayi Vijayan continues to be under pressure

The twist to the gold smuggling case of Kerala is a shocker by all means. Swapna, an accused, not only says it is a conspiracy against her and dragged several names into the controversy including that of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members. The gold smuggling case is dated to July 5, 2020 when the Customs Department seized 30 kilos of gold worth 15 crore (then) which was concealed in diplomatic baggage at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

It is obvious that there are several layers to the case. The Chief Minister had already stated that "these comments by the accused are part of the political agenda. The public had already dismissed this agenda. After an interval, they are making the accused repeat the same statement. There is not even an iota of facts in this allegation. If you think that by spreading these lies, you can destroy the determination of the government and political leadership, I am reminding you that this is a futile exercise. I strongly believe that society will give an apt reply to those who think that they can benefit from this".

Pinarayi is an honest politician. Atleast that is the perception of people. But comparison is inevitable. A ruler is constantly under scrutiny. The great Indian political commentator and philosopher, Chanakya believed that "men are naturally fickle minded" which means that honesty is not a virtue that would remain consistent lifelong and the temptation to make easy gains through corrupt means can override the trait of honesty any time. One may not agree with Chanakya on his sweeping, albeit questionable generalisations about the nature of human beings, but one can not dismiss his prescription of strict vigil on everyone in relation to the place, time, nature, output and modus operandi of work.

Take for example those accused now. All of them are closely connected somehow. It's well known that too much personal interaction or union among the higher executives leads to departmental goals being compromised and leads to corruption. Vijayan should have known this better as human emotions and personal concerns act as impediments to the successful running of an administration, which is basically a rule-based impersonal affair. A rule-based governance, that is! Another principle of Rajneeti suggested by the great author was the concept of whistleblowers. Here the fingers pointing towards the Chief Minister and his family may belong to the accused. But the accusations have flown out if constant interrogation and under intense grilling. Exposing corruption is a challenging job.

That there could always be bigwigs in such a high profile case involved can not be ruled out The State Government has appointed a 12-member probe team to look into the allegations of corruption at the highest level. The Leftists might defend Vijayan and his virtues. But, at these times when everyone is targeted by the others, there could be no escape for Vijayan too, despite his 'honesty'. In an atmosphere of all round corruption, honesty becomes a virtue and not a desired duty. Public perception could take a hit and change. The burden of proof lies with Vijayan unfortunately. His government has to prove that Kerala is different from other States by answering all those questions not by sweeping the allegations under the carpet.