[nukkad] FW: [nukkad] Roshan's grandfather was right-Rajababu

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Ravi Menon wrote: The paying of money to a politician 
can be connote dto be a bribe but need not necessarily imply that.

I think the Political Parties' contribution to generation of black money is
no less than that of the underworld.  The only difference is that while the
underworld extortions are punishable if they are caught, extortions by
Political parties are beyond the reach of law. 

Unless we devise a transparent system of financing elections, political
parties will be compelled to extort money from contractors / suppliers etc.
to finance elections. What Bangaru Laxan did and what Jaya Jaitly acquiesced
to were collection of donations in return for promised help in business
promotion in future. Measures such as legalizing political contributions by
corporate bodies / individuals / business houses as legitimate
tax-deductible business expenses may encourage white money donations to
political parties. Parties in turn must be compelled to publish their
audited expenses with a list of donors. Criminal action for possessing
assets in excess of known sources of income must be taken against political
parties if they are seen spending more on elections than their declared
income. Why do our political parties continue to be above the laws
applicable to all other entities?

Will this Tehelka result in such an introspection by political leaders?
Unlikely. 

(Ravi Menon) "never let the facts get in the way of a good story" Is that
what 
tehelka.com have done I hope not.(Unquote)

I think what Tehelka.com has done is to shake us out of our slumber. They
may have committed a minor breach of trust (i.e. using hidden camera) to
expose a major breach of trust.  It is not much different from Mumbai Police
tapping the phone of Nazim Rizvi or Bharat Shah to expose their alleged
underworld nexus.  A few heads may roll and a few reputations may be
tarnished now and when the Judge submits its report. Then everything will be
forgotten and we will all go right back to sleep. 


V.K.Venugopal



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