Corruption and Government - I am astonished at my own Moderation!
WHILE Anna is arrested and the hype crazy middle class Indian is aghast, politicians must be busy hunting for the manna that is there just for the taking. The genesis of the present day all-pervasive corruption is rooted in the establishment of the British Empire in India. Lord Clive, the highly respected founder hero of the British Empire in India (unfortunately, even in our own history text books) was awfully corrupt and had to face charges in the British Parliament after he went back to England. Like our present day politicians, he was an expert in the loot and scoot game and like them he was never caught really. He was not a soldier, but he defeated powerful kings of India by his divide and rule policy and became the Governor, starting life as a clerk in Madras, where he was sent to by his family to eke out a living or die of malaria. Bofors, 2G and CWG together would be a pittance compared to the loot that Clive took from India. The British laws (like ours) could not punish him, but maybe he realised that he was guilty and committed suicide. There was so much to loot in India that Clive told the Parliament, “ By God, at this moment do I stand astonished at my own moderation ".
Clive was succeeded by a more corrupt clerk who became the first Governor General of India – Warren Hastings. He collected huge sums of money from his tax collectors. He is credited with establishing judicial courts in various places on which Bankim Chandra Chatterjee said, “T hese British courts and brothel houses are similar because native Indians can get into both of them only by paying money ”. When public outcry became unbearable, the Government ordered an enquiry against Hastings, which ran for six years after which he was acquitted. After the fiasco of a trial, he continued to be the Hon'ble Warren Hastings, former Governor General of India!
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