Nothing Adarsh in the whole affairs

The ‘Chavan out, Chavan in formula’ doled out by the Congress high command at the Centre for Maharashtra has been accepted with a sackful of salt by sceptics.
Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam is a bead in a long string of political misdemeanours. AR Antulays, Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekars and Ashok Chavans don’t give us the jitters any more.
Land-grab scams are nothing new.
Only this time, the Adarsh scandal exposes like never before the use of realty as a tool of political patronage. Purportedly meant for Kargil martyrs’ families, this 31-storeyed high-rise (that should never have exceeded six or seven storeys) ended up with a who’s who of the political, defence and bureaucratic establishments. 

Do we need to be reminded those years ago, when men in power made dirty money from even caskets bought to lay these slain bravehearts to rest? Could we think of anything more morally despicable?
The Adarsh scam has unveiled corruption as an all-encompassing malaise, a conglomerate with an ensemble cast drawn from every section of the society. Hounding Chavan out of office and making a few face the guillotine is not enough.
The rot is systemic. The remedy must be more than token scalp-taking. The question is what? Here’s where we must indulge in a considerable measure of soul-searching. Enough is enough. We, the people, have been fooled and fooled time and again.
Scandals surface with regularity and real culprits go scot-free and cases are forgotten.
As to what should be done in the Adarsh case, I have two simple things to posit. One, relatives of the Kargil martyrs should not take up flats in a society that’s anything but adarsh (role model). They would be undermining the sacrifice of their loved ones by staying in a debased society.
Two, as for the systemic morass, several bureaucrats have been found with their hands in the cookie jar. Right now, they are lying low and waiting for the dust to settle so that they can go back to their usual path. This loot by the state’s custodians shouldn’t go unpunished.
Let me be permitted to say that we might take a leaf from former Chinese premier, Zhu Rongji’s book whose zero-tolerance to corruption sent shivers down the spines of civil servants convicted of turpitude.
This needs tremendous political will which the new incumbent, Prithviraj Chavan is expected to exhibit. Landing amid a sticky situation, with a tough ally like NCP to bargain with, let’s see if he can give clean governance and early deliverance a chance. The jury waits.