Maybe, just like a blade-thin sliver of faint light but the Anna Hazare effect is visible on the political leadership. They are not taking charges of corruption lightly anymore. When Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy raised questions over acquisition of company that published the now defunct National Herald newspaper to which the Congress reportedly gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore, the Bharatiya Janata Party showed alacrity akin to mythical creatures in asking for an explanation from Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi. “These are not small charges and should be clarified in the public domain,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said. Rahul Gandhi even threatened to sue Swamy for making “utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory” allegations.

The point to note is singular: nobody is taking corruption lightly anymore.

While the BJP’s ‘clarification in public domain’ demand is very valid in case of Swamy’s allegations against Sonia and Rahul, it is no less valid in Nitin Gadkari’s case. The saffron party chief is alleged to have acquired farmers’ land in collusion with the Maharashtra government. And when Gadkari agreed for a probe, he dared Congress to probe Vadra first.  

Now that was unfair of the BJP. Nobody hits nobody below the belt. The Congress ministers fell on their knees like the terrified tribesmen whose totem had been defiled. They defended Vadra going out of way only to realise much later that he was a private citizen.

The point to note is even more singular: nobody is taking corruption on the other side lightly anymore. Maybe, taking corruption in one’s own house seriously will be the next stage when political parties will come to think that clarity begins at home. Right now, it is like a football game where nobody wants to score a goal. It’s all about keeping the ball in the play.