Bhatt vs. Modi

Whistleblowers have a sort of reputation in our country. They are the new age Neros who play the fiddle after the Rome has burnt down. They pick up personal fights or sign into the payrolls of newer vendetta masters.

On the scale of whistleblowers, Sanjeev Bhatt of Gujarat must be carrying the feeblest whistle in the world. It is so weak that we heard the sound only ten years later. Why hadn’t he blown it in 2001 or 2 or 3 or 4 has not been asked by many people.

Probably because they all know the answer. There may have been hundreds of reasons, from coercion to ‘settlements’. Our politicians possess panoply of weapons, all of which must have been busy at work during the last ten years. BJP must be ‘supplying’ all the necessary nutrients to keep the Bhatt engine from roaring. Then why was Congress keeping quiet? A safe speculation is that that they would not have been aware of the presence of Bhatt. Having come to know of it recently, they would have offered a better bait and the IPS officer would have fallen for it.

Now, how does it matter?

It shouldn’t actually. Except for some moral definition of the term. According to Oxford dictionary a whistle-blower is some one 'who informs on someone engaged in illicit activity.' which means a person ‘blows a whistle’ because he or she is unable to bear an injustice, meaning 'when the injustice happens'. Per this definition, Bhatt isn’t a whistleblower. If he was really concerned about the victims and cared for them, he would not be cooling his heels for ten years. So it is safe to assume that he is someone who just changed his employer. And political employers are not the ones who would forget the disloyalty of their past employees. Bhatt got arrested now.

I think that’s precisely what is happening in this case. All evidences are pointing to the conclusion that Bhatt is basically a selfish crook who just changed sides and now paying the price for the same. The cupboard of his past too seems to be bustling with skeletons.

Unfortunately, it is hardly going to affect him, personally or otherwise. Employees come and go but it is the companies that will have to worry about their image. Modi’s image, already at its lowest ebb, has taken another major beating here. His three-day fast has done precious little to his declining image. Arresting a crook IPS officer isn’t going to add much to the scoreboard. He may win Gujarat again and may even remain its Chief Minister until his death but BJP’s potential Prime Ministerial candidate isn’t doing anything to earn it and doing everything to jeopardise it. At this rate, the BJP is not going to get any allies in the South and some of their key allies in the North too may desert them. Congress has already started propping up Rahul Gandhi and started to iron out their internal differences. Congress may just end up winning the next election, despite 2G, CWG, Adarsh, Black Money, terrorism, price rise, and an effete Prime Minister!

And if that happens, the credit will largely go to Modi.