July 17, 2026

The Politics Of Blackmail

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-29 00:11:24

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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It is strange and disgusting how politicians are fighting a game of blackmail in full public view. When the Enforcement Directorate (ED) calls Varsha Raut, wife of Shiv Sena strongman Sanjay Raut, for questioning in the PMC Bank fraud case, Sanjay Raut roars back that he has a file that contains 121 names from the BJP. He will give this file to the ED and it will take years for them to investigate the cases.

Why is this matter being raised when Varsha Raut is under the scanner? If Sanjay Raut had the good of the nation at heart, he should have given the file to the ED for investigation as soon as it landed on his lap. But wasn't he waiting for an opportune moment (like a summons to him or him wife in an alleged corruption case) before using the blackmail tactics? What does this make him then?

Of course the corruption charges against BJP leaders, if any, should be investigated with the same zeal as the ones against opposition leaders. But will Varsha Raut's culpability or criminality stand reduced or justified just because her husband has a file of such BJP leaders? Or is Sanjay Raut telling us that Varsha Raut has done nothing wrong as BJP leaders have also done the same?

The public is getting disgusted with politicians trading corruption charges and showing a strange attitude when charged with corruption. Instead of saying that they respect the law and will cooperate with the agencies to let the law take its course, politicians often try to pass off such investigations as political vendetta, try to put as many stumbling blocks in the way as they can and use blackmailing tactics to try and make the government back off. If all else fails, they join the ruling party to get the matter die a slow death.

There is no doubt that all political parties are using government agencies to crush opponents when they are in power, be it at the Central or state level. This is something that must be prevented. As all parties raise a hue and cry when out of power but do little to rectify the situation when in power, one feels that the courts must step in and ensure that agencies like the CBI, ED, SFIO, the police in respective states and other departments are not used to settle scores by the ruling dispensations.