Vyapam scam: Why Shivraj Singh Chouhan may have to quit

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state are under the scanner in the MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam, commonly known as Vyapam scam due to the acronym of its name in Hindi – Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal.

More than the scam, Vyapam is more in the news for the deaths of the persons accused in the scam or somehow related to it. Most of the deaths have taken place under suspicious conditions.

Even the number of deaths is under contention. The state government says 25 deaths have taken place, while several media reports quote the figure at 44. Basically, the state government is counting only the accused persons but the whistleblowers, NGOs and the media are also including the witnesses, relatives of the accused and witnesses and others who have had unnatural death.

Ironically, the "About Us" section of Vyapam says: “Role of the board - Professional Examination Board is the only institute of its kind in the country that organises competitive tests for entrance to various professional courses every year on a very large scale…It is worth mentioning that only on the basis of these test one can get admission to the courses recognised by national level bodies like All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), NCTE New Delhi etc against seats available in various institutions of the state.” (sic)

The mystery surrounding "the only institute of its kind" got deeper with one more death coming to light on June 30. The body of a suspect Amit Sagar, a veterinary student, was found in a pond in Sheopur district in February, but the death has come to light only now.

A special task force (STF) is conducting a probe into the scam which is being monitored by special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court into the Vyapam scam. Chouhan finds himself in the thick of the scam, a massive admission and recruitment scandal involving politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen, due to these reasons:

1. The scam has taken place during his tenure. Thousands of candidates got admission in several courses or got jobs on different posts in various departments through improper and unfair means. There are allegations that either money exchanged hands in admitting the candidates or recommendations were accepted to "saffronise" the state administration at Class III and IV levels as part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) lab experiment in MP. Several senior RSS and BJP leaders were obliged by the state government.

Vyapam is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting recruitment examinations for different state level posts, which are not filled through the Public Service Commission. It organises tests for posts like sub inspectors of police, assistant grade III/ steno typists and other jobs in agriculture, women and child development, jail, controller food and drugs, pollution control and in various government departments.

2. Several politicians, including former education minister Laxmikant Sharma, his officer on special duty (OSD), a host of officials and scores of aspirants have been arrested in the case. There are about 2500 accused persons and 1500 of them are in jail. State Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are pointing fingers at Chouhan. The matter has reached quite close to the chief minister.

3. Vyapam’s first, and till date, the main whistleblower Prashant Pandey presented an excel sheet which names Chouhan and Union water resources minister Uma Bharati as those who had made recommendations for admission. Though this excel sheet has been challenged by the government, the fact is action against Sharma and his OSD has been taken largely on the basis of this document. Pandey and the Congress leaders demand action against Chouhan, Bharati and other senior RSS and BJP leaders on the basis of the same document.

4. Politically, Chouhan’s position has become untenable also because he originally belongs to LK Advani camp and was opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He, along with Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who was the leader of opposition at that point of time, had tried to scuttle Modi’s elevation as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. After Modi was anointed as the chairperson of BJP’s election management committee, the three had met then BJP president Rajnath Singh and RSS leaders to lobby against his further ascension on the ground that it would polarise the Muslims in the three states of MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan which were going to polls in 2013.

5. Chouhan’s rivals within the BJP have become quite active after finding him on a weak wicket. They are also being promoted by BJP president Amit Shah. Among Chouhan’s bête noires is MP’s urban administration and development minister Kailash Vijayvargiya. He has been made the party’s national general secretary in the latest reshuffle last month. He was also in charge of elections in Haryana.

Friends in the BJP say a search has already started for Chouhan’s replacement. Negotiations have also started within the BJP and RSS. The process will start in right earnest and seriously if Chouhan is indicted by the High Court-monitored probe.