Controversy continues to rage over stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma’s allegation of corruption in the BMC — an allegation he posted on Twitter two days ago, as he hailed PM Narendra Modi and taunted him about ‘achhe din’, saying BMC officials had demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh to allow constructions his office
Controversy continues to rage over stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma’s allegation of corruption in the BMC — an allegation he posted on Twitter two days ago, as he hailed PM Narendra Modi and taunted him about ‘achhe din’, saying BMC officials had demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh to allow constructions his office. The BMC has fired its own salvos at the TV star, and said they had issued a notice to stop work since he did not have permission.
In the midst of all the accusations and counter accusations, the real reason why this controversy started should not be obfuscated. We must take a closer look at the corruption within the BMC and hold tainted officers responsible. The BMC claims it has taken a serious view of the allegation and Sharma has been asked to lodge a formal complaint and identify the officer who asked him for a bribe.
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The civic body must now ensure that this investigation leads to concrete action. So, too, must Kapil Sharma. His accusatory tweet cannot be left hanging in the air. Once the comedian has tweeted about corruption, he needs to take the issue to its logical conclusion and assist the civic body in every way to tackle it.
This case brings up memories from 2010, when industrialist Ratan Tata had made a statement that he decided against entering the airline business as he was not comfortable with the idea of paying a bribe of Rs 15 crore to a minister, as had been suggested by another businessman. But the minister was never named and, because of this, we lost an opportunity to weed out corruption.
The effort has to be two-pronged. When celebrities tweet or speak about corruption, they need to take the allegation ahead and work with officials within the system to identify and eradicate the rot. Let us not lose focus about the real issue.
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