The stench of widespread corruption once again wafts over Indian public life. Whether it is repeated examination leaks, shoddy road construction, allegations surrounding contracts, the awarding of environmental clearances, the capture of regulatory agencies, theft from temples, expropriation of private companies, or abuse of public office for real estate deals, a familiar litany of complaints is gathering unprecedented momentum. At issue is not whether any specific claim is true. After all, many of the charges against UPA-II were never proved in a court of law. What matters is the pervasive sense of institutional corruption. The most telling sign is that even some supporters of the government acknowledge the problem.

Yet there is a striking paradox. Precisely at the moment when corruption has once again become the dominant idiom of public life, the prospects for a credible anti-corruption movement have become more remote. The Cockroach Janta Party, still protesting at Jantar Mantar, is animated by the admirable conviction that Indians need not simply roll over in the face of arbitrary power. But converting widespread moral unease into an effective political movement is far harder today than at any point. This widening gap between the visibility of corruption and the weakness of anti-corruption politics is not accidental. It points to deeper transformations in Indian politics.

Corruption, of course, never disappeared. But it receded from political consciousness. Its character appeared to change. Corruption seemed less retail than wholesale. It was less about the routine extraction that citizens encountered in everyday dealings with the state, and more about discretion over high-level regulation, contracts,........

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