The “Gujarat Model” has collapsed into a high-tech extortion racket. While the BJP government beats the drum of “Viksit Bharat,” the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has pulled back the curtain on a sickening reality: the state’s digital flagship Integrated Online Revenue Applications portal was being used as a menu for institutionalised bribery. The arrest of young IAS officer, Surendranagar Collector Rajendra Patel is just the tip of the iceberg in a massive IAS-led corruption scheme in Gujarat.

IAS officer Rajendrakumar Mahendra Patel didn’t just take bribes; he industrialised them. The ED has revealed that the former Surendranagar Collector downloaded land-use (CLU) applications from the official government portal and manually appended custom spreadsheet columns to “fix” bribe rates at Rs 5 to Rs 10 per square metre. Under the BJP’s watch, the Collector’s office had been transformed into a brokerage firm where “speed money” was the only authorised currency.

Asset freeze

The legal noose is tightening around not only the bureaucrats, but also the developers who fuelled the “Rate Card” system. The ED has moved to freeze the bank accounts and assets of several prominent developers linked to the 800 applications processed by Patel. Among those under intense scrutiny is witness Chetan Kanzaria, who admitted to paying ₹65 lakh in bribes to fast-track land conversion.

Investigators are currently mapping a “money trail” that leads from these developers to a maze of shell properties. Already, the ED has identified an Ahmedabad apartment in Patel’s name where rental income was being laundered into his mother’s account.

The agency’s latest move to freeze the assets of the “pay-to-play” developers signals a massive crackdown on the entire ecosystem of administrative bribery that flourished under the BJP’s tenure.

While the ED works the courtrooms, the Congress is taking the fight to the streets. Building on the momentum of their “Jan Akrosh (People’s Fury) Rally," the party has announced a massive statewide “Nyay Yatra” (Justice March).

“This is not just one corrupt officer; it is a government of organised loot,” said Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda. “From the sewage in Gandhinagar’s taps to the "Rate Cards" on government portals, the common man is being poisoned and robbed simultaneously. The Nyay Yatra is set to traverse every district in Gujarat, highlighting the BJP’s “Commission-Agent Raj” and demanding a complete judicial audit of the IORA portal”, he added.

Power without accountability

In Gujarat, the democratic hierarchy has been inverted; a “technocratic” obsession has allowed senior IAS officers to eclipse elected MLAs and MPs. This “Babudom” has become a shielded caste, answering only to their political masters while treating the state’s resources as a personal ATM.

By using subordinates like Deputy Mamlatdar Chandrasinh Mori (caught with ₹67.50 lakh in cash) as “collection agents,” these IAS officers ensure a wall of silence. The junior staff is forced to maintain the ‘hisaab’ and handle dirty cash, acting as “human firewalls,” while the BJP leadership maintains an air of plausible deniability.

This article is republished from Vibes of India. Read the original article here. 

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