MUST READ: The 10 most explosive takeaways from the 'Operation Bikau Sansad' sting

Republic Bharat’s Special Investigative Team (SIT) broke the biggest political investigation on Tuesday. With 23 days before the Indian electorate begins casting its vote in the General Election 2019, Operation Bikau Sansad, exposes how democracy is not safe and those responsible might just be amongst the ones sitting in Parliament.

Here are the 10 big broad takeaways, from the 3 part sting on 3 Members of Parliament from 3 different states:

TAKEAWAY 1: DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT FROM SOME MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: 

Republic Bharat’s SIT has caught on camera, not one, not two but three members of parliament: Ram Kumar Sharma who is the sitting RLSP MP from Sitamarhi constituency, Santokh Singh Chaudhary, a Congress MP from Jalandhar and Harinarayan Rajbhar, a BJP  MP from Ghosi, U.P. All three willing to put prioritize money over the sanctity of our democracy. 

TAKE AWAY 2: MPs ARE PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON OUR PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM:

 Republic Media Network has put out tapes where an MP from the RLSP party, Ram Kumar Sharma, openly talks about how “In any election, like upto Rs 50 crores are spent during an election in Andhra. But, in Bihar - Uttar Pradesh, it's not the case of Rs. 50 crores. Here too, but Rs. 10 crores are needed. At less than 10 crores, there are no elections here as well. Rs. 10-12-15 crores are needed here,” proving that some MPs are virtually placing a Maximum Retail Price on our electoral process. 
 
TAKEAWAY 3: HUNDI HAWALA MECHANISMS ARE BEING SUGGESTED: 

Republic Media Network has put out tapes of a sitting RLSP MP Ram Kumar Sharma who talks of talking of alternate routes to fund the MP ahead of elections and says, “You can send through hoondi (hawala)”  indicating some parliamentarians have reduced our democracy a means for hawala funding.

READ: CLINCHER | From 'hundi, Hawala' To Rs 10 Crore Chatter To Price Tags For Questions In Parliament, Stung Sitting RLSP MP Ram Kumar Sharma Reveals All The Rot

TAKEAWAY 4: MONEY MAY DICTATE THE QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT: 

Republic Media Network has on hidden camera Ram Kumar Sharma, a sitting RLSP MP claiming  “The question was sent, we used to type the question and stick onto a letter pad”  while discussing pricing on questions. This raises a crucial question for the common man today: are our MPs activities being puppeteered by a cashmaster and not governed by welfare for the electorate. 

TAKEAWAY 5: ‘MANAGE HO JAYEGA ATTITUDE’ EXPOSED:  

Republic Media Network as part of its deep investigation has exposed the ‘Manage Ho Jayega’ mindset some MPs have over cash for favours with RLSP MP Ram Kumar Sharma on tape repeatedly, throughout the sting, saying “everything gets managed, everything can be managed” and “it will be managed”. 
 
TAKEAWAY 6: QUESTIONABLE DEALINGS LABELLED AS ‘INVESTMENT’: 

Republic Bharat through its investigative journalism has put out how when Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary was approached saying his clients want to meet him to discuss cash for favours, the MP from Jalandhar seemingly refers to it all as an  “investment”. 

READ: CLINCHER: From 'risk' From Cash Deals Following Demonetisation To Accepting 'investment' Because Of 'elections', Stung Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary Reveals The Give-and-take

TAKEAWAY 7: CONGRESS MP ADMITS DEMONETISATION IMPACT: 

Republic Bharat’s Special Investigation Team has on camera, a Member of Parliament from the Congress party, Santokh Singh Chaudhary, cribbing about how “everyone, no one has any money.” He admits that demonetisation has ensured a setback for MPs, he said: “it has made a huge impact ”. These claims fly in the face of the Rahul Gandhi and Congress party narrative on how demonetisation failed while raising larger questions of the dirty cash in electoral politics. 

TAKEAWAY 8: MPs WILLING TO TRADE THEMSELVES FOR DAILY FREEBIES:  

On hidden camera, BJP MP Harinarayan Rajbhar appears to justify taking money by saying “ Why do we need cash? We need is promotion of campaigns, travel, petrol expenses. These are the things where we could use help. Are you understanding what I'm saying?” establishing almost that our democracy and its sanctity are being held hostage to petty greed for vehicles, petrol and political campaigns by certain Members of Parliament. 

TAKEAWAY 9: THERE ARE TALKS OF VOTES FOR CASH BY OUR MPs: 

 The BJP MP Harinarayan Rajbhar has on hidden camera said   “ Haaliki, baat yeh bhi hain ki paise se bhi vote khareedi ja rahi hain. Paisa baata jaata hain. Toh Paristhithi humlog dekh lenge” (Whereas, the matter is also that money is being used to buy votes. The money is distributed. So we will see the situation). 

TAKEAWAY 10: SAMJHAUTA & SAHYOG AT THE COST OF DEMOCRACY: 

The sensational investigation by the Republic Bharat SIT shows how narratives “samjhauta” and “sahyog” are possibly being used to prioritise moneybags over the aam aadmi by certain parliamentarians.

READ: CLINCHER: From Vote Buying Mentions To Seeking Daily 'expenses', Stung BJP MP Harinarayan Rajbhar Spills The Beans On Funds And Favours

 As part of the Republic Bharat investigation, when the reporter asks the BJP MP Harinarayan Rajbhar “If you need money during elections, if you need cash, you must inform us. We would help you. In return you could get our work done,” the parliamentarian from Ghosi, U.P. says “that is okay. This shall be the deal (voh toh hai hai, yeh toh samjhauta rahega)”. Later, the same BJP MP, in a shocking clincher, says “Look when we win elections with your support (sahyog) , your work will be prioritised”.