Author: V Sundaram
Publication: Newstoday
Date:
What we urgently need in India today
is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising
insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous. Amongst
all Indian politicians the esteem of religion is profitable; the principles
of it are troublesome both 'secular' and 'saffron' included.
India today is a land of impunity
Legislative Impunity, Judicial Impunity, and Executive Impunity. The Congress
Party holds the national patent for the revolutionary method and technology
of unabashed impunity. I am not joking. I am amused by the solemnity displayed
by the UPA government in its concern to order a CBI probe into the allegations
regarding the targeting of minorities in Gujarat during the communal riots
aided and abetted by the political leadership. Stripped of ethical rationalisations
and philosophical pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power
chooses to prohibit or promote. Lalu Prasad Yadav who is in the run for
Bharat Ratna(!) in the next year's Republic Day Honours for his outstanding
services to the nation has brought his spectacularly 'secular' pressure
upon the UPA government to use the sledge hammer of the CBI against Narendra
Modi, popularly elected Chief Minister of Gujarat. Lalu hopes that regardless
of what happens to the CBI probe, he would at least retrieve his lost support
base among the Muslims in Bihar. Justice Nanavati Commission, already appointed
by the Gujarat government, has not completed its enquiry. The way in which
UPA Government is functioning today convinces me that Rule of Law in India
means Rule of Lawless Lalu. It means Rule of Ram Vilas Paswan also. It
means Rule of Mayavati. It means Rule of Mulayam Singh Yadav and so we
can go on with unabated breath in interminable succession.
The whole matter relating to the
communal riots in Gujarat is before the Supreme Court for adjudication.
Against this background, the proposal of the UPA government to order a
multi-parallel enquiry into the communal riots in Gujarat only shows how
politics in India is 'an arse upon which every one has sat excepting a
Man'. The rate at which the UPA government is ordering probes clearly shows
that a separate Ministry may have to be created by Dr Manmohan Singh to
deal with the increasing number of politically motivated, politically guided
and politically directed Commissions of Enquiry being ordered every day
in keeping with the letter and spirit of Non-Saffron Coalition Adharma.
The CBI in India had an outstanding
record of public service till the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in May
1964. By and large, it was a non-partisan, non-political organisation,
which functioned in a fair manner to deal with men guilty of various types
of offences requiring intervention by the State. After 1966, it became
a political handle in the hands of Indira Gandhi and successive Prime Ministers
to be used against their political opponents for settling political scores
after each general election. Electoral defeat of one politician (who had
used the CBI against his predecessor who had lost the previous election)
meant that the CBI would spring into action against him at the behest of
the victorious politician following his electoral success.
For every failure of the government
and for every breach of faith by a political party, there is always an
explanation ready with our leaders. Each justifies his party's misdeeds
by quoting the past misdeeds of his adversary. There was a time when Congress
in the opposition used to stall the proceedings of Parliament; now it is
the turn of the BJP. The people have continuously watched on the TV Hon'ble
Members of Parliament leaving their seats to enter the well of the House,
shouting slogans and forcing the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of Rajya
Sabha to adjourn the House repeatedly. It appears that our Parliament is
now a wrestling ground where points are scored by shouting and unruly behaviour
instead of meaningful debate and discussion.
Earnest public appeals, letters
and fax messages to the Prime Minister and other Union Ministers for proceeding
with Lok Pal Legislation have never been acknowledged. The Congress has
established only one culture in post-independent India; the government
responds only to militant demonstrations on the streets by large numbers,
rallies to block the traffic or burn the buses and public property. Appeals
by citizens, however patriotic and selfless they may be, are consigned
to the waste paper basket.
The citizens of this country have
watched with dismay the corruption cases going on in courts against a former
Prime Minister, a few Chief Ministers, Union Ministers and MPs. Skillful
lawyers with no qualms of conscience are defending them and, having regard
to the speed with which criminal justice is administered in our country,
there is no prospect of any of them being punished according to law. Meanwhile,
they are all out on bail and very much active in politics as if they have
been honourably acquitted. The citizens have witnessed helplessly the unprecedented
criminalisation of politics and the politicisation of crime. The concerned
citizens, and the freedom fighters and Sarvodaya workers still alive, the
concerned jurists and journalists, the like-minded NGOs, have a duty to
perform when government, political parties and Parliament have failed to
act. Mahatma Gandhi, father of our nation, had taught us that those who
tolerate evil and do nothing about it, are also guilty of participating
in it. We shall, therefore, do our duty in all humility and with prayer
for our country.
To put India in order, we must first
put the government in order; to put the government in order, we must first
put the UPA family in order; to put the UPA family in order, we must first
make the UPA leaders cultivate their personal lives properly for which
they must first set their hearts right. I derive my moral courage and moral
authority from the beautiful words of George Orwell: In a time of universal
deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
