Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 5, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/343469/Not-the-way-to-fight-graft.html
Soon after accepting the demand of Anna Hazare
that he and his nominees should be included in an official, notified committee
to draft the proposed Lok Pal Bill, Union Human Resource Development Minister
Kapil Sibal had pompously declared that there were no differences between
the Government and 'civil society' on the issue of fighting corruption at
high places. "We are on the same page," Mr Sibal had told mediapersons,
conveniently forgetting that there were several pages, if not an entire book,
separating the UPA and the fasting 'Gandhian' who had charged the imagination
of the non-voting chattering classes of urban India, symbolised by backpack-carrying
twenty-somethings who have made what Radio Mirchi calls the "bina nahaaye
office aaye" look fashionable, till a couple of hours before the Government
capitulated.
On Friday evening, Mr Sibal, who has emerged
as the chief fireman of a regime under siege, deployed to douse flames whenever
and wherever they erupt, said something similar after spending the afternoon
trying to talk Baba Ramdev into giving up his 'satyagraha' to protest against
the Government's failure in tackling the issue of black money. "We had
constructive dialogue on several issues and the Government has addressed all
the issues the Baba has raised in writing. Most of these issues are of national
concern and the Government is already seized of many of them," Mr Sibal
said.
Had this Government headed by a limp-wristed
Prime Minister truly believed that corruption is a matter of national concern
and been seized of the problem, then it would have acted robustly without
fear or favour, instead of whimpering in the corner into which it has painted
itself. It is evident from the Government's shameful conduct, its stunning
defence of crooks like A Raja (ironically, it is Mr Sibal who had publicly
claimed that there was zero loss to the exchequer on account of the Great
2G Spectrum Robbery) and its astonishing refusal to act on illicit money stashed
in foreign bank accounts and tax havens even as Western Governments are going
about this job methodically, that the last thing the Congress wishes to do
is confront the monster of corruption, leave alone slaying it.
That explains why the Government continues
to surrender its autonomy to decide policy and frame laws, and allow its executive
authority to be whittled away by self-appointed guardians of morality, ethics
and probity in public life, even if the lives of some of them are not necessarily
the best examples to live by. Anna Hazare no doubt has the best intentions
in mind as he presses for a Lok Pal Bill that will pave the way for appointing
an all-powerful ombudsman who will have the right to doubt and question the
integrity of everybody while nobody shall dare raise a finger at him or her.
But that does not mean he can decide the contours of an important Bill, bypassing
the constitutionally-mandated process of law-making and circumventing both
executive authority and legislative privilege.
The day it conceded the presumed right of
Anna Hazare and his nominees - Mr Shanti Bhushan, Mr Prashant Bhushan and
Mr Santosh Hegde - none of who is answerable to the people of India or accountable
to Parliament, to decide the scope and ambit of the proposed Lok Pal Bill,
the Government sent out an unambiguous signal that it lacks the courage to
stand up to pressure tactics that appear to be morally right but militate
against the letter and spirit of constitutionalism and the constitutional
order without which there can be only anarchy. "We must abandon the method
of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha," BR Ambedkar had
argued in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, "When there
was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social
objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods.
But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for
these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar
of Anarchy."
Just as Anna Hazare had the moral well-being
of the nation in mind when he embarked upon his Jantar Mantar fast-unto-death,
Baba Ramdev, too, means only the best for this country and its people as he
launches his 'satyagraha' against corruption, this time at Delhi's Ramlila
Ground. Contrary to what Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan may think, a yoga guru,
that too one who is as immensely popular with the masses, cannot be faulted
for wanting to cleanse the Government of its many sins, especially the sin
of turning a Nelson's eye to the all-pervasive corruption that has singularly
contributed the most to the flight of illicit capital from the country.
That said, it is undesirable that Baba Ramdev
should be seen to be setting the agenda for the Government or forcing it to
act under pressure by accepting demands that no doubt find a resonance among
the masses but are difficult, if not impossible, to implement. For instance,
issuing an Ordinance to 'bring back black money' would be cheered by many,
but few would bother to check whether this could indeed achieve an otherwise
noble objective. Similarly, asking for mandatory death penalty for those found
indulging in corrupt practices will strike a chord with many Indians - it
always did: Jawaharlal Nehru had once suggested that blackmarketeers should
be strung up from lamposts - but few would bother to consider its feasibility.
In a country where mass murderers are given the benefit of the doubt by judges
who are rarely, if ever, appalled by their grisly deeds, it is anybody's guess
as to how many corrupt politicians, babus, contractors, businessmen, industrialists
and wheeler-dealers will be sent to the gallows.
All this does not mean that we should retreat
from the battlefield and legitimise corruption by giving up the fight against
it. If anything, the fight against corruption has to be stepped up many-fold.
But that can be done only by waging a political battle, not by co-opting do-gooders
and those who think they have the solution to all of India's million problems.
This would happen only when the Opposition would take on the job of forcing
the Government to act, not by resorting to agitational politics but by doing
what it is expected to do: Providing both check and balance to a system of
governance which, despite its many flaws, has stood the test of time and kept
the democracy flag flying in India. Others in the neighbourhood have fared
far worse: For evidence, look at Pakistan which is as good as a failed state.
Tragically, the Opposition has failed to protect its turf from 'outsiders'
for which it alone is to blame. There is, however, little percentage in the
Opposition sitting back while others arrogate to themselves the role of the
political opposition without being stakeholders in politics. That way lies
unmitigated disaster.
