By
Randeep
Wadehra
Some recent developments impel one to revisit the perennial
issue of the role of ethics in the country’s quotidian political processes. Why
does the judiciary have to step in and perform the roles of the legislature and
the executive so frequently? Whether it is the Supreme Court ruling on the
convict lawmakers, or the Allahabad High Court ban on organizing caste based
rallies, they indicate the degree to which lawmaking and law-enforcing
processes have become dysfunctional. A liberal democracy like India cannot
function only through legislation and enforcement of laws. There is a need for
adhering to a whole corpus of traditions and conventions that have set certain
minimal standards of conduct and formulated ethical codes for
politico-administrative activities. Alas, one witnesses an increasing tendency
to flout norms, violate conventions and ignore ethics, of late.
Evidently, governance in India has become a concern with
everybody but the government. Worse, various political parties appear complicit
in this abdication of all responsibility towards the nation. When scams and
scandals break out, one gets a sense that the cycle of accusations and counter
accusations – generally in front of obliging TV cameras – is nothing but
India’s political version of the highly amusing World Wrestling Entertainment
games. Punches are pulled, snarling is faked, pummeling is feigned and the
entire articulated outrage is a sham behind which are hidden wheeling and
dealings worth billions. If, occasionally, the somnolent public opinion begins
to wake up, it is put back to sleep with a dose or two of arrests; if it is the
big fish then mansions are turned into “temporary jails” and if it is the less
important ones – but important nevertheless – then anything can happen from
prolonged rounds of investigations, to never-ending wait for filing of
charge-sheets, to actual punishment. When public outrage simmers down,
generally paroles and even release, based on good conduct, follow quietly. One
does not need statistics to know how many VIP convicts roam free while ordinary
under-trials languish in jails for well beyond the punishment period they would
have earned for their alleged crimes, while their trials keep getting
postponed.
Today, there is hardly a political party that does not have
its share of criminals and convicts in various legislatures and the parliament.
No wonder, the oxymoron “convict lawmakers” does not offend anybody. The
straight face with which they defend such hoodlums, and the brazen manner in
which they deflect public attention by pointing fingers at other parties, is
evidence of the depths to which political ethics have fallen. Consequently, no
less than the Supreme Court of India had to step in and strike down Section 8
(4) of the Representation of the People's Act 1951; thus, withdrawing the
protection to convicted lawmakers against disqualification on ground of
pendency of appeal against their conviction in higher court. Did this decision
embarrass our politicos? Did they hang their heads in collective mortification
at the apex court’s ruling? Instead, there were voices that protested that lawmaking
was not within the judicial realm! There were accusations of judicial overreach.
They would have preferred that the honorable Supreme Court had turned a blind
eye to the persistent mockery of all political ethics, not to mention the spirit
of the law. Happily, they have been disappointed.
The right place for a convict is jail. For those who have
committed murder and rape, nothing short of the maximum punishment should do,
because being lawmakers they ought to set the noblest personal examples.
Villains should be confined to the netherworld or, at best, the cinema.
Villains’ presence in the portals of our august legislatures is unforgivable,
and political parties themselves should have banished them long ago. But they
kept compromising, presenting one alibi or other, like, “others are hiring bahubalis
to capture votes, so we have to follow suit.” Thus, they give impression of being
too weak to steer these bahubalis to behind the bars. Has a ruffian become
more potent than all the instruments of governance? Obviously, the race for
capturing booths, intimidating voters and winning by means foul has intensified.
Consequently, the so-called bahubalis are no more in the employ of neta
log; they have become netas themselves, thus vitiating the polity
further.
There is another related development. The Allahabad High
Court’s Lucknow Bench has banned caste based rallies in Uttar Pradesh. Much
before criminalization of politics took place, the virus of casteism had
infected our polity. Things had started rather innocuously, as it happens in
the case of every insidiously debilitating malady. Political parties, even
those having distinct secular ideologies like the Indian National Congress and
the two Communist parties, began factoring in caste equations before selecting
a candidate for a particular constituency during elections to the parliament as
well as state assemblies. This created a whole cabal of entrenched stakeholders
in the caste based electoral process. Gradually, major national parties
witnessed the rise of regional satraps who had the backing of dominant castes
in their areas. All attempts to fragment the support of these satraps resulted
in fragmentation of the party itself.
Today, we witness the Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar leading the
NCP that can influence the outcome of any election in Maharashtra, although
ideologically NCP does not have anything different to offer from what its
parent, the INC, does. Similarly, Karnataka’s BS Yeddyurappa broke away from
BJP, high on support from his caste group. Moreover, there were other palpably
fragmentary political developments in the offing. Tired of being appendages of
assorted national parties, assorted subaltern castes began to search for
alternatives. Thus, RJD, JD(U), SP, BSP et al cropped up as regional, caste
based power centers. The logic of such fragmentation, and demands of electoral
politics, resulted in “social engineering.” Here, disparate caste groups, which
might well have been at loggerheads in the otherwise stratified society, began
to coalesce into uneasy alliances. Hence, the spectacle of Dalits, Brahmins and
Rajputs coming together against the predominantly Yadav outfits in UP and
Bihar. The BJP and INC too have joined this potentially explosive casteist formula
in pursuit of power at any cost. So, sabhas were being organized to
appease Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Muslims, etc. Mercifully, the Allahabad High
Court has stepped in to put a stop to this parody of electoral politics. Will
this measure have a salutary effect on the various political party bosses? Only
time will tell. The right answer lies in regeneration of healthy political
precepts and practices, with focus on developing a truly vibrant Indian polity.
Will this happen? Keep your fingers crossed.
Published
in The Financial World dated 18 July, 2013
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