Ides of September: Month of Judgements
Be you ever so high,
The law is above you.
September 2013 will go
down in the modern Indian history as a memorable month for two pronouncements
by the Supreme Court of India and their possible catalytic effect in giving new
dimension to the country's politics. It is safe to assume that these judgements will have a
far-reaching impact on shaping the destinies of many politicians and political
parties in this country. This month also saw emergence of a new political star
in Narendra Modi and yet another cameo from endearing and ever-confused Rahul Gandhi.
This is how the month unfolded:
Sept 4 - Supreme Court of India rejects Central Govt's review petition of its historic judgement of July 10, 2013, which stated that "convicted MPs/MLAs/MLCs would stand disqualified immediately if convicted by court for crimes with punishment of 2 years or more."
Sep 24 - Central cabinet approves an Ordinance to negate this judgement and sends it to the President of India for his assent.
Sept 27 - Rahul Gandhi Congress Vice President states that in his personal opinion, the ordinance is 'complete nonsense' and 'it should be torn up and thrown away'.
Sept 27 - Supreme Court in a landmark judgement allowed voters to cast negative votes observing "when a large number of voters will press NOTA (None of the above) button, it will force political parties to choose better candidates. Negative voting will lead to systemic change in polls."
Sept 11 to 30 - BJP's PM's candidate Narendra Modi addresses huge political rallies in Haryana, AP, MP, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Tamilnadu, Delhi and Mumbai.
Sept 30 - Lalu Yadav, former Railway Minister convicted in 17 years old Fodder scam and sent to jail.
All the above events had different backdrops,albeit, similar contours but likely to converge on same path leading, one hopes, to the highway of a clean polity in India. There is no doubt that these judgements will have substantial prophylactic effect on the country's ailing democracy. The apex court has proved it once again why they are perceived by common man as last resort. One could not have asked for more in these depressing times. The message from the court is unambiguous. Keep the criminals out of politics and ban their entry into the temples of democracy( Parliament and State Assemblies).
Of course, the bell tolls for
the political class and they should wake up. It is time for politicians,
particularly those who have relatively unsullied and untainted image and still
many years left in their chosen vocation, to rise to the occasion and take the
call to provide a strong body to the spirit of
judgements. They will be doing a
great service to themselves and to their tribe in the bargain. Remember what
politics used to be in the 50's and 60's when the leaders would mix freely with
the crowd, honesty was still a cherished word and driving force behind their
profession was the basic spirit of social service.All that has vanished in the deep sea of regret and anguish. It would be difficult to bring back
those halcyon days but at least sincere efforts can be made by the present crop
of politicians to regain people's trust and goodwill.
Then you would not require an army of commandos or goons to protect you from
the same people whom you want to reach. There will be no need to hire a crowd.
Expenses on elections can be scaled down drastically. No pivotal role for black money as elections could be financed in a transparent manner.
All this appears like a dream but still possible and doable by honest and visionary political leaders in this country. As Walt Disney said "If you can dream it, you can do it". Supreme Court has already gifted the nation, not one but two historic judgements. Now it is over to you folks,the practitioners of World's second oldest profession to use these judgements to protect our beautiful and vulnerable democracy which has been under constant attacks by a bunch of criminal ,corrupt, casteist and communal politicians.Just remove the veil of hypocrisy and see the sun of reality. Go for candidates with a clean image in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. While winnability factor cannot be ignored, the education, integrity and reputation as a sincere social worker should carry maximum weightage.For starters,at least major political parties can take a lead in this direction. That will be our real tryst with democracy.
P.S.: Rasheed Masood, Congress MP from Rajya Sabha and known for getting a meal for Rs 5 has been jailed for 4 years in a scam. He is likely to beat Lalu Yadav to become first convicted leader to lose his Parliament seat. All this has been made possible by the recent historic judgement of Supreme Court. It could not be more ironic when we celebrate today birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, two great leaders from the same party. May their souls rest in peace.
