NATIONAL
ONE LAW FOR THE PEOPLE AND ANOTHER FOR THE
LAW-MAKERS ?
By Mahi Pal Singh
Corruption has hardly been an issue in this otherwise a great country of ours,
particularly if it is corruption among our politicians. We have had many such
cases in the past. To save Narasimha Rao's government from being toppled through
the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, crores were alleged to have been paid
to Members of Parliament belonging to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, including its head
Shibu Soren and the media reported in great details how banks worked overtime
for counting the cash deposited in the bank accounts of politicians to secure
their votes against the no-confidence motion, yet our justice administration
system failed to punish any of the bribe givers or takers and all of them occupy
seats of honour and power today.
Electronic media showed a cash of five crores discovered in the house of Sukh
Ram which was allegedly paid in the telephone purchase scam, but he conveniently
escaped being convicted in the case and was later wooed by the same BJP leaders
in their scramble to come to power who did not allow Parliament to transact any
business for days together raising the issue of corruption in the matter and
action against him. In the hawala case, too, no politician named in the much
publicized Jain diary was punished although some of the politicians confessed on
the T.V. screen that they had taken the cash as mentioned in the diary.
In the latest sting operations called 'Operation Duryodhan' and 'Operation
Chakravyuh' conducted by Cobra.com Members of Parliament were shown accepting
cash for asking questions in Parliament and demanding commission for doing
developmental tasks out of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
fund respectively. The former case received immediate attention of the two
houses of our national legislature and the eleven Members of Parliament involved
in the case were expelled from Parliament because it involved the honour and
credibility of all Members of Parliament.
Because our Members of Parliament wanted to maintain their credibility and image
even in the face of an exposure, showing such brutal murder of parliamentary
norms and shameless lust for money, on the T.V. screen, it is difficult to
assess how successful this effort will be in achieving its desired effect. The
only saving grace was that no member of the left parties was shown indulging in
corruption in the two sting operations. 'Operation Chakravyuh' should catch the
attention of our Parliament.
Only a few months ago the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee had raised
doubts about the utility of continuing MPLADS because it is nothing but a means
of adding to the corruption already prevalent in our elected leaders. Otherwise,
too, there are doubts regarding the utility and legality of this schemed as it
overlaps the functions of Panchayats and municipal bodies. People only become
skeptical whenever M.P.s demand a rise in the amount allotted to them under the
scheme.
But the moot question that remains to be answered is - What punishment our
elected leaders get for indulging in corrupt practices apart from the political
fallout of being caught in the act? A policeman or a clerk not only gets
dismissed from service and our judicial system also punishes him if he is caught
accepting even a small amount for doling out a favour or doing something which
otherwise too is a part of his duty. But how many of our corrupt politicians
have received punishment at the hands of our justice administration system?
In the present case, too, what punishment the eleven MPs got apart from the
political punishment of being deprived of their seats in Parliament? Does that
not show that there is punishment for the small fry but none for the big sharks?
In a country which vows for equality before law aren't there one set of laws for
ordinary citizens and another set of laws for our worthy law-makers? And see the
audacity and shamelessness of these corrupt politicians - some of them plan to
go to the court of law for "justice" (read "hiding behind the curtain of
intricacies and technicalities of laws" as many of their brethren have succeeded
in doing in the past). And see yet others, too, who are raising their voice in
favour of their party colleagues in the name of the same "justice".
Arun Jaitley, a General Secretary of BJP, wrote in an article, "expelling
tainted MPs is politically correct, but constitutionally questionable." Although
he himself admits, "I do believe that the misconduct of the members amounts to a
breach of privilege. I do believe that the power of Parliament to punish under
privilege could be stretched to include the power of expulsion." Yet, he says,
"I strongly contest the position that for misconduct outside the rules of
privilege, a member of a legislative body should be expelled from the House." He
goes even further to say, "I doubt if any House of Parliament is empowered to
cut short a constitutionally prescribed term of its members other than for
breach of privilege." What a strong defence of his colleagues in the name of the
rule of law in the country!
Jaitley forgets that he and his own party never abided by it nor demanded the
rule of law in the aftermath of the communal riots either in 1992-93 in Mumbai
or in Gujarat after the communal genocide openly organized and indulged in by
his party colleagues in the wake of the Godhra incident. In the matter of Babri
Masjid/Ram temple controversy at Ayodhya he and his party leaders have been
expressing views inimical to the concept of the rule of law and even expressing
disbelief on decision of the judiciary. One is bound to doubt the intentions of
such people when they talk of the rule of law though everyone would wish that
they really had a faith in the rule of law. They only raise such slogans when it
suits them and their party interests.
And they want us and all the people of this country to believe that most of them
are honest and true servants of the people. One does not need more examples to
understand and appreciate why M.N. Roy said long ago that a party based
parliamentary democracy could only lead to corruption, and never to a true
grass-roots democracy as representatives of the people do not think of
empowerment of the people but themselves by whatever means they can.
Our conscientious law-makers and thoughtful people must think seriously how our
ornamental democracy can be turned into a real one, or at least, saved from
deterioting further into becoming a safe haven for the corrupt and how our
constitutional oath of equality before law can be ensured for all. -CNF
(The writer is General Secretary,PUCL(Delhi)