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Posted on 20 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
After my candidature was announced for the Amritsar Parliamentary constituency, I reached Amritsar on the morning of 18th March 2014. I have been extremely familiar with the city ever since my childhood. The city was home of my maternal grandparents and the family. My mother was born there. I spent some part of my childhood school vacations along with my mother at Amritsar. Family weddings were subsequently the occasion to visit the city. No visit was complete without paying obeisance at the Golden Temple and the Durgiana Temple.For the last two decades my political responsibility took me to Amritsar frequently. As in-charge of Punjab BJP, I used to headquarter myself at Amritsar during the elections to the State assembly. This time there was a difference,-my first visit to the city after announcement of my candidature.
A very large number of political leaders and workers of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP had arrived at the airport. A truck was converted into a moving platform with several political leaders. The electoral culture of Punjab is a league of its own. From drum beats to the Bhangra and showering of rose petals were expressions of welcome and joy. There are nine assembly segments in Amritsar parliamentary constituency. Within each Assembly segment receptions had been organized at various places. Senior Akali Dal minister Bikram Singh Majithia and BJP’s Kamal Sharma and Anil Joshi were in complete control. The route of the convoy was so organized as to pass through all the nine assembly segments. Gas balloons were loaded at places. Crackers were being burnt. A freak accident took place when the fire of a cracker touched the gas balloons. It created panic and minor injuries to some participants. I suffered a minor burn sensation but there was no significant damage.
The prime destination was the Golden Temple where we went to pay our obeisance. The majesty of the Golden Temple and the manner of its management adds to the environment of religiosity and emotion. Thousands of devotees were involved in rendering service. The Langar (lunch) was simple but delicious. After praying at the Temple, we left close by for the Jallianwala Bagh.
The Jallianwala Bagh is a memorial of the 1919 massacre of the then regime. There are still a large number of families who are descendants of the victim who lived close by. Many had come there to meet me and submit a copy of their memorandum of expectations. During the course of the day, I visited the Durgiana Temple which is styled in architecture similar to the Golden Temple. The Ram Tirath, a temple of Bhagwan Balmiki exists at a little distance from the city. I visited Ram Tirath temple in the evening. The devotees there were extremely grateful to the Chief Minister Shri Parkash Singh Badal for having sanctioned adequate funds for a grand temple to be built in the midst of a pond. After meetings with different groups of political supporters in relation to electoral process, I met all the elected representatives of the two NDA parties. Elected representatives of the municipal bodies and Panchayats were all there.
Amritsar itself is a city with buoyancy. Its manufacturing had suffered but the trade has picked up. The city is looking forward to the opening of Indo-Pak trade which will make it a hub of border trading. Tourism has picked up in a big way, thanks to the historical and cultural importance of the city. Hotels are doing well. The international flights to the airport need to be increased. The city’s infrastructure has improved over the years and a lot more needs to be done.
The USP of the city still remains its extraordinary food. I regard Amritsar as the Food Capital of India. Having been brought up in Amritsar culture by my mother with language accent, attitude and eating habits of the same tradition, I realized that I had gone back to my roots.
Posted on 19 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Neville Maxwell, the author of “India’s China war” who has been a critic of India’s military strategy has released large parts of Henderson Brook’s report . The report was prepared by Lt. General TB Henderson and Brig. Bhagat. The two officers were examining the lapses in India’s military operations in the 1962 war with China. In the last 52 years the report had been kept as a closely guarded secret. All governments in the last 52 years did not feel the necessity of making the document public. This raises a legitimate question with regard to the de-classification of archival records. Are archival records are to be kept away from public gaze indefinitely. If the document pertains to internal security there may be some public interest served in keeping them a secret for some time. However, to keep these documents ‘top secret’ indefinitely may not be in larger public interest. Any Nation is entitled to learn from the mistakes of the past. The security relevance of a document loses its relevance in the long term future. Any society is entitled to learn from the past mistakes and take remedial action. With the wisdom of hind sight I am of the opinion that the report’s contents could have been made public some decades ago.
What has been made public is Part-I of the report? It has been reported in the media that pages 112 to 167 are still not known. Is it because these pages contain some material which can be embarrassing to those in power in 1962? The first 111 pages having been made public, it is now necessary that the balance pages also be made public rather than allow public opinion be influenced by unauthentic sources .
The contents of the report also raise some legitimate questions. The military strategy of the then government has been seriously questioned. The intelligence assessment of the Chinese attitude was a flawed one. The military strategy in creating ‘forward posts’ has been criticized as providing to the Chinese a pretext for invasion. It further appears from the report that the Prime Minister and his favourite set of officials both in the Army and in the Intelligence establishment were flawed in their assessment. In fact, the opinion of these officials close to the Prime Minister had cost this country heavily. The unpreparedness of the Armed forces is writ large in the contents of the report. Was a Himalayan blunder of 1962 in fact a Nehruvian blunder?
The leaked contents of the report serve as a lesson for us today. How prepared are we in our military strategy? Contemporary evidence indicates that our defence procurement has suffered. This adversely hurts our armed forces who are professionally amongst the best in the world. Are we willing to learn the lessons from 1962 ?
Posted on 18 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Is 2014 General Election becoming the reverse of 1971 Election?
Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party claimed that they came into existence to fight corruption. The strategy was to image themselves as Anti-corruption crusaders and occupy the space of a change agent. The anti-corruption tag could earn them some advantage against the Congress but not exactly against the BJP. The party has now changed track. In the past few weeks the issues of corruption, real or fictional, have taken a back seat .In any case AAP’s issues were never the 2G spectrum allocation or the Coal Block allotments. They concentrated on retail corruption issues in day to day life. The AAP has switched gear from corruption to an Anti-Modi emphasis. The AAP leaders now defy the Economic reality to argue that Gujarat has not progressed. The farcical drama being enacted with regard to contesting against Modi at Varanasi is being done in order to ensure that AAP can at least partly occupy the Anti-Modi space.
The Congress and Rahul Gandhi hardly had an electoral strategy. Abstract slogans and theoretical concepts can not be easily translated into a politically comprehensible logic. Having failed to strike a cord, they have also gone back to the Anti-Modi theme of 2002 Gujarat Riots. The 2002 Riots were investigated by the Gujarat Police, an SIT of Police officials and finally a Supreme Court appointed SIT. An Amicus curiae expressed his opinion on the SIT report. The Supreme Court monitored the investigation. Finally, a court accepted the SIT Report. We now have Rahul Gandhi, with not even a nodding acquaintance with law, who opines that the case was not adequately investigated. What was his intention in doing so? Since other political cards are failing Anti-Modi position is the only alternative left.
Narendra Modi is in the meanwhile allowing these two gentlemen compete for the Anti Modi space. He continues to address mammoth rallies almost by each day. His primary agenda continues to be India and its Development.
Posted on 17 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Some look good only when the going is good. If the going is tough they collapse. That appears to be the UPA and Rahul Gandhi story. Faced with odds, even senior leaders have decided to desert the sinking ship. Some are refusing to contest. Others are feigning ill health for not contesting. The blame game is about to begin.
Faced with odds, Rahul Gandhi has decided to talk up the morale of his party. He claims that opinion polls are jokes and that the Congress would improve upon its 2009 tally. If this is sheer bravado in order to lift the sinking morale of the Congressman, it is understandable. However, if he genuinely believes this to be true then surely he is completely cut off from reality.
The election agenda is loaded against them. Desperate attempts to create an agenda out of well meaning concepts such as empowerment, putting systems in place etc. is not working. Abstract slogans only displayed at hoardings all over the country are difficult to comprehend. The message is blurred and not clear. The voters are worried about price rise, economy and corruption. They want a leadership which is decisive and inspirational. The Congress Party and UPA are failing to set the agenda. They are at best responding to the agenda set by their opponents.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party after being pampered for almost for ten years have decided during elections to distance themselves from the Congress Party. Others are deserting them. The Trinamool Cogress, the DMK and the LJP have all deserted the Congress. No new ally is going to join them. A large chunk of the seats that UPA got in the last election came from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu the Congress is isolated with a single digit percentage votes. It barely expects to pick up any seat. In Andhra Pradesh it played the Telengana Card not out of conviction but out of vote bank strategy. It has simply become a liability for its candidates in Seemandhra. In Telengana, the TRS has turned its back on the Congress.
The BJP had an option to go back on its commitment for Telengana. We refused to do so. Instead we played with a straight bat. We fulfilled our commitment to the people of Telengana and got additional economic package for Seemandhra. We can go to both the regions with our heads held high. We earned goodwill not only amongst the people but even amongst a section of the regional parties in the State. Today we have a positive prospect of our alliances in both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
For the Congress even its leadership is proving to be unacceptable. It lacks the charisma and the appeal which is required today. At the end of the day the Congress goes into the poll without an agenda with inadequate allies and without an effective leadership. If things can go wrong they surely will go wrong.
Posted on 16 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
I am extremely grateful to the BJP for declaring me as its candidate to contest the Amritsar Parliamentary Lok Sabha constituency.
I became a political activist at a very young age in 1970. I was associated with the ABVP. I successfully contested elections in my college and then in the University of Delhi. The defining moment in my life was the JP movement against corruption and the declaration of Emergency. I offered Satyagraha against Emergency on day one and spent the next nineteen months under preventive detention. It was during this period that my ideological moorings got strengthened.
I have been a member of the BJP from the day it was formed in 1980. I evolved from the ABVP to the BJP in that year. I had no desire of becoming a full time political activist. In 1977 I started my Law practice and by 1990 I was designated Senior Advocate. As my professional involvement grew so did my activism in the BJP. I had assumed that I would be an activist and a lawyer but I did not visualize myself as a full time politician. Since 1980 I was involved in the management of the political campaigns of the BJP. I was a Member of its National Executive and one of its national spokesmen. In 1999 I was requested by my leaders Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri Advani ji to join the NDA Government as a minister. I was not even an MP at that time. I joined the Government and within the requisite six months I was a Member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Since then I have been in Parliament. Whether as a Minister, a Party General Secretary or as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha I was always expected to assist the Party in selection campaigns. Since I used to be in the business of organizing elections I never got a chance to contest one.
The party has this time nominated me to be its candidate from Amritsar, a city which I have loved. Amritsar is one of the most important pilgrim centres in India. It is a city with a cultural personality of its own. It was also the hub of trading activity in North India. My personal affinity to the city is because I have been visiting it since my childhood. My mother belonged to Amritsar. She was born there and she grew up in Amritsar. My sister was born there. My wife who belongs to Jammu & Kashmir, was born in Amritsar because the city had better medical facilities. I have been visiting the city since my childhood since it was my grand parents home. I have been regularly in Amritsar for all important political campaigns. My ties with the city are strengthened because of my fondness for good food. The food in Amritsar is the most delightful one that you get anywhere. I have been flooded with greetings from friends, party members and my relatives to live in Amritsar. I am looking forward for a long stay in the city.
I must express my gratitude and thanks to my friend Navjot Singh Sidhu for helping me to make up my mind. Navjot and my relationship is much more than political. I could not have imagined replacing him. For the last few days he started insisting that I should go to Amritsar to contest elections. I kept requesting him to contest from Amritsar or any other constituencies including Kurukshetra and West Delhi. The party president reiterated this request. Gracious as he is he made it clear that he was not looking for any personal or political position or gains. His grace and dignity reflected the behavior which is a lesson for many of us in politics. In cricket he was an established batsman. This time he has bowled me over.
Posted on 15 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The news channel NDTV had broadcast an opinion poll over the past two days. Psephology as a science has still not been perfected in India. I cannot therefore vouch for absolute accuracy of these polls. The big picture emerging out of most of these polls which have been conducted by several prestigious organizations is that the BJP led NDA is a clear front runner. The gap between BJP and the Congress is significant. Narendra Modi’s acceptability as a Prime Minister is very large. His acceptability ratings are higher than those of the party.
The political debate on the polls is now centered around two basic issues. Firstly, if the NDA is the front runner by a large margin how will it cover the last mile to reach the 272+ magic figure. Secondly, given the tally of the UPA, the Third Front and the Federal Front, no body other than the NDA has a ghost chance of forming the next government.
What should we in the BJP therefore concentrate on? The Congress is failing to either appeal to the voter or occupy the mind space. Some regional parties particularly the AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, as per these opinion polls, appear to be holding ground in their States. The Left Front, which used to be the key ideological motivation, in getting disparate anti-BJP elements together, is shrinking. It does not appear that they will expand. There is a significant political space which anti-Congress regional parties are still occupying.
My personal analysis is that we are slowly but surely moving towards the magic figure. The last lap of the campaign has begun. The BJP needs to concentrate on consolidating its gains. The country’s mood is to install a BJP led government. Between now and the polling date all BJP leaders and cadres must work towards the goal of adding an additional two percent votes across the country. Every incremental percentage vote is capable of adding a significant number of seats to our kitty.
How do we add this incremental vote to our tally? Rallies, publicity, communications through all mediums will be effectively done. We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. We must continue the political debate on the anti-incumbency issues against the UPA and the ability of the BJP and Narendra Modi to provide a solution to the problems of the country. Anti-incumbency and a desire for change existing on account of price rise, slow down in economy, plight of the farmers, corruption, security related issues and a leadership vacuum in the UPA, voters’ mind space are key issues. We must all entirely concentrate on these issues and the ability of a Modi led government providing a solution to these concerns. Relatively marginal issues such as declaration of candidates particularly who is in and who is out cannot be allowed to dominate the political agenda in the BJP. These issues divert the attention from the core issues of governance.
Beside Modi’s leadership and an anti-incumbency against the UPA the big issue which is likely to dominate the voters’ mind is –“Who can provide a stable government.” The more we emphasize the importance of this issue the larger will be the advantage to the front runner. The least that India can afford today is a fractured mandate. The voters must be persuaded that they should not waste their votes. Voting for smaller groups will not help government formation. India needs a government which rules for five years. If we are to get the country out of the present mess, a stable government which cannot be pushed around is a condition precedent.
Posted on 14 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
I have heard two important comments in the past twenty four hours which worry me.
The External Affairs Minister Shri Salman Khurshid was delivering a talk in London. In the course of his lecture he appears to have commented that both the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India are overreaching their jurisdictions. He believes that a few unelected persons cannot regulate Indian democracy because it is always the elected representatives who represent the will of the sovereign. The argument is both misconceived and misleading.
There is a clear separation of powers under the Indian Constitution. The responsibility for interpreting the law is with the Courts. The Court can judicially review the constitutional validity of any law framed by the Legislature. The Court can judicially review all acts of the Executive. It is for the Court to decide the limits of its jurisdiction. Ordinarily, the courts do not substitute their wisdom for that of the Executive. Policy formulation is the job of the Executive. Law framing is the function of the Legislature. In the course of judicially reviewing their functions the Court can always step in and prevent an unconstitutionality or arbitrariness. The Court can direct the Executive to follow the mandate of law. The Court can even desire to ascertain whether there are good reasons for the executive acting in a particular manner while taking a decision. All decisions have to be informed by reasons. Reasons must be recorded and cannot be assumed to exist. In the course of interpretation of law and judicial review, the Court can lay down the parameters of constitutionality and reasonableness. We may choose to call it judge-made law. It is true that at times the Supreme Court lays down rules/regulations/guidelines for the Executive. In recent years, the separation of power is obliterated by some judicial pronouncements. But these are exceptions. There can even be aberrations. They do not indicate the normal pattern of India’s judicial functioning.
The Election Commission of India has evolved over the years. It is the principal institution which is responsible for the conduct of free and fair elections. It has conducted itself well. Indian democracy has survived and survived well primarily because of free and fair elections and an independent judiciary. A free media, a vibrant parliamentary democracy have also contributed in strengthening the tradition of democracy in India. The Code of Conduct was initially non-statutory. It has today got the authority of law as being a part of the residuary jurisdiction of the Election Commission under Article 324 of the Constitution. It has also got a judicial sanction by a pronouncement of the Supreme Court in 2002. It is primarily because of the Model Code of Conduct which the governments at times find inconvenient, that Indian elections are free, fair and provide a level playing field. It is a bit unusual for a senior Minister of the Government to criticize these institutions on the foreign soil. These are institutions which have contributed to strengthening democracy in India.
The second disturbing comment has come from Arvind Kejriwal. He claimed that the Media has been managed by Narendra Modi and it was playing up the Modi wave. He therefore presumed that the media has been paid and after Arvind Kejriwal comes to power at the Centre he would lock up the journalists responsible for this. Realizing that his comments have been found disturbing by the people he has now gone into a denial mode.
Arvind Kejriwal started as a populist. He has evolved into a demagogue. He can make allegations against anyone and everyone without any supporting evidence. He has little concern for the truth. He believes in repeating the falsehood several times. He convinces himself that facts manufactured by him are true. As a populist in many areas he is ideology-less. He looks at the mood of the mob before presenting his case. Such persons can be extremely dangerous for democratic institutions. The theory he espouses in simple language is –“Media must be taught a lesson because it is not honest. The proof of dishonesty is that they are reporting that there is an electoral advantage that Modi seems to have”. With a straight face he can deny he ever said what is recorded on camera.
Why are Salman Khurshid and Arvind Kejriwal angry with democratic institutions like the Judiciary, Free Press or the Election Commission? Their criticism is not a sign of mature politics. Electoral victories and defeats are a part of the electoral process. It is India and its democracy which is immortal. Men are not. The prospects of an electoral defeat should not frustrate Salman Khurshid and Arvind Kejriwal into believing that democratic institutions in India have been compromised.
Posted on 13 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The Maoists have struck again. Several policemen belonging to the CRPF and the Chhattisgarh Police have lost their life. They have been martyred for the cause of protecting India.
Maoist threat continues to be a serious problem confronting India. A large number of districts in the Tribal heartland of central India are under Maoist control and influence. These are areas of Maoist dominance. The average citizen in these areas is oppressed. The writ of the District Administration runs very little. It is the Maoists who collect taxes. They have paid volunteers in every village. They are heavily armed. The Maoists are not misguided ideologues. They are not social reformers. Maoism is not a poverty eradication scheme. It is an ideological movement which is intended to overthrow India’s parliamentary democracy and replace it with an ideological dictatorship. Within the Maoists scheme of ideas there will be no democracy, no freedom, no right to life and liberty, no rule of law, no free speech. People will be subjected to the kind of tyranny which ideological dictatorship world-over has seen.
How does one counter Maoism? Do we follow a theory put forward by some bleeding hearts that economic progress of Maoist regions alone will eliminate the threat of Maoism. This is not even a half truth. For any government to enter the areas of Maoists influence, restoration of peace is a condition precedent. The landmines have to be eliminated. The arms in control of the private armies have to be flushed out. Extortionism of the average citizens has to end. How will a District Administration or the PWD contractors enter these areas and start developmental activities such as building schools, colleges, hospitals, Panchayat Bhawans etc.
The source of arms and ammunition in these areas has to be smashed. The Maoists are depending on arms either smuggled from across the border or looted from the police armouries. The Maoists believe that the enemy’s armoury is the Maoists’ armoury. The enemy in this case is the state or the police.
How long will India continue to sacrifice ordinary citizens and security personnel at the hands of this violence? How long will we allow them to hold up developmental agenda in these regions? Can we allow them to further destroy buildings and assets which are created for the benefit of the tribal population? We must be clear that the first right to national resources must belong to the tribals. We must alienate the tribals from the Maoists. The battle against Maoism can never be half a battle. The full might of the Indian State must confront them.
Posted on 12 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Yesterday I heard a few extracts of the speech delivered by Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat. He compared Narendra Modi to Adolf Hitler. Rahul Gandhi may have been a young child in 1975 when his grandmother Smt. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister decided to proclaim the internal emergency. Surely, he is not unaware of what happened during those nineteen months of the Emergency. I was a college student at that time. As a Students Union Leader and an Activist in JP’s movement I spent the next nineteen months in prison. I came across a document being circulated as a part of the underground literature which was titled “A Tale of Two Emergencies”. I was later told that it had been authored by Shri L.K. Advani. This document is even now available as an annexure to Advani ji’s prison memoirs titled “A Prisoner’s Scrap Book”. The document was based on the authentic work of history of Nazi Germany by William Shirer. Shirer’s book was titled “The Rise and Fall of Third Reich” I obtained a copy of the book in prison and spent a few weeks reading it. After reading the book I had no doubt that the only Indian politician in post independence India who drew inspiration from Adolf Hitler was Smt. Indira Gandhi. The comparison between Hitler and her was startling.
Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Within a month he invoked the emergency powers for ‘the protection of the people and the state’. He restricted personal liberty, free speech, fundamental rights and imposed various restrictions on the right to privacy. The ostensible reason for proclamation of emergency was a Communist conspiracy to burn down governmental buildings. The pretext was that a day before the proclamation of emergency there was a fire at the Reich Stag. Much later the Nuremberg trials established that the fire had been engineered to provide a false pretext. Indira ji also proclaimed the Emergency in India on 26th June 1975. She claimed that JP was leading an agitation where Armed Forces were being asked to defy illegal orders. She therefore suspended all fundamental rights including the right to life and liberty. She imposed censorship on the Press, compromised judicial independence. Her Attorney General pleaded before the Supreme Court that in the absence of the right to life and liberty a detenu could be killed in prison and he had no recourse. A pliable Supreme Court accepted this argument.
Indira ji announced a Twenty Point Economic programme and insisted the Emergency was intended for discipline and growth. Hitler had also announced a 25-Point Economic Programme which was to be implemented during the emergency.
Hitler did not command a two-third majority in the German parliament. He therefore detained 91 Opposition MPs in order to reduce the voting strength of the House and amended the constitution giving to him absolute power. Indira ji detained a large number of opposition MPs and brought about draconian 42nd Amendment to the Constitution which had to be substantially repealed after the Emergency. She went a step further and even prohibited the publication of Parliamentary proceedings. The law which provided immunity to the media from publishing parliamentary proceedings was repealed. Curiously, this law had been proposed by Rahul Gandhi’s grandfather, the Late Shri Feroze Gandhi.
The tenor of the statement by supporters of the two emergency regimes was similar. Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister declared – “The German Revolution has begun.” In India it was claimed that the country was passing through “something of a revolution”. The media could not publish any news item without subjecting it to prior censorship. The White Paper on Misuse of media during the Emergency gives illustrations of the kind of censorship which came into existence. Gandhi family newspaper ‘The National Herald’ advocated that a one-party set up was desirable, It should not be forced but allowed to emerge by a natural evolution. All Opposition activists in the country were detained. They were whisked away in the midst of darkness. The Police was asked to register fabricated FIRs under the Defence of India Rules against Opposition activists. Lakhs of false FIRs were registered. Thousands of persons were detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. The law was amended to mandate that no grounds of detention were necessary to be provided. Additionally, the judgement of the Supreme Court in Habeas corpus case reaffirmed that these malafide orders of detention were non-justiciable.
The Constitution was amended by the 39th Amendment making even electoral offences committed by the Prime Minister as non-justiciable. The inspiration for this came from the Nazis wherein Nazi leader Joachim von Ribbentrop who later became Hitler’s External affairs Minister advocated a new legal system since “Adolf Hitler too like any other common mortal can be tried under the same paragraph of the penal law” The Congress President Dev kant Barua declared “Indira is India and India is Indira”. Hitler’s Commissioner of Justice Dr. Hans Frank had declared that “There is in Germany today only one authority and that is the authority of Fuehrer”. Hitler created a secret police called the Gestapo whose orders like the MISA orders were not subject to judicial review.
Suspension of democracy, abrogation of civil liberties, detention of political opponents, suspension of democratic activity, abandonment of free Press, absence of judicial independence and vestige of power in one person were features of Hitler’s regime. Each step had inspired Indira ji’s internal Emergency. There was one basic difference between the two. Hitler did not promote a dynasty because he did not have any one to promote.
Posted on 11 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The Supreme Court yesterday passed an interim order in a petition filed by an NGO “Public Interest Foundation” wherein it held that where MPs and MLAs are facing corruption cases and other serious offences which involve a punishment of two years or more, the trial will be held expeditiously on a day-to-day basis and completed within one year from the date of framing of the charge. The Court further held that in case the trial cannot be completed within one year the Trial Judge will have to give reasons to the Chief Justice of the High Court as to why this has not been possible.
Criminalization of politics has been a very serious issue confronting Indian polity. The malady has been that persons with criminal track record and pending charge sheets are fielded by political parties. This creates apprehension in the mind of the country with regard to the quality of politics and the kind of persons who enter the legislative bodies. Election Commission and the Law Commission have been suggesting a simple remedy. They argue that any person against whom charges have been framed in a certain category of offences will not be eligible to be fielded as a candidate Whereas the Constitution and the Representation of Peoples Act debar convicted persons from becoming candidates there is no embargo on charge-sheeted politicians. This creates a disconnect between the legal requirement and public opinion.
Several meetings of the political parties have discussed this issue and were unable to find a solution to the pending problem. Political partes have argued that under law there is a presumption of innocence till the person is held guilty. A charge-sheeted person therefore cannot be presumed to be guilty. They further contend that law and order is a State subject and with the kind of vengeance politics in several States it is not difficult to fabricate cases against political opponents. The courts look at the prima-facie material while framing the charge. The framing of a charge itself being a disqualification can lead to an abuse of the process.
During the NDA government we worked towards the middle path. A Bill was prepared which proposed a certain categories of ‘heinous offences’. If charges in two cases involving heinous offences were framed, a person could be disqualified from contesting elections. Even this proposal which the NDA supported was rejected by other political parties.
What then is the solution? Can the system remain a mute spectator? The Supreme Court has attempted to find a solution. The solution respects the principle that a person is presumed to be innocent till held guilty. It provides a filter against motivated charge-sheets. It doesn’t debars persons on being merely charged. At the same time no politician, MP or MLA, has a right to a delayed trial. Since he holds a public office he must like Caesar’s wife be beyond suspicion. His trial must be expeditious and be conducted on a day-to-day basis. The trial should ordinarily be completed within one year except there are exceptional reasons that it cannot be possible.
The Supreme Court order upholds the presumption of innocence till held guilty. Simultaneously it puts the elected representatives to a strict and expeditious scrutiny. I welcome the order. It is a step in the right direction.