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The Sonia Déjà vu |
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Firstly, the Parliament has been postponed indefinitely without debate, reasoning, or dialogue that would avoid such future situations. Secondly, important business pending before the Parliament is now relegated to the backburner and therefore affecting economic and social development. Thirdly, the episode displays the fractured nature of this coalition Government that has allies who are worse than the enemies that they think they have; a relationship that is making it increasingly ineffective. Fourthly, there has to be a loss of credibility of our democracy in the world that continues to see not such a chaotic surface but a self-inflicted scarred face with a dangerously rotting core and dysfunctional important organ. Fifthly, it reinforces the disenfranchisement and despair of the young and tax-paying population who continue to endure this exasperating political theatre without a real forum where they can be heard. Right
from the last elections 2+ years ago, the country has
seen 4 major waves of scandals that have sucked up all
positive attention and instead focusing the few
strategic thinkers on negatives. Firstly, there was a
hung Parliament where the party with the lowest number
of seats came to power with the support of fringe
parties seeking personal gain. Their selection of
Sonia to lead the country has been vastly criticized
and opposed by even by their votaries and her
“abdication†has increased her prestige. Secondly,
when the Volker report implicated the Congress Party
and a prominent functionary (Natwar Singh), the party
closed ranks to sacrifice an unwilling member to
divert attention from the collective dirt of the
party. Thirdly, after the Central Bureau of
Intelligence essentially closed the Bofors case, the
BJP sought to keep her on edge through continued
freeze on the account of Italian arms dealer
Quattrocchi who is supposed to be a close friend of
Gandhi. However, the Government released these funds
unilaterally, without consultations, and blamed the
decision on Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj.
Interestingly, smarting from previous two scandals, he
has been let off with less than a slap on the wrist.
Fourthly, an Election Commissioner who is closely
associated with Sonia Gandhi has been implicated in a
financial scandal and the Government has been dodgy
about discussing it or taking action on this
individual. The Election Commission itself gained
credibility only after the highly-principled, albeit
cantankerous, T.N. Seshan. Placing political stooges
was considered passé and it was even suggested that
the country has graduated to a new level of democracy.
L’affaire
Navin Chawala has
dashed those theories and introduces a bit of bitter
reality to our perception of the democracy. |
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It
is important that we learn from this episode and look
at the larger Constitutional changes that are required
to protect this democracy hailed as the largest and
best in the developing world. Firstly,
the country desperately needs a practical code of
conduct for its policy makers; the one in vogue is not
worth the paper it is written on. Secondly,
India needs an autonomous statutory body, such as the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Election
Commission (EC) that governs the code of conduct of
policy makers at the Federal and State level. The
argument that the Parliament can manage itself is
hogwash and since lawmakers do not want the judiciary
to be the ones to judge their conduct, an independent,
apolitical, and impartial council can take this
democracy to newer heights. If a new commission cannot
be formed, at least the EC should be empowered to
arbitrate. Thirdly,
we need a term-limit on policy-makers that will bar
dynasties and continued reign of powerful individuals
in the same office. This practice has been long
adopted in many developed democracies such as the
United States and United Kingdom and we need one
desperately. Infusion of fresh blood passing strict
pre-qualifications such as education levels,
individual accomplishments, criminal records,
tax-paying records, etc would keep out the bad lot
from power. |
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