POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 13 October 2007

Win 150 Seats, Run Riot

WANTED A COALITION DHARMA

By Poonam I Kaushish

“The worst thing in this world after anarchy is government.” Henry Ward Beecher, who made the quip, was, indeed, a futurologist. He seems to have had India of 2007 in mind when he uttered these brilliant words. Which so aptly describe the high voltage drama that is being enacted on India’s political chessboard, especially during the last three months. Will the Left divorce the Congress and withdraw support to the UPA Government? Or will Sonia-Manmohan continue to serenade Comrade Karat with hum saath saath hain? Will allies RJD’s Laloo and NCP’s Sharad Pawar prevail and ensure there is no snap poll?

Think. Isn’t it ridiculous that a country as vast as India and boasting off a billion-and-growing population is swinging like a yo-yo between hope and despair, thanks to the fracas between partners. Why? Because the Congress which heads the Government has only 145 MPs in a 545 member Lok Sabha. To survive it needs the support of 272 Lok Sabha MPs. Together with its allies of “like-minded” regional secular parties like the RJD and NCP they total 219 MPs. Thus, the UPA Government desperately depends for its survival on the Left parties and its 62 MPs.

What makes the present situation at once bizarre and tragic is that it takes around only 150 seats for any one party to capture the power gaddi called India Raj and rule the roost! Raising a moot point once again: Can a coalition Government work in a country as diverse, multi-cultural and individualistic as we are? Is our polity mature enough to handle taciturn partners and provide good, clean governance? Is there a dharma which binds UPA’s comrades-in-arms together? Or is it a case of brazen opportunitism and shameless self-interest?

Take the first. Coalitions have worked at the Centre and some states. The BJP-led NDA Government completed its five-year term at the Centre, after two-aborted attempts. The Left Front Governments in West Bengal have been most stable Governments all along since 1977. Similarly, Kerala has experienced successive coalition Governments belonging alternately to the LDF and the UDF. These have lasted longer, even full term, than coalition Governments in other states. The BJP-Shiv Sena government completed its five-year term in Maharashtra.

However, we also have instances wherein between 1967 and July 1968, as many as 10 Governments were formed in the four states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal. The BJP and BSP came together in holy matrimony thrice to form Governments in UP. But each attempt ended disastrously in 1995, 1997 and 2000. What to say of Karnataka’s squabbling partners which has led to President’s rule in the State for the sixth time.

Two, in a coalition milieu which entails reasonable give-and-take and unavoidable compromises our polity is still to mature. Bogged down as it is with tantrums, one-upmanship and clash of egos. Especially in a scenario where polarization now is based on vote-bank politics and unbridled lust for power and money --- not on values, ethics or common agenda. Forget good, clean governance and national interest.

Look at the inexplicable configurations of the UPA. The enemies and friends are all rolled into one. The Congress and the Left parties, which account for 64 seats in the Lok Sabha are arch rivals in three states: West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Both have been fighting each other tooth and nail in every election since Independence. Yet they came together and became partners at the Centre. Simply to keep the “communal BJP” out. Both have worked on the dictum that my enemy’s enemy is my friend. The Congress and RJD are arch rivals in Bihar and Jharkhand and the NCP cannot see eye-to-eye with the Congress in Maharashtra. Ditto the case down South with the DMK & Co.

Three, when it comes to coalition dharma, the less said the better. Suffice is to say that even thieves are agreed on a code of conduct. Most of the deals by India Inc are done on the basis of zuban (word). This should hold equally true in the case of coalition Governments. There should be a dharma between coalition partners and this should be scrupulously followed by all. A lakshman rekha which the allies adhere to honestly. Alas, this is more a dictum than the rule. No matter, Sonia Gandhi’s talk of “dharma of coalition” which, she said, was “to work together, try and understand and accommodate each others views.”

Great rhetoric indeed. More so as in reality the obverse holds true. Take the UPA again. The Prime Minister has little control over his Cabinet colleagues, especially those belonging to his allies who have been allotted Ministries on the basis of their party’s respective strength in the Lok Sabha. Worse, there is no such thing as collective responsibility. Not to talk about accountability and transparency, which are a far cry. The Ministers can do what they want. Ride roughshod and even treat their ministries as their personnel fiefdoms. The PM can do nothing except lump it. Look how Union Health Minister Ramdoss, who belongs to the itsy-bitsy PMK, continues to play havoc with India’s premier health institute, AIIMS.

More. The recent shenanigans of the JD(S) father-son duo of Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy in Karnataka says it all. After lording over the State for 20-months, Kumaraswamy unabashedly reneged on his agreement to hand over power to the BJP’s Yediyurappa. Naturally, the BJP withdrew support and the Centre imposed President’s rule. Clearly, in being clever by half the Gowdas’ not only lost power but will have to live with the ignominy of being dubbed as “shameless betrayers.” A classic case of an ally biting off more than it could chew and cutting its nose to spite the face.

Characteristically, each party blames the others for not giving the people yearning for good governance a remedy for this state of anarchy. Some even put the onus on the aangootha chaap janata for the fractured verdicts. Sadly, none wants to pause and ponder over the long-term ramifications of this state of affairs. Consequently, our experiments with coalition Governments continue to get unstuck time and again, thanks to mindlessness.

Some may be tempted to argue that the common man has consciously opted for instability. With the aim of unleashing a churning process which might throw up new forces of change. Already, this social churning has manifested itself in the post-Mandalised era. The backward classes and the minorities have discovered the power of their vote and concluded that their sectional interests are best served when there is political uncertainty. In other words, they have outrightly rejected the national parties and opted for new outfits which are unencumbered by history and ideological baggage.

This has radically changed the structure of the polity and consequently the nature of viable and effective alternatives, as reflected in the multiplicity of over 26 odd regional, small or minor parties. With the national parties losing their clout to the regional satraps there is a very high premium on these parties which get traded and horsetraded many times over. The trading is made easier by the total collapse of the moral fabric of the political parties in their naked lust for the gaddi.

This Achilles heel of the national parties has provided a perfect handle to the regional parties to blackmail, bully and extort their demands from them, especially from those ruling at the Centre. Matters have been made worse by the fact that they could pull the rug off over any flimsy issue and expose the feet of clay of these parties. Consequently, the regional satraps are now beginning to flex their muscle for setting the agenda for India and even becoming the master of the house.

The BSP’s Mayawati makes no bones that her next target is New Delhi and it’s Prime Ministership. It is not an empty boast given our fractured polity. All she needs are 50 seats and the backing of a national party to come up trumps. Thus, regional formations like the TDP, JD, DMK, NCP and Trinamool have neither the time nor inclination for the BJP’s Hindutva or the Congress brand of politics. Besides, unlike the national parties, the regional outfits have a unified command structure and a share of power in the State.

Unfortunately, the national parties have been caught in a web of their own making. By pandering and giving in to the blackmail of these regional vote banks. They have created a Frankenstein over which they have no control. Aspirations can be trampled, but the thumb that affixes the vote can’t be amputated. Leading to the continuing aberration. Even in the dynamics of politics in the present fragmented state, there will be an inherent compulsion for the parties to remain together, so as to be a recognizable force. True, numbers will decide who sits on the Delhi gaddi. But it remains to be seen whether individual egos will get the better of collective wisdom.

In sum, one hopes this political game of kiss and tell based on convenience and opportunism does not reflect the emerging truth of today’s India. Our polity needs to face the harsh reality that national interest urgently requires a coalition dharma that ensures good and honest governance on the basis of public morality and principles. Our polity must not reduce itsef to a level of Gharib ki joru, sab ki Bhabhi! --- INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)                    

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 6 October 2007

Tamil Nadu Defiance Irks Court

FREEDOM FROM BANDHS ---- AT LAST?

By Poonam I Kaushish

Your freedom ends where my nose begins. This truism once again came to life when Tamil Nadu ‘shut down’ on Monday last. Thanks to a bandh called by the ruling DMK supremo and Chief Minister Karunanidhi to pressurize the Centre to expedite work on the controversial Sethusamudram Project. So what if it crippled life, inconvenienced the aam aadmi, brought the State machinery to a grinding halt, knocked out the concept of good governance and earned the wrath of the Supreme Court. Wherein in a first-of-its-kind observation the Court threatened to recommend imposition of President Rule in the State in case the State Government defied its order, resulting in a breakdown of the Constitution.

Predictably all hell broke loose. The polity yelled blue murder and came down like a ton of bricks on what they termed as judicial activism and encroachment into the powers of the Executive. The media too went to town with some in Chennai trying to be more loyal than the DMK king. The legal fraternity busied itself with dissecting and analyzing the Apex Court observations. Had the judiciary overstepped its bounds? Did it have the powers to recommend dismissal of a State Government and imposition of the President’s rule? Or merely advise the Centre to look into it?

Needless to say, Tamil Nadu has thrown up several Constitutional issues and, importantly for the aam aadmi, once again brought the issue of bandhs sharply on the national radar. True as jurists from former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court PN Bhagwati and JS Verma to ex-Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee and senior advocates like KK Venugopal have stated, it is nobody’s case that the Apex Court has the powers either to dismiss a State Government, dissolve a duly elected legislative assembly and impose President’s rule, which the Executive alone is empowered to do.

In case the Supreme Court is of the opinion that there is a Constitutional breakdown, according to Bhagwati, it can surely advise the Government to look into it. But, according to Verma, the Court’s function is essentially to adjudicate on the constitutionality of President’s Rule. In fact, he has also clarified the reason why the Constitution did not empower the Court with this power. Article 356 empowers only the President to issue orders to impose President’s rule. This has to ratified by both the Houses of Parliament within 60 days of its sitting. If the Court was empowered to impose Central rule, then how would it examine the legal validity of its own action?

Adds Sorabjee, “The Court could have slapped a contempt notice on the State Government for flouting its orders.” As matters stand, what Justice B.N. Agarwal, heading the Supreme Court bench, stated were only “oral observations”. Unlike formal orders, these have no force in law. They were simply intended to ensure that the State respected the Court’s orders. Fortunately, the observations had the desired effect when these were flashed by the TV channels by 1.30 pm. Karunanidhi hurriedly called off his hunger strike and post haste returned to the Secretariat with his brood in tow. But the bandh had already done its damage. Chennai was virtually paralysed and the aam aadmi helplessly harassed.

If the happenings in Tamil Nadu were unprecedented, cut to Delhi numero uno road --- Parliament Street. Heavily barricaded with baton-wielding policemen, fire engines and police vans, it stands vandalized every other day by slogan-shouting masses protesting about something or the other. Time and again, punctuated by the bursting of tear-gas shells and water cannon volleys. The cause is immaterial. It is all about registering ones protest, the louder the better. Success is measured in terms of causing maximum dislocation and discomfiture to the people at large. Bringing work to a standstill in the prime business district with the entry-exit points repeatedly sealed.

The havoc is not limited to New Delhi. In Kerala last year alone, Kochi was shut down for 11 days, the State Capital, Thiruvananthapuram, for 19 and Thrissur lost 59 days to hartals. And, there has been no let-up this year. In fact, no day passes without a strike somewhere. Be it a mohalla, district or State. The story is the same.

Tragically, India has travelled a long way from Lokmanya Tilak’s “swaraj is my birth right” to “strikes is my birth right” Today, every other section of the society plans strikes as a matter of routine. Bringing things to such a pass that it is like living life between strikes. Be it labour strikes, political protests or chakka jams which bring life to a standstill, replete with violence, mayhem, deaths et al. Curse all you want, it is for a cause, remember.

Part of the current paradox is explained by the changed notion of strikes aka hartal aka bandh as a form of protest. The original concept was centred on the logic that the only way for a group of disempowered people to shake the system was to agitate. From a simple gherao for more wages to a voluntary hartal against policy decisions. But slowly perversion set in. A strike could be effective only if stoppage of work could not be overcome easily by the system. Therefore, the strikers use their power base, including violence, to stall anything that spells change from the set routine. Never mind that in the long run it is detrimental for the country and the people.

Recall, in August 2003, the Supreme Court had expressed its anguish over strikes. Upholding the Kerala and Calcutta High Courts’ judgments declaring bandhs as “illegal and unconstitutional way of collective bargaining”, it had ruled, that Government employees had no “fundamental, legal, moral or equitable right” to go on strikes whatever the cause, “just or unjust”. Pointing out that aggrieved employees had other options available to them, the Bench opined: Strikes as a weapon is mostly misused, which results in chaos and total maladministration.

Adding: “In a democracy, government employees are part and parcel of the governing body and have a duty to society. They cannot hold society to ransom.” To buttress its contention, the Court observed: “The law on this subject is well settled and even a very liberal interpretation of Article 19 (Freedom of Expression) cannot lead to a conclusion that trade unions have a fundamental, guaranteed right to an effective collective bargaining or to strike either as part of collective bargaining or otherwise.”

The Apex Court’s judgment also upheld the Kerala Court’s distinction between a hartal and a bandh. It held that a hartal was a form of passive resistance and a call for it did not involve force. However, a bandh was an enforced muscle flexing act which interfered with the freedom of citizens. A bandh call might completely halt locomotion and, as a result, involve life and property, particularly of those who attempt to go against the strike call.

Trust our “law abiding” netagan to circumvent the Court’s ruling. They simply replaced their call for bandh by hartal. To plug this loophole, the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court, yet again directed the Election Commission to entertain complaints seeking de-recognition of political parties that called for hartals by “force, intimidation --- physical or mental --- and coercion was unconstitutional”. They even imposed a fine on holding of bandhs and hartals. (The Bombay High Court ordered the Shiv Sena and BJP to pay Rs.20 lakh each to compensate for losses incurred during a bandh organized by them in 2003). Predictably, this led to a political uproar. Nothing more, nothing less.

Unfortunately, our polity fails to realize that strikes negate the basic concept of democracy. They are just a camouflage for non-performance, self-glorification, to gain sympathy or wriggle out of working hard. Some old hands at the game admit that the exercise is to flex their might and muscle to show-off their strength. And if one is a bandh regular, other parties actually start believing that you have the might and the muscle. Ignoring that it all boils down to what you are willing to spend on renting a crowd and giving it a free trip. All issues evoke the same bystanders who are more interested in a jagha darshan, the money and the food packets. The net result? Zilch. 

Clearly, the time has come to take a leaf out of the US law, wherein there is no constitutional right to make a speech on a highway or near about, so as to cause a crowd to gather and obstruct the highway. The right to assembly is to be so exercised as not to conflict with other lawful rights, interests and comfort of the individual or the public and public order. Also, the municipality has the power to impose regulations in order to assure the safety and convenience of the people. And the power to break up a meeting if the speaker undertakes incitement to riot or breach of peace.

In the UK, the Public Order Act, 1936 makes it an offence for any person in uniform to attend any public meeting, signifying his association with any political organization. The Prevention of Crime Act, 1953, makes it an offence to carry any weapon in any ‘public place’ without lawful authority. The Seditious Meeting Act, 1817 prohibits meetings of more than 50 persons within a mile of Westminster Hall during the sitting of Parliament.

In sum, in a milieu wherein adoption of strong-arm tactics to extract one’s pound of flesh has become our second nature, it is time to cry a halt to the political nautankis and strikes. The Tamil Nadu bandh has exposed how dangerous this game has become. No longer can we simply dismiss strikes and hartals as a system’s failure. The right of the citizen is paramount. How long will this chalta hai attitude persist. With each shrugging his shoulders and asserting ki pharak painda hai.  Time now to call a bandh against hypocritical parties and our moribund State. What do you say? ---- INFA

(ICopyright, India News and Feature Alliance)                    

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 29 September 2007

Swearing By Or At Gandhi?

ENOUGH OF RHETORIC & GIMMICKRY

By Poonam I Kaushish

The drumbeaters were out. Hooting for Rahul Gandhi. “He is the country’s future,” gushed Congressmen. “Is the movie ‘Gandhi my Father,’ connected with him?” queried a schoolgirl. “No, it’s about the other Gandhi, the one we read about in history and get a chutti for,” answered her friend. “You mean the Mahatma in the super hit Lage Raho Munnabhai. Who popularized Gandhigiri -- truth, morality and values. The one our netagan talk about ad nauseum to acquire a halo around their own heads,” replied the schoolgirl. 

She was damn right. Look how our netagan, who till yesterday remembered Gandhi only ritually, are today falling over each other to be first past the post in everything Gandhian. The Congress has claimed proprietial rights on the Father of the Nation. Amidst celebrations to commemorate 100 years of Satyagraha, it has not only got the United Nations to declare Gandhiji’s Birthday 2 October as “Non-Violence Day” but Party President Sonia Gandhi is also addressing the UN at a special function today. Remember, the Party held a two-day jamboree in January on Gandhian philosophy in the 21st Century. Leaders from all over the world then pontificated on peace, non-violence and empowerment. 

Do they honestly believe in Gandhiji? Adhere to his values? Forget it. All are busy riding the crest of popularity of Gandhigiri to reap a political harvest. Today, at the crack of dawn a smattering of leaders led us to Rajghat, the samadhi of freedom. With beatific smiles even as they inwardly cursed the time wasted. Ritually offered flower petals. Observed two minutes’ silence. Gave sound bites to the TV cameras. Duty performed, they rushed back to their heavily securitized cars. Heading to their next destination. To go through the ritual again.

Ignoring the genuine Gandhians, some of them in their eighties, who have formed a Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade, based in New Delhi’s Lajpat Bhawan, and have been conducting “a new Satyagraha” for the past two months against the failure of successive Governments of India in combatting mounting corruption and criminality in public life. And the aam aadmi who patiently awaits his turn to pay his sincere homage. Opportunity comes only when the VVIPs and VIPs have departed and the security barricades are removed.

Look at the irony. Gandhiji wanted to wind up the Congress party and have a Lok Seva Sangh (servants of the people society) to take its place. This was primarily because of the rot that was setting into the Party. He had received information that some Congress legislators were taking money from business houses to get them licences, that they were indulging in blackmarketing and subverting the judiciary and intimidating officials to secure transfers and promotions for their protégées in the administration. He wanted somehow to stop the Congress and Congressmen from capitalizing on the freedom struggle in which the nation as a whole had participated.

Going a step further, Gandhiji wanted to sternly screen candidates for Parliament and provincial legislatures and put up only those with integrity and a selfless spirit of service to the community. This, he urged, would guide the voters in their choice of suitable persons to speak on their behalf in the nation’s highest forum. The members of these organizations, which were to be engaged in constructive social work among the masses, were to keep out of politics themselves.

But Gandhi’s proposals did not appeal to his lieutenants, who were more interested in using the Congress ladder to power. The Mahatma thereupon felt even more isolated than ever from the very men who claimed to follow him and practice his precepts. He felt like one exploited by his close comrades for their own political ends. Tragically, he was killed by an assassin’s bullets, before he could purge Indian politics of its fast corrupting influences.

Today, Gandhiji’s fears have come a full circle. Just look around and sees how far removed we are from Bapu’s vision of India post-Independence, his ideas of simple living and high thinking, his sense of right and wrong and his value system. If ahimsa, or call it soul force, cast a Mahatma’s halo around him universally, himsa has become the universal truth for our society.

Wherein Gandhi’s teachings have been reduced to mere pious platitudes and inane speeches on his birth anniversary and martyrdom day or during elections, courtesy our parochial leaders. The fire and zeal across the nation to come out in response to Gandhi’s “do-or-die” slogan died an early death. Replaced by a rent-a-crowed brought by chartered buses to election rallies. Might is right, after all.

Bringing things to such a ludicrous pass that today Gandhi seems an alien from a different planet. Said he: “The ministers are the people’s servants. They will not stay in office a day longer than the people’s wish. These offices have to be held lightly, not tightly. They are or should be crowns of thorns, not renown.” Sadly, the Mahatma did not visualize portly ministers fitting tightly into their polyester khadi kurtas! And khaas kursis. Or, how these heavy weights would not take anything and everything lightly! Certainly, not their offices.

Wherein corrupt and convicted leaders shamelessly strut around as proud peacocks. He could never have imagined a day when tainted ministers would adorn the Treasury Benches and the Prime Minister would justify their inclusion as the “compulsions of coalition politics!” Or, that a Cabinet Minister would be jailed for murder and another would go “underground” to evade arrest. Could one imagine the Father of the Nation manipulating the system to achieve this? Never.

Bapu had said, “Ministers should not live as ‘sahib log’ or use private work facilities provided by the Government for official duties.” Nothing could be farther from the truth today. Yesterday’s princes have been replaced by Ministers, and MPs, who see themselves as winners. Not one Minister is willing to give up his colonial bungalow and be anything less than the Burra Sahib! Lutyen’s Delhi is being absurdly treated as a holy cow. There are no rules of the game any more. You make your own rules. The business of democracy is all about rule by law not rule of law. The doctors of all trades. Experts in doctoring facts and in fixing deals.

At various election rallies, our polity emphasises a return to Gandhian values. “Our life styles must change. Vulgar, conspicuous consumption must go. Simplicity, efficiency and commitment to national goals hold the key to self reliance!” Brave words indeed, words which taunt the five star culture reality of today.

How many have read the Arjun Sengupta report on unorganized labour which talks of 70 per cent of India’s teaming billion living in abject poverty, earning less than Rs 20 a day. Are they aware that there are over 12 lakh manual scavengers who load human excreta with their bare hands? Yet they continue to woo illiterate masses with money and pipe dreams of roti, kapra and makan.

Depressingly, nowhere does ideology, principles, party interests or policies even rhetorically figure in our leaders vocabulary. In the past, the leaders at least used to camouflage their intentions in ideological garbage. Today, even that fig leaf or verbosity has been discarded. “The truth I proclaim is as old as the hills,” said he. Alas, he did not visualize that the hills could be decimated and truth erased and replaced with only one lakshya these days: “gaddi rakho, paisa pakro”. Power and money at any cost. The country and its democracy can go to hell.

The Mahatma’s view as stated in his biography, “Experiments with Truth”: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be shuttered. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about freely. I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. Mine is not a religion of the prison house. It has room for the least of God’s creations. But it is proof against insolent pride of race, religion or colour.”

Most sadly, India’s secular credentials today have been dissected, butchered and roasted to suit political convenience and tactics. Unfortunately, the secularism advocated by the Mahatma and our founding fathers has got greatly diluted to brazen minority appeasement. Carrying it to such absurd limits that our polity takes offence to the rendering of Vande Matram but willy nilly talks of giving reservation for minorities. Equality for them connotates giving first preference to the Muslims.

Less said about the raging controversy over the Ram Setu the better. Clearly, a day is not far when Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Ram Rajya will be dissected and debunked as the outpourings of a rabid Hindu fundamentalist. This is the secular reality of what a wit described as India’s “420 secularism”.

In the final analysis, what should one say of a polity that swears by the Mahatma but doesn’t heed him. “Today I am your leader but tomorrow you may have to put me behind the bars, because I will criticize you, if you do not bring about Ram Rajya,” he said. We did not put him behind bars. Instead, we murdered him --- and continue to do so daily. Our experiments with untruth! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)      

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 22 September 2007

System Under Attack

SLOW ADMINISTRATIVE COLLAPSE

By Poonam I Kaushish

India’s much-maligned and decrepit “administrative system” is in the throes of two political crises. One, precipitated by the Indo-US ‘nuclear’ tug-of-war between the Congress-led UPA Government and the Left. Two, triggered by the faith vs  myth war of words on the Ram Setu between the Saffron Parivar, DMK and the Congress. At stake is the silly chair called India Raj. No matter that both the crisis may end up driving one more nail in the coffin of India’s decaying democratic system and the rule of law.

Sadly, in this acerbic warring, the delicate balance between Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary has been disturbed. If yesterday we were busy shedding tears over the withering of Parliament, today we should be preparing to weep for our increasingly debased Executive. Not only have the powers-that-be become all powerful, causing grave concern all round, but their feudal ad hocism and rule by law has become the bane of our democratic set up.

Uttar Pradesh or should one say Ulta Pradesh, today represents the ugly truism of India’s executive and administrative system gone horribly wrong. Chief Minister Mayawati’s melodramatic sacking of over 10,000 policemen recruited during the erstwhile Mulayam Singh rule is symptomatic of the rot that is afflicting the Executive today and how it is spreading thick and fast.

Mayawati’s excuse for the mass cancellation is that the recruitment was done without proper selection and purely on the basis of caste and creed ---- Yadavs, Muslims and Thakurs. The issue is not whether Mayawati was justified in taking the action she did. Nor is it about her action smacking of vendetta against her bete noir Mulayam Singh.

Either way, in this termination nautanki the hapless aam aadmi and his ilk have got screwed.  What was their fault? That they believed in their mai-baap Sarkar? Sincerely went through the recruitment drill. Even paid hefty bribes, which they could ill afford, to the babu to do his job for which he gets his salary. Swore by scraps of papers confirming their appointment as policemen. Raising the point: Who should bear the cross?

Obviously, the Executive comprising the political masters and the bureaucracy. Remember, this is not the first time that allegations of misdemeanour have been levelled by a new Chief Minister against his of her predecessor. Should not the Chief Minister have first taken strong action against the officials who comprised the recruitment board? Instead of cancelling the appointments en masse? Merely, suspending a few officials, who will be reinstated later is not good enough.

This incident has once again brought us face to face with one ugly truth. The politician and the bureaucrat are both hand in glove and working in tandem to mutual advantage. Why blame Mayawati? It is a given that with every change of political guard, babudom goes through an upheaval of transfers. Wherein powerful and lucrative slots are given to the chamchas.

In this scenario, a majority of babudom is more than happy in going along merrily with their political bosses. This enables them not only to secure speedy promotions without any regard to seniority or merit but also join the politician in looting the country. Rooted in the firm belief that, like their masters, they too are a law unto themselves.  Bringing matters to a pass where caste, corruption and chamchagiri alone count.

Over the years, officials have become used to dispensing patronage and not a few love the colour of money. Resulting in no accountability, no fear of removal, arrogantly earning big pay packets for non-productive work. Consequently, most babus have little interest in taking any initiatives and are willing to make self and boss-serving compromises with the fundamentals of administration.

This treacherous politician-official nexus was lucidly portrayed in the Vohra Committee report which, tragically continues to gather dust. Even Vohra as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Gujral conveniently forgot his own report and did nothing to implement any of its recommendations! The net result? The civil service today has no commitment to either the country or the people they are supposed to serve. Self is shamelessly placed before all else.

Is this what the founding fathers of our Republic had in mind?  Absolutely not. India’s first Home Minister, Sardar Patel, was happy to inherit from the Raj its “steel frame” of ICS officers fully believing that they would ensure the country’s unity and, as patriots, serve their own people even better. In fact, he prevailed upon Nehru not only to keep the steel frame intact but give the country an all-India Administrative Service along the same lines. The all-India services were intended to provide an institutional and reliable link between the Centre and the State administrations and ensure the country’s unity and integrity.

Sadly, the steel frame that we inherited from the British has been vandalized beyond recognition.  Right from the administration at the district level to the top of the ladder at the Centre --- Cabinet Secretary. Top slots in the administration are now filled in accordance with the whims and fancies of the political masters, contrary to established norms and practices in the civil services of leading democracies.

A cursory glance at New Delhi’s bureaucratic wonderland would have made Alice exclaim: “Who needs rabbits; bureaucrats will do!” Shockingly, the Cabinet Secretary and the other Secretaries are appointed courtesy the Prime Minister, not the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in accordance with healthy practices.

Those favoured seldom retire. A recent example. The former Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi, hand-picked by Manmohan Singh, was given an extension for a year and has now has been ‘accommodated’ in the Planning Commission. The list is endless.

If such is the condition at the Centre, can the States be far behind. In fact, matters there are worse. The plight of not only the All India Service officers, but also those of the Provincial and Subordinate Services can well be imagined. The Chief Secretary was once supposed to head the civil services in the State and place officers in the best interest of probity and efficiency. But he has progressively surrendered this right to the ruling politicians.

A case in point. In UP, Mayawati has created a history of sorts. For the first time a Cabinet Secretary has been appointed over and above the Chief Secretary. Naturally, handpicked by her. The reason forwarded is that if a Cabinet Secretary heads the bureaucracy at the Centre, why can’t she appoint one of her favourites to head the State administration?   

Lamented U.C. Agarwal, who was Secretary, Personnel under Indira Gandhi and thereafter Central Vigilance Commissioner: “Nearly every change of political guard leads to a large reshuffle of top officials in most States.  In fact, the political identification of officials is becoming so marked that even the bureaucracy itself is able to predict as to who will occupy which top post, if ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ political party or individual comes to power!”

What kind of governance lies ahead? A clue can be found in a recent survey of the probationers at the National Academy of Administration, which trains the IAS and other all-India services. It stated that only 32 per cent of the new recruits condemned corruption in the civil services. Only five per cent believed in harsh measures to reduce corruption.  Another 45 per cent believed that they were above the law. Cold statistics that mirror the harsh reality of how debased our system has become.

Clearly, the time has come to give serious thought to a qualitative change in the functioning of the Executive. If it is to be nursed back to health, we need better people, with good educational qualifications, wider exposure and sound moral values. Why the West lays great emphasis on background, upbringing, and education. Alternatively, follow the Chinese model and set an example in “eliminating” corruption. All it takes is one single bullet.

It would, indeed, be a great pity if India is deprived of one of the principal pillars of democratic governance and recklessly pushed towards unabashed feudalism. The writing is on the wall. The bureaucracy must shrug off its inertia and get back its professionalism based on absolute, not obsolete principles.

Civil servants need to give serious thought to their basic commitment to the country and collectively not allow the political bosses to play ducks and drakes with the system. They must restore the system to the glorious days of “I Command Service” (ICS). After all, Prime Ministers will come and Prime Ministers will go, but the Government will go on for ever. Or else they will end up debasing the IAS from the once respected Indian Administrative Service to “I Am Sorry” service! The country will not forgive them. ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)