Dear all,
I have been wondering whether it would be proper to circulate a pre-publication copy of my next piece sent to "Sunday Guardian" for August 21. However seeing the country wide mass upsurge I have taken this unusual step of circulating this among my friends before it is published. It is quite possible that the title might be changed by the editor.
In my view the basic debate in India is whether democracy consists only in holding free elections. Isn't democracy something higher? Isn’t there an “accountability” factor? Somebody during the current agitation said that what we are having is "Demonocracy". The attitude of the UPA coalition, especially the Congress is that those who are not elected or not "electable" should not question the decisions taken by the Executive, at times ratified by the Parliament. Our rules of business allow the Executive (Cabinet & bureaucracy) to take very vital decisions without even consulting the Parliament. To the Congress & UPA it does not matter that even important bills are passed within minutes without discussion. In our version of democracy election process is "managed" by political oligarchies, including those who are facing criminal charges. They have set up institutions which do not deliver. None of our institutions have inbuilt accountability. Till the Supreme Court intervened, all these institutions were indulging in subterfuge hiding their failures. Whistleblowers were prosecuted under Official Secrets Act. The benefits have been cornered by politicians, bureaucrats and fellow travelers. "Coalition Dharma" allows such vested interests to be managed smoothly. We see this in several top level appointments by UPA, even in sensitive intelligence branches where controversial officers were appointed to senior positions because of political or family connections. The "Circle the Wagon" syndrome protected politicians and bureaucrats. As I said in one of my earlier pieces, the Anna Hazare movement "is a revolt by common public, the worst sufferers of corruption, arising out of the abject failure of those privileged few within the "Circle of Wagons"”.
However I am also worried at the organized character assassination of Anna Hazare & his followers by Congress politicians. This reminds me of the Emergency days when the entire State machinery was used to denigrate Jayaprakash Narain and others. It also reminded me of those dark days when decisions were remote controlled by a small coterie. I see such signs now. However unlike the Emergency days, the common people of India have now given a befitting reply to those politicians by turning up in such numbers. Also, unlike the pre-Emergency days, they have also managed to keep the agitation entirely peaceful. This is a great achievement and the beginning of a new kind of politics.
For the police this presents an “opportunity”- Now that UPA Government has said that Delhi Police can take "autonomous decisions" it is my appeal to all police forces in the country to take decisions according to law even it means clashing with political or bureaucratic leadership. I have deliberately quoted the British experience in my piece (Below). At the same time they will earn public respect only if they keep away the corrupt elements. That will be the test of their leadership.
POLICE & STATE ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS ANOTHER “EMERGENCY”? V.Balachandran
As this is written, Gandhian Anna Hazare has caught the powerful Central Government in cleft-stick by refusing to move out of Tihar Jail even after his “release” unless his conditions on “protest fast” are met. The morning of Aug 16th saw high drama. Hazare was arrested when he refused to abide by the stringent conditions imposed by Delhi Police for his anti-graft protest. He was remanded to 7 days judicial custody and lodged with criminals and those facing corruption charges. Soon thereafter protests erupted all over the country. By afternoon we saw three senior Union ministers making valiant efforts to convey that UPA government did not dictate police policy. People wondered how Delhi Police suddenly had found courage in taking their own decisions especially since the early morning swoop had come soon after a high decibel orchestrated propaganda offensive by Congress spokespersons on 14th accusing Hazare of corruption. The base polemics unleashed by the Congress made a national daily caution the UPA government to “find a way to deal with Anna Hazare movement civilly”. Late in the night there were clear indications that UPA leadership had panicked at the country wide protests. They were keen to end the impasse. Delhi Police action of releasing Anna Hazare who was remanded to 7 days judicial custody was interpreted as a political decision. The three wise ministers were conspicuously absent from any public appearance to explain why Delhi Police suddenly found Hazare’s custody not necessary.
It is my guess that the ministers wanted to convey that a similar situation as in UK exists in India where Police take decisions themselves. The five day UK riots (Aug 6-10) had resulted in caustic exchanges between ruling politicians and police leadership. The UK Guardian( Aug 12) quoted acting Metropolitan (MET) Police Commissioner Tim Godwin rejecting Cameron government’s criticism of inadequate police response: "I think after any event like this, people will always make comments who weren't there." He also supported Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers who rejected (BBC- August 11) Home Secretary (Home Minister) Theresa May's claim that she had ordered a “more robust” approach that checked rioting. Tim Godwin and Sir Hugh Orde said that these were tactical decisions taken by the police commanders. Orde even went a step further that Home Secretary May “had no power whatsoever to cancel all police leave” to make more policemen available.
We are being told that “Emergency like situation” exists in India . Perhaps none of these ministers addressing the media on Tuesday might have been involved in the developments preceding imposition of Emergency except Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni whose role as junior party functionary might have been shouting “India is Indira” slogan. But I was directly involved in handling the pre-Emergency turbulence and the repressive police action that followed in Bombay, remote controlled from New Delhi. I can see the same disturbing signs now. The spark lit by students of L.D.Engineering College , Ahmedabad in 1974 protesting against increased mess bills snow balled into massive “Nav Nirman agitation” against high food prices. Other political parties stepped in to exploit the mass discontent. I was handling Mrs.Indira Gandhi’s May 1975 visit to Bombay when all we could see were mass black flag protests. Delhi insiders told me that this had upset her terribly. The Congress leadership became totally disconnected with the people after the June 12, 1975 Allahabad High Court verdict. I can see the same high paranoia and “conspiracy theories” affecting the UPA leadership now. Decision making was done by a small coterie then who remote controlled all executive action leading the nation to an abyss.
I wish the UPA leadership read Prof. P.N.Dhar’s book “Indira Gandhi-The Emergency & Indian Democracy” (Oxford-2000). P.N.Dhar, who was PM’s Principal Secretary during the crucial years (1973-77) records: “Similarly Indira Gandhi showed more faith in the repression of political opponents and dissidents in her party than in her own ability to engage them constructively or fight them politically… In the midst of this cacophony Indira Gandhi withdrew into her lonely self.”(Page 262) On Page 261 he says: “Her concern for Sanjay’s future well-being was not an inconsiderable factor in her fateful decisionCNN) -- He wears only khadi, a simple garb of homespun cotton, and lives in a small room off a temple in a remote, drought-prone western Indian village. A veteran of the 1965 India-Pakistan war, he retired from the Indian army and took vows of chastity and public service.
According to public statements in June, the septuagenarian bachelor has $1,500 in his bank account.
But ascetic social activist Anna Hazare has galvanized the nation of India, rattling the country's leadership at the highest levels, as he garners support that cuts across economic and social divides.
His grassroots effort to fight corruption through public fasting has drawn comparisons to Mohandas Gandhi, whose non-violent efforts helped lead to India's independence from British rule in 1947.
Hazare channels river of dissatisfaction over corruption
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