— Dr Rohini Kumar Baruah
Tragically, the dream of the much cherished freedom has metamorphosed in to shocking realities of pulverising poverty, ailment and illiteracy of the teeming millions. And those who had fancied heaven out of freedom from bondage for which they gave their blood and lost their breath are painfully reconciled to the cruel truth that the yoke of bondage was far less evil than the farce of freedom which has dumped them in the whirlpool of corruption, deception, poverty and disease. What an irony!
With the never- setting Sun of the British Empire setting and their rulers hurrying to retire in the abode of oblivion, the earthly hell had soon started descending on the heart of Indian democracy. God had playfully ordained that an indefatigable, new brand of political specie takes their undying roots on the sacred soil of India, where once the great sages lived and proved the leading light of the world, and corrupt and overturn the fledgling democratic system. The farce of quinquennial rituals called election purveys the key to corrupting the system, criminalising politics and sinking the nation in the dark sea of crime, corruption and deception. The sole force that our political gods are guided by is their perpetual thirst for aggrandisement and self-uplift sans national feelings at the cost of the ignorant mass.
Read a few pages of their tainted life. God has ordained them to be eternally ageless. So, age is no bar for them to plunge in to the dirty water of politics until their last breath leaves them. Law does not stand in their way either; because they are themselves the law makers who in dedication to the common welfare and enrichment of their species wearing different hues unite against their voter masters with feelings of fraternity and enact laws to extract a life-long licence for their coveted profession. Firstly, under Article 84 (b) of the Constitution, no Indian citizen can be a member of the Lok Sabha and of the Rajya Sabha unless he is respectively 25 years and 30 years of age. However, there is no upper age limit to disqualify them from being a member of either House of Parliament or of the State Legislature. As against this, the lesser mortals in all other avocations-be they Judges of the Supreme Court or of the High Court, Members of UPSC or of State PSCs, bureaucrats, technicians and other professionals-all have to retire compulsorily after a definite age limit. The underlying significance is that a life at old age is worn out and becomes invalid for living an active life. However, our political masters are above the ordain of God and continue to hang on until some of them make a pathetic and shame scene of being helped to walk to be lodged in their cozy seat of Legislature!
Secondly, in all other cases including the judges, legal practitioners, professionals, bureaucrats, teachers and technicians, definite minimum qualifications, reinforced by rigorous training in most cases, are a must as without such qualification and training they are deemed to be useless for the jobs they are drafted for. But, our omniscient politicians- be they uneducated and untrained- inherit their pre-birth prognosis for digesting intricacies of history, economics, technology, development, administration, foreign relations etc sans any knowledge of the three ‘R’s, let alone any educational qualification or professional training. Thirdly, as a consequence of this, most of this specie remain dumb backbenchers in their respective Legislatures and kill their time in gossiping, napping and yawning. Others wilier of their specie seize the opportunity to utilise their idle hours by vandalising the august Legislatures that grant them power to flourish. For them tables and chairs come handy to throw at their targets. Fourthly, as a further consequence, such non-performance and misdeeds put restraints on visiting their constituencies, meeting their voters, understanding and solving their crushing problems of flood, erosion, poverty, unemployment, ailment, illiteracy, and dearth of drinking water, roads, markets for their agricultural produce and a legion of their crushing problems. The wilier specie harvests rich political dividends by sowing the seeds of communal disharmony and division among the tribes and clans. This acts as a tonic for their political thriving and flourishing. Then comes election and playing the communal tune, they put up their candidates from such castes and religions so that the voters of the dominating caste or religion cast their votes favouring the candidates of their own caste or religion. And yet, they swear their secular image a hundred times, to prove which fledgling political novice like Varun Gandhi come handy. And though encumbered with their stigma of non-performance, crime and corruption, garnering votes from the illiterate, gullible voters is no problem. All that they need is to spare a few sweet assurances of bringing the heaven down for them in the next election and, of course, a few luring 100 rupee notes, blankets or lungis to buy their votes. The game goes on and on forever.
But nothing can match the omnipotent monster of corruption and criminalisation of politics subverting the entire system of democracy and occupying a place of honour. Read a page of some of our tallest political leaders’ biography. Most of them are armed with colossal money and muscle power. This is an indispensable infrastructure for seizing power and making fortune. Honesty in politics is an anathema, In fact; the gateway to political heaven is closed for one who preaches honesty and morality. And even if someone finds an entry, he is destined to find his disgraceful exit in the ambience of corrupt and criminal culture in the politicians’ paradise. Understandably as media reports, around 20 per cent or more than 100 of the members of Parliament have records of crimes, conviction and/or imprisonment to their credit. At our own home, as many as 19 MLAs are reported to have accredited criminal records. And yet, crime and corruption are no bars for contesting and winning an election because, the King can do no wrong. And, lawmakers are no one’s fools to chain their own feet and choose dustbins as their resting places. To hoodwink the people, they deliberately equate politics with criminality. In criminal jurisprudence, an accused is presumed to be innocent unless he is proved guilty in the court of law. Imprisonment understandably warrants proof. No court will convict a criminal unless he is proved guilty. This applies even to a politician. That barring a criminal politician from contesting election and conviction in the court are not synonymous are deceitfully covered up . And, voters witnessing with their own eyes murders, kidnapping and what not crimes committed by the tainted brand of them makes no sense. Court’s verdict of guilty is relevant only in case of conviction and has no relevance to barring contest, which is not conviction. Politicians who tear off their throats to preach cleaning politics must answer as to why a politician must not be beyond all suspicion like the Caesar’s wife before he can be a custodian of the people. And why should an FIR registered in a Police station or a charge sheet filed after police investigation not be enough to bar a politician from the contest?
Let us see how the political class is one and the same when it is a question of nurturing their common safeguards. Under Section 8.3 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years (other than the offences described in sub-section1 and 2) is disqualified from contesting election for six years. Now why do the lawmakers want a two-year term of conviction to bar them from contesting election? Is a crime ending with less than two years’ term of imprisonment not a crime? How can they forget that even a heinous crime like murder for which the law prescribes punishment of death or a life term may end with less than two years’ term. How does the quantum of conviction become a factor?
The answer is obvious: Kings can do no wrong and they being the privileged class to rule the lesser mortals, the ruler and the ruled cannot be lodged in the same bed. They want to grab power because they need money and muscles to buy their nominations, influence, coerce and buy voters, scare, beat up and vandalise the election campaigns of their opponents, capture booths and even to commit murder, if necessary, to clear their roadblocks. And, mafias and criminals with records of heinous crimes and imprisonment are hot wares in the political markets. For, they have no problems in amassing and sharing their amassed wealth with the top hierarchical lords for sustenance of their class as a whole. Look over their mountains of wealth touching astronomical figures of crores in hundreds, disclosed at the time of filing nomination papers, never mind their many times bigger hidden empire. And yet the Election Commission is toothless and bereft of means to question and investigate the source of their sinful assets, far less disqualify them from election.
So, it is high time to demand reform of the farcical rituals called election. Revolutions all over the world have visited when the evil had reached, as in our case, the zenith. Reforms should be on the following lines: - (i.) a politician beyond the age of 62/65 must be disqualified from contesting election,(ii) there must be a fixed minimum educational / professional qualification for eligibility to become an M.P. or an MLA, (iii) dumb back benchers must be disqualified (iv) An FIR lodged against a contestant in the police station should be sufficient ground for disqualifying a tainted politician, (v) assets disproportionate to their known sources of income must be presumed to have been acquired by misuse and abuse of power and corruption which should be sufficient ground to disqualify such person from holding the position of a legislature, confiscate mountains of wealth to the State and to initiate corruption cases against the tainted gods, (vi) Contesting election from more than one constituency or from a constituency in which a contestant is genuinely not a resident there, must be barred by law, (vii) appointment of the Election Commissioners must be made by a panel rather than by the Government and as per recommendations of the appropriate Commission and the Commission must be armed with its own outfits in every State so as to maintain the sanctity of independence from the control of the ruling party government. Presently, State Election Commissions are manned by the IAS officers of the same State cadre who are under the administrative control of the State Government and whose unflinching loyalty rests with the Government and, therefore, they dare not go against their political bosses and report their misdeeds to the Commission. So, let us rise from our slumber read the writings on the wall and act. ASSAM TRIBUNE
Tragically, the dream of the much cherished freedom has metamorphosed in to shocking realities of pulverising poverty, ailment and illiteracy of the teeming millions. And those who had fancied heaven out of freedom from bondage for which they gave their blood and lost their breath are painfully reconciled to the cruel truth that the yoke of bondage was far less evil than the farce of freedom which has dumped them in the whirlpool of corruption, deception, poverty and disease. What an irony!
With the never- setting Sun of the British Empire setting and their rulers hurrying to retire in the abode of oblivion, the earthly hell had soon started descending on the heart of Indian democracy. God had playfully ordained that an indefatigable, new brand of political specie takes their undying roots on the sacred soil of India, where once the great sages lived and proved the leading light of the world, and corrupt and overturn the fledgling democratic system. The farce of quinquennial rituals called election purveys the key to corrupting the system, criminalising politics and sinking the nation in the dark sea of crime, corruption and deception. The sole force that our political gods are guided by is their perpetual thirst for aggrandisement and self-uplift sans national feelings at the cost of the ignorant mass.
Read a few pages of their tainted life. God has ordained them to be eternally ageless. So, age is no bar for them to plunge in to the dirty water of politics until their last breath leaves them. Law does not stand in their way either; because they are themselves the law makers who in dedication to the common welfare and enrichment of their species wearing different hues unite against their voter masters with feelings of fraternity and enact laws to extract a life-long licence for their coveted profession. Firstly, under Article 84 (b) of the Constitution, no Indian citizen can be a member of the Lok Sabha and of the Rajya Sabha unless he is respectively 25 years and 30 years of age. However, there is no upper age limit to disqualify them from being a member of either House of Parliament or of the State Legislature. As against this, the lesser mortals in all other avocations-be they Judges of the Supreme Court or of the High Court, Members of UPSC or of State PSCs, bureaucrats, technicians and other professionals-all have to retire compulsorily after a definite age limit. The underlying significance is that a life at old age is worn out and becomes invalid for living an active life. However, our political masters are above the ordain of God and continue to hang on until some of them make a pathetic and shame scene of being helped to walk to be lodged in their cozy seat of Legislature!
Secondly, in all other cases including the judges, legal practitioners, professionals, bureaucrats, teachers and technicians, definite minimum qualifications, reinforced by rigorous training in most cases, are a must as without such qualification and training they are deemed to be useless for the jobs they are drafted for. But, our omniscient politicians- be they uneducated and untrained- inherit their pre-birth prognosis for digesting intricacies of history, economics, technology, development, administration, foreign relations etc sans any knowledge of the three ‘R’s, let alone any educational qualification or professional training. Thirdly, as a consequence of this, most of this specie remain dumb backbenchers in their respective Legislatures and kill their time in gossiping, napping and yawning. Others wilier of their specie seize the opportunity to utilise their idle hours by vandalising the august Legislatures that grant them power to flourish. For them tables and chairs come handy to throw at their targets. Fourthly, as a further consequence, such non-performance and misdeeds put restraints on visiting their constituencies, meeting their voters, understanding and solving their crushing problems of flood, erosion, poverty, unemployment, ailment, illiteracy, and dearth of drinking water, roads, markets for their agricultural produce and a legion of their crushing problems. The wilier specie harvests rich political dividends by sowing the seeds of communal disharmony and division among the tribes and clans. This acts as a tonic for their political thriving and flourishing. Then comes election and playing the communal tune, they put up their candidates from such castes and religions so that the voters of the dominating caste or religion cast their votes favouring the candidates of their own caste or religion. And yet, they swear their secular image a hundred times, to prove which fledgling political novice like Varun Gandhi come handy. And though encumbered with their stigma of non-performance, crime and corruption, garnering votes from the illiterate, gullible voters is no problem. All that they need is to spare a few sweet assurances of bringing the heaven down for them in the next election and, of course, a few luring 100 rupee notes, blankets or lungis to buy their votes. The game goes on and on forever.
But nothing can match the omnipotent monster of corruption and criminalisation of politics subverting the entire system of democracy and occupying a place of honour. Read a page of some of our tallest political leaders’ biography. Most of them are armed with colossal money and muscle power. This is an indispensable infrastructure for seizing power and making fortune. Honesty in politics is an anathema, In fact; the gateway to political heaven is closed for one who preaches honesty and morality. And even if someone finds an entry, he is destined to find his disgraceful exit in the ambience of corrupt and criminal culture in the politicians’ paradise. Understandably as media reports, around 20 per cent or more than 100 of the members of Parliament have records of crimes, conviction and/or imprisonment to their credit. At our own home, as many as 19 MLAs are reported to have accredited criminal records. And yet, crime and corruption are no bars for contesting and winning an election because, the King can do no wrong. And, lawmakers are no one’s fools to chain their own feet and choose dustbins as their resting places. To hoodwink the people, they deliberately equate politics with criminality. In criminal jurisprudence, an accused is presumed to be innocent unless he is proved guilty in the court of law. Imprisonment understandably warrants proof. No court will convict a criminal unless he is proved guilty. This applies even to a politician. That barring a criminal politician from contesting election and conviction in the court are not synonymous are deceitfully covered up . And, voters witnessing with their own eyes murders, kidnapping and what not crimes committed by the tainted brand of them makes no sense. Court’s verdict of guilty is relevant only in case of conviction and has no relevance to barring contest, which is not conviction. Politicians who tear off their throats to preach cleaning politics must answer as to why a politician must not be beyond all suspicion like the Caesar’s wife before he can be a custodian of the people. And why should an FIR registered in a Police station or a charge sheet filed after police investigation not be enough to bar a politician from the contest?
Let us see how the political class is one and the same when it is a question of nurturing their common safeguards. Under Section 8.3 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years (other than the offences described in sub-section1 and 2) is disqualified from contesting election for six years. Now why do the lawmakers want a two-year term of conviction to bar them from contesting election? Is a crime ending with less than two years’ term of imprisonment not a crime? How can they forget that even a heinous crime like murder for which the law prescribes punishment of death or a life term may end with less than two years’ term. How does the quantum of conviction become a factor?
The answer is obvious: Kings can do no wrong and they being the privileged class to rule the lesser mortals, the ruler and the ruled cannot be lodged in the same bed. They want to grab power because they need money and muscles to buy their nominations, influence, coerce and buy voters, scare, beat up and vandalise the election campaigns of their opponents, capture booths and even to commit murder, if necessary, to clear their roadblocks. And, mafias and criminals with records of heinous crimes and imprisonment are hot wares in the political markets. For, they have no problems in amassing and sharing their amassed wealth with the top hierarchical lords for sustenance of their class as a whole. Look over their mountains of wealth touching astronomical figures of crores in hundreds, disclosed at the time of filing nomination papers, never mind their many times bigger hidden empire. And yet the Election Commission is toothless and bereft of means to question and investigate the source of their sinful assets, far less disqualify them from election.
So, it is high time to demand reform of the farcical rituals called election. Revolutions all over the world have visited when the evil had reached, as in our case, the zenith. Reforms should be on the following lines: - (i.) a politician beyond the age of 62/65 must be disqualified from contesting election,(ii) there must be a fixed minimum educational / professional qualification for eligibility to become an M.P. or an MLA, (iii) dumb back benchers must be disqualified (iv) An FIR lodged against a contestant in the police station should be sufficient ground for disqualifying a tainted politician, (v) assets disproportionate to their known sources of income must be presumed to have been acquired by misuse and abuse of power and corruption which should be sufficient ground to disqualify such person from holding the position of a legislature, confiscate mountains of wealth to the State and to initiate corruption cases against the tainted gods, (vi) Contesting election from more than one constituency or from a constituency in which a contestant is genuinely not a resident there, must be barred by law, (vii) appointment of the Election Commissioners must be made by a panel rather than by the Government and as per recommendations of the appropriate Commission and the Commission must be armed with its own outfits in every State so as to maintain the sanctity of independence from the control of the ruling party government. Presently, State Election Commissions are manned by the IAS officers of the same State cadre who are under the administrative control of the State Government and whose unflinching loyalty rests with the Government and, therefore, they dare not go against their political bosses and report their misdeeds to the Commission. So, let us rise from our slumber read the writings on the wall and act. ASSAM TRIBUNE
1 comment:
I agree that we all should raise up against corrupt politicians etc. There are few basic questions that needs to be answered: Why is it that we always "Crib" about what is wrong in our "System"? What are we doing about it? Here we means what have "You" done to remove this evil? Looking at your blog it seems that You too have been a part of the system once upon a time. Didnt you lick the ass of your politcal boss? Well, its always easy to give gyann, but first look at your own house and see to it that you have the moral right to give lectures on such topics....
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