The Constitution of India promises us "JUSTICE, social, economic and political" and also "EQUALITY of status and of opportunity". Article 14 – our fundamental right of Equality Before the Law, says, "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws..." Why doesn't this ring true of our experience nowadays?
As you know, people's constitutional rights are suspended in an Emergency. I am beginning to wonder: are we in a state of Emergency already? Have we lost our rights already?
By now we have understood that the laws that apply to you and me don't apply to people like Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja, Sushilkumar Shinde, Sharad Pawar and Yeddyurappa who are commiting corruption and criminal conspiracy on a grand scale. The laws also don't apply to people like Imam Bukhari, the Thackerays, L K Advani and Mayawati, who are deriving their political power from the threat to incite widespread violence and destruction. And the laws don't apply to tainted bureaucrats like Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas and Maharashtra State Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari who know too many of their political masters' secrets, and are therefore indispensable. Despite their well-documented criminal offences, these people are not only free from fear of FIRs, chargesheets, arrest etc., but they are guaranteed to continue enjoying state protection and power!
How the government really functions
Why has CBI only arrested two small fishes in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam? Why not Suresh Kalmadi? Why not those two dozen family-members on the CWG Organizing Committee? I will tell you why not: because all these people are part of a cozy social set with Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Prithviraj Chavan and some power-brokers. They all have a comfortable working relationship.
To get an idea of this relationship, hear these taped telephone conversations between political fixers Vir Singhvi and Nira Radia, when they discuss who should get what portfolio.
Audio 1: http://tinyurl.com/niraradia1
Audio 2: http://tinyurl.com/niraradia2
Notice the ease with which Vir Singhvi (a renowned journalist) and Nira Radia (a PR person who works on behalf of Tatas, Ambanis etc) chat about approaching Sonia, Rahul etc. for getting portfolios for the people that they want. That's how our country is being run by power-brokers and middlemen. And that's how the selection of Information Commissioners, Vigilance Commissioners, Human Rights Commissioners really happens, weeks ahead of the meeting of the so-called selection committees.
Nira Radia has evidently done deals for Raja's discount-sale of 2G Spectrum. For more on what she does for a living, read this blog: http://indiasreport.com/magazine/data/the-radia-papers-raja-tata-ambani-connection/
Civil society's futile efforts to book government scamsters
Yesterday, Advocate General Goolam Vahanvaty conceded in the Supreme Court that when citizens request sanction to prosecute babus or mantris, they should get a yes-or-no reply within a reasonable period of, say, six months. He was defending the Prime Minister's lengthy silence following Subramanian Swamy's request for sanction to prosecute telecom minister A Raja in the 2G Spectrum scam. And I'm thinking: "What?! Six months is a reasonable period?! On which planet?" But think about it in the context of the Singhvi - Radia chitchat, and you understand why six months: Buy time… and then everything is negotiable between friends.
In Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal and others tried to get an FIR registered against Suresh Kalmadi and others in the Commonwealth Games scam. In Mumbai, Y P Singh and NAPM tried to get an FIR registered against Ramanand Tiwari, Sushilkumar Shinde and others for the Adarsh scam. Result: zero. Such FIRs will not happen, never mind the Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Penal Code and the founding charter of Anti Corruption Bureau. Recent orders of Supreme Court and Bombay High Court were unequivocal about the mandatory duty of the officer in charge of the police-station to register FIRs immediately if a cognizable offence is made out, or in exceptional cases within 48 hours. But the government is saying loud and clear: "That's all theory. You civil society busybodies can never put a finger on us. You are bachchas. Take your laws and go jump!"
Not of the people, not by the people, not for the people
This isn't your nation and my nation any longer. This isn't government "of the people, by the people, for the people". This is government "of the powerful, by the middlemen, for the big-bucks". And that is why the net-worth of almost every elected representative increases manifold every five-year-term – even those who sit in the opposition benches. These people have hijacked the nation.
I used to think of Sonia & Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh as basically honest people. I used to think of Prithviraj Chavan as their crafty advisor and administrator, but not a crook. I used to think of the opposition – L K Advani and others – as a bit slow maybe, but not bought-up. It never dawned on me to think of them as one big happy family.
But now I'm wondering how all these people are keeping a straight face while taking an entire nation for a ride in the woods.
Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114
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