Old habits die hard. Especially when one belongs to the tribe of what is referred to as the ruling class. Those who pride themselves to be its members take privileges for granted and claim myriad entitlements as their birth right. They grow up with the belief that they are above the law of the land. Nothing seems to change in India’s dynastic democracy.
There was a time, although long ago, when Farooq Abdullah seemed to represent the best in his father’s legacy. His charisma and secular credential appeared transparent. People in the Valley were willing to overlook his administrative incompetence and allegations of nepotism and corruption—at least for a while. Most of us gave him the benefit of doubt. The carefully cultivated image of the ‘Playboy Prince’ also contributed to his ‘stature’ and ‘spell’.
However, much before his recent ranting and raving, it had become clear that the man was no tragic ‘Lion in Winter’. By no stretch of imagination could his opportunism be interpreted as ‘realistic adjustment to ground realities’ (in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi). He thumped his chest and tried to roar, challenging his critics how dare they questioned his patriotism—he needed no certificate from anyone. That was the time when Farooq ‘Saheb’ seemed the best presidential candidate. Much has changed since then. There are many old men who are unwilling to ‘go gently into that night and rage against the fading light’ but there is nothing poetic about the sorry spectacle that Farooq is presenting before us at the moment.
A pitiable caricature of his old self, reminding one of a worthless exhibit in a natural history museum—a poor specimen of taxidermist art, a lifeless stuffed tiger with mangy skin, dead glassy eyes and a mouth forever wide open in a boring yawn. It is anybody’s guess how long the frustrated man will continue trying to cling desperately to slippery headlines by praising juveniles in conflict with law and mercenary stone-pelters who target security personnel in the Valley.
Then there is the Shiv Sena MP, who has singlehandedly managed to lower the stature of all elected representatives of the Lok Sabha by his uncouth and obstinate behaviour. Parliamentary privilege is being invoked as a shield against legitimate legal prosecution. Caught on camera—more than once—boasting about his teaching an allegedly ‘impolite’ airlines crew member, he is now playing the ‘victim card’. Most unfortunately his party colleagues have chosen to rally around him in a last-ditch battle to assert ‘supremacy of Parliament’. While no one can deny that Parliament represents the sovereignty of the people of India, this doesn’t mean that once elected, individual members automatically become sovereign. In no democracy can law-makers claim to be above the law. Phrases like “Kya aukat hai Air India ke CMD ki?” bode ill for the rule of law and the principle of equality before law. How can one expect the investigation in an incident of this kind to be free and fearless if bureaucrats are bullied and browbeaten? Our elected representatives are notorious for treating public servants (even senior government officers) as subordinate domestic help or worse—inferior in status and worthy only of contempt. One recalls heated debates in the august House when MPs of different hues united with great alacrity to raise a chorus against lowly police officers being allowed to detain, or interrogate an MP, protected by parliamentary privilege. “Daroga ki kya mazaal?” Even the apex court has been criticised for ‘judicial overreach.’
Another news item refers to a potential ‘conflict of interest’ in the conduct of Lalu Yadav’s son, now a minister in the Bihar Government. Finding himself in the eye of a potential storm, he has threatened legal action against detractors. Six-and-a-half decades after “We the People of India Gave Unto Ourselves the Constitution,” the chasm between the ‘rulers and the ruled’ hasn’t been bridged. The mental divide is the most distressing. It’s time that Indians—common citizen and those elected to represent them—realise that the rights and duties remain the same for all. It is even more important to assert that no one is above the law. Privileges and laws pertaining to contempt and defamation can’t be allowed to mount a preemptive defence strike.
There are other bits of disturbing news about vigilantes—members of the ‘zealot gaurakshak family’—talking law into their hands and lynching helpless victims targeted at will. They too pose a serious threat to the rule of law and the unity and integrity of India. None of us can allow cricket or films to distract us from these life and death matters.
The writer is former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
pushpeshpant@gmail.com