Babus and the ballot

There are very few politicians who understand how the bureaucracy functions better than Ajit Jogi, the chief minister of the state of Chhattisgarh, having himself once been part of the country’s legendary steel frame. It could follow from this that he would be better placed than most of his compeers to exploit this institution for his political purposes. This, in fact, is Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh’s charge against him and one that needs to be taken seriously as a newly-formed state prepares for its first date with the hustings on December 1.

There is a simple but important point to be made here. That the polity and bureaucracy, although they function cheek-by-jowl at ground level, are intrinsically separate institutions and indeed require to be kept that way. The problem is that in this day and age, even articulating this basic principle would invite the charge of being naive. Every passing day brings fresh evidence of the growing nexus between the netas and the babus. The very fact that the first thing newly-installed chief ministers do is to shunt out the bureaucrats of the earlier regime and appoint their own favourites only highlights the dividends that such a proximity yields to both parties. If there are any doubts on this score, one need only pore over the small print of the Taj heritage corridor scam case, now before the scrutiny of the courts.

Attempts to check this trend — especially during election time when the temptation of political heavyweights to tweak the system to their advantage is at its greatest — are therefore extremely valid and useful. Lyngdoh may have a taste for the verbal whiplash, but he is well within his right to publicly upbraid over-ambitious chief ministers who appear to be oblivious to the provisions of the model code of conduct and whose pliant officers are trained to look the other way when there is a flagrant abuse of official machinery for electoral purposes.