It146;s a molehill

The last hours of the Monsoon Session in Parliament witnessed a bout of political theatre with shades of a burlesque. The AIADMK members, fo...

The last hours of the Monsoon Session in Parliament witnessed a bout of political theatre with shades of a burlesque. The AIADMK members, followed by the BJP, shouted slogans and staged walk-outs demanding the resignation of Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram over his wife, Nalini Chidambaram, appearing as senior counsel on behalf of the income tax department in a case before the Madras High Court. The AIADMK, which was the first to raise the issue, is not exactly well-known for upholding the highest standards of public morality, but politics requires its share of jousting, so we will let that pass. The substance of the charge against the finance minister was that he had personally sought to favour his wife by ensuring that she got this brief.

Chidambaram, in his own defence, has stated in Parliament that if he had had an inkling about the plans of the Central Board for Direct Taxes CBDT to engage his wife for the case, he would have ensured that the proposal was 8220;nipped in the bud8221;. But we do not have to go by his statement. Both the CBDT and the senior standing counsel for the Income Tax Department, Chennai, who had hired Nalini Chidambaram 8212; Pushya Sitaraman 8212; have clarified that the finance minister was not consulted in the appointment and that it was more in the nature of a friendly arrangement between two professionals. To perceive the matter as one of grave moral turpitude, warranting the resignation of the union finance minister, would amount to making a veritable mountain out of what is, in essence, a molehill. Giving more credence to this conclusion is the fact that the initial insinuation that the finance minister8217;s brother was also involved in the matter was found to be false.

The difficulties Nalini Chidambaram finds herself in today are part of the occupational hazards of being a professional lawyer, who also happens to be married to the country8217;s finance minister. Her autonomy as a professional should 8212; ideally 8212; be respected, but in the sharply polarised scenario of national politics, there is precious little likelihood of such courtesies being observed. Nalini Chidambaram could exchange notes with another woman lawyer who finds herself occasionally on the hot tin roof of politics: Cherie Booth. Indeed this lawyer, some say, may have made it to the Bench, given her fairly long spell as Queen8217;s Counsel, if she had not been fortunate unfortunate? enough to be Mrs Tony Blair.