Sealed and delivered

Delhi8217;s Congress government has been grappling with a conundrum: it has to preside over the unpopular, court-mandated sealing drive in the shadow of a crucial election. While its chief opponent in the fray, the BJP, appears to enjoy the Congress8217;s discomfiture hugely, there is a larger story here that requires the attention of every political party aspiring to rule a state or the country.

The executive has of late decried what it sees as a trend of the courts intruding into a domain it perceives as its own. Nobody who values the balance between the three pillars of government envisaged in the Constitution would appreciate any one of them spreading its influence beyond its jurisdiction. But it does appear that sometimes the executive appears only too willing to pass the buck and allow the courts to take the necessary but tough decisions. The reason it does this is, of course, obvious: many of these measures have political repercussions that ruling parties wish to protect themselves from. Once the ball is lobbed to the courts, it can shrug off its own involvement and lay the blame for unpopular measures 8212; like sharply increasing fines to discourage traffic violations and the present demolition drive 8212; at the courts8217; gates.

This, in fact, is precisely what the Congress in Delhi is trying to do. Its political campaigners have been told to counter charges that the party was complicit in the unpopular sealing drive now on. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi did in fact approach the Delhi State Election Commission to stay the drive, given the April 5 MCD polls; but this has only drawn strictures from the court. With power comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes the job of carrying out unpopular decisions. The executive must learn to live with this reality.