The PM has spoken

A volley of words last week proved to be particularly unfortunate. At a public meeting on Tuesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was ...

A volley of words last week proved to be particularly unfortunate. At a public meeting on Tuesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at his manipulative and vicious best. Smarting under the Election Commission8217;s order postponing elections in the state, he mounted an odious personal attack on Chief Election Commission J.M. Lyngdoh, implying that it was his Christian background that had caused him to take the decision on the Gujarat polls. Not only was this ugly insinuation an attempt to sully the personal integrity of the CEC, it was also a direct attack on the institution of the EC, upon which the credibility of the Indian democratic process crucially rests. But does Modi, in his concerted scramble to get back to Gandhinagar, even care? He must know that the poll decision was taken unanimously by the three highest functionaries of the Commission 8212; two of whom are not Christians 8212; but does he even bother about such fine points? He must be aware of the crucial role the EC is now required to play in attesting to the credibility of the J038;K poll process, but does that stop him from dragging it into the muck? Of course not.

Unfortunately the CEC, instead of treating Modi8217;s verbal absurdities with the contempt they deserve, chose to be provoked by them. In a television interview last Friday, Lyngdoh, even while avoiding naming any particular individual, damned the entire tribe of politicians in no uncertain terms. While this may be his personal views, he should have realised that in this surcharged atmosphere, such words do him and the institution he heads little credit.

It is in this context that Prime Minister8217;s Vajpayee8217;s observations on Saturday are most welcome. Not only did the prime minister express his distress over this 8216;undignified8217; controversy, he pointed out that constitutional authorities must be given the respect that is their due. Lyngdoh, having said his piece, will in all probability now pipe down. But whether Modi will, is the big question. The prime minister was speaking to him directly when he stated that there are constitutional means to deal with differences of opinion, like the one concerning the Gujarat poll dates. But Modi, if we are to go by his particular brand of politics, has really no use for such niceties. Vajpayee would like him to recognise that the maturity of Indian democracy lies in all its institutions. But a man who has attacked several important institutions in the country already, who has questioned the findings of the National Human Rights Commission, who has disregarded the observations of the National Minorities Commission, who has treated the EC with utter contempt, does such a man even know the value of constitutional institutions?