The president should step in

In an essay,8216;Root out corrupt politicians first8217;, published by the Express last December, I had argued that before the Indian syst...

In an essay,8216;Root out corrupt politicians first8217;, published by the Express last December, I had argued that before the Indian system tries to punish corrupt civil servants or police officials, as has been the case so far in the Telgi scandal, it is also necessary to punish those politicians who by being party to such corruption extend protection to corruption and the corrupt down the line.

I then received an anonymous letter, signed by someone who called himself/herself 8220;helpless citizen8221;, asking me: Who will bell the cat? Because the ultimate decision makers are politicians and if they don8217;t do anything to correct the system and punish the guilty, corruption will remain with us. This was clearly the case with regard to the Bofors scandal, for instance. Now take a look at the record of the NDA government. There have not been any allegations of the personal involvement of Prime Minister Vajpayee in corruption, unlike some former prime ministers like Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. Yet, Prime Minister Vajpayee has been lukewarm in tackling the problem of corruption. One major factor for this is the need to create enormous resources to win elections.

Who then can bell the cat? Can it be the Supreme Court? Though the apex court has, by and large, maintained its credibility, it is not without its moments of failure. It is said in the US that Supreme Court keeps one eye on public opinion and the other on the government. India8217;s apex court is no exception to this failing. Can the chief vigilance commissioner step in the breach? The manner in which the present CVC handled the issue of ministers in the NDA government misusing PSUs does not inspire much confidence.

Clearly, then, there is only one person who can do this job and that is the president. It is he/she who can best perform the role of belling the cat to root out corruption in the Indian democratic system. Although there is no term limit for the office of president in the Indian Constitution, after the first president, Rajendra Prasad, no one has been elected for a second term. Presidential candidates are selected on the basis of consensus among the main political parties. If the parties agree on an apolitical person like A.P.J. Kalam for the office, the president could best serve as the authority to discipline erring politicians, as well. He seems to be the only hope if the project to root out corrupt politicians in the country and restore the image of our democracy is to succeed.