Opinion A cure far worse than the disease

This overarching framework must stand on the sturdy foundations of a judicial accountability and standards bill; administrative reform commencing with the repeal of Article 311 of the Constitution; a robust anti-trust legislation that provides the instruments to regulate the pernicious use of “influence” that accompanies the concentration of wealth; laws to regulate cross-holdings,private treaties,and paid news in the media; and of course the Lokpal.

Why are these measures being advocated now? Is it to try to deflect attention from the Lokpal,currently on the front burner? Is it that the political establishment and the permanent executive are quivering at the thought of the mechanism being drafted? The answer is a big no. They already stand substantially covered by the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act among a host of others. A part of this edifice is in the design stage; it would thus be appropriate to look at the issue holistically,so that an all-encompassing superstructure is created.

However,what must be seriously considered is whether we ought to allow manifestations of street power and contrived rage to drive the discourse on these complex issues. Is McCarthyism,driven by evangelist hysteria,going to become the order of the day? Are all legitimate representatives collectively going to be convicted and hanged just because they chose to be a part of the greatest of all human experiences — politics?

Even the United States found it difficult to surmount the trauma of Senator McCarthy’s excesses. If guilt by association becomes the rule rather than the exception,then the scar tissue it creates would be a permanent abrasion on our national life.

India has dealt with a million mutinies,from the well-orchestrated violent separatist impulses in the north-west and the north-east to the more emotional identity-based upsurges of religion,caste and language. They have been handled with a dexterous combination of flexibility and firmness.

However,even the most vibrant of democracies,with the safety valves of a representative legislature,free speech and a functional judicial system,are still not completely immune to street coercion.

History provides many examples of the utilisation of street power to subvert functional states. In 1935-38 Adolf Hitler used the street power of the Austrian Nazi party under the leadership of Dr Arthur Seyss-

Inquart to prepare the ground for the absorption of Austria. The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia,when the Sudeten Germans led by Heinlein were encouraged to revolt,which paved the way for the annexation and dismemberment of that nation. After the Second World War ended and the iron curtain descended upon Europe,the Communists used a combination of street and state power to subvert democratic processes throughout East Europe,thereby subjugating vibrant societies to totalitarian one-party rule. Closer home we find that such is the terror of Islamic fundamentalists who rule the streets of Pakistan that the governing establishment did not even muster up the gumption to attend the funeral of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer,and no maulvi was prepared to even perform his last rites — all while his assassin is extolled as a defender of the faith.

Thus the mobilisation of street power and the manner in which it is used can have very dangerous implications,even if the intent is noble and inspiration fired by idealism. While across-the-board reforms are the need of the hour they must be subjected to the calm and deliberative wisdom of the high temple of democracy — Parliament — rather than be allowed to fall victim to venting.

While it is the measure of confident governments to be sensitive to the concerns of their citizenry,there is a very thin line that divides accommodation from capitulation — and eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. The Constitution provides the space for a spectrum of ideological predilections but the developments of the past ten months makes me wonder if the campaign is only about purging the toxins from the body politic or it is the unfinished battle for the idea of India in yet another avatar.

There is a need for all those who believe in the core values of the Indian state to be vigilant because there may be some malaise intrinsic to the cure we’re being offered.

The writer is a Congress MP. These views are personal