Commentary/Janardan Thakur

There isn't a spectacle so ridiculous as the Indian public in one of its periodical fits of morality

No appeal is stronger in India than an appeal in the name of caste or creed or religion. Not very long ago, when the CBI sought permission to chargesheet the then minister Balram Jakhar, he shot off a statement saying the allegations were a conspiracy against the farming community of India. One thought it was a ridiculous statement and yet just a few days later, Jakhar was being feted by his constituents. Lending strength to him was his fellow jat, Choudhary Devi Lal, who happened to be in the hawala net himself. Perhaps they were only trying to draw strength from each other.

Every time a leader faces any charges it becomes a 'conspiracy' against this caste or that creed or that religion. If it happens to be Devi Lal, it becomes a conspiracy against the jats, if it is Laloo Prasad Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav, it becomes a conspiracy against the yadavas, if it is Kanshi Ram or Mayawati or Ram Vilas Paswan, it is a conspiracy against the dalits.

Is it any surprise if the various imams and mullahs are able to run little fiefdoms of their own which the hands of law dare not touch? The moment there is an attempt to enforce the rule of law, it becomes a 'conspiracy' against Islam.

In less than fifty years the Indian Republic seems to be cracking up on all sides, but there is perhaps no easy or quick remedy. The system is too deeply entrenched. Things may really get much worse, before they can get any better.

Was it any surprise that so many politicians involved in various scandals were returned to the Lok Sabha? Was it any surprise if so many history-sheeters are now honourable members of Parliament? Was it any surprise if men with the foulest of track records have come to occupy seats of power? Not at all.

Much before the elections there were reports from various constituencies indicating that the voters were set on glossing over any wrongs that their representatives in Parliament might have done. And indeed, the electorate in many places seemed to have backed these people with a vengeance, as though to thumb their noses at those who may have wanted to malign their chosen ones.

The various scams which came to light in recent days were not so much about individuals and groups as about a system. Indeed, they were not so much about politicians and bureaucrats as about the Indian people themselves. Let's face it, how many of us are not caught up in own little hawalas?

How many of us don't peddle 'influence' or pay donations - a convenient euphemism for bribes - to get our children into schools and colleges? How many of us don't pay little bribes to get a railway reservation or even a seat in a cinema hall? How many don't jump queues and scramble for special quotas, whether for cars of for government accommodation?

The more we can manipulate the system the higher we climb up the social and economic ladder, just consider how many voters do not seek undue favours from their MPs and MLAs, whether it is a transfer here or a posting there, a petrol pump here or a gas agency there.

What is the worth of a politician in our eyes if s/he cannot get things done for us? If s/he can't twist a law or bend a rule for us let her/him be damned. People sell their votes to them for a consideration and they in turn sell their worth for greater considerations. So what's all the bother about?

All that the recent scams have done is to lift the veil from the conspiracy between the politicians and the people. We have all built up our own little cozy relationships to get round the system. To catch as catch can. The so-called revelations during the past few months have told us very little that we have not known all along. Or shall we lie with our heads in the sand? Shall we go on pretending that the leaders never take any bribe?

There was, of course, a time when some MPs and MLAs made it clear to their voters after they got elected the they would do nothing for them, lest it be seen as a bribe or a special favour. Jawaharlal Nehru did almost nothing for his constituency, Phulpur. The responsibilities of his office, he told his voters, were much greater than just his parliamentary constituency. If some leader were to say this to their electorate now, he would probably lose his deposit.

MPs now have to promise they would turn their constituencies into mini Rae Barellis or mini Amethis! So much for the change from Nehru to Indira to Rajiv. Let's make no mistake about it: we want favours from our politicians and if they cannot deliver they are of no worth. It's a benign culture of quid pro quo. There isn't a spectacle so ridiculous as the Indian public in one of its periodical fits of morality.

After all, who put the tainted politicians in high places? Who has been electing them to Parliament and the legislatures term after term? We, the people of India. This is not the first time -- nor will it be the last -- that the nation has been seized of the malfeasance and misconduct of many of them. Among the leaders are those who committed all manner of villainy during the Emergency, and yet this never stood in their way of getting elected term after term, or of becoming a minister in government after government.

We, the people, have elected them again and again, and may well elect them yet again. What can you say about people who take to violence every time the law tries to lay its hands on Sajjan Kumar, a man who carries the allegation of mass murder on his head? Who are these people that come to his aid? Why do we vote for a man who smuggles in thousands of rupees worth of goods and then conspires to penalise officials that tried to keep the law in place?

Pundits of the press quoted chapter and verse to tell the people the sort of man that, one of the former ministers of the Deve Gowda government was. But are we to believe that the people who voted for him did not know what the man was like? We, the people of India, voted for the man knowing full well that here was a perpetrator of the worst crimes one can imagine. And of course if the people elect him to the Lok Sabha, there is little reason why he should not be made a minister.

Can the people who elected Phoolan Devi to Parliament now be surprised if she goes on taking the law into her own hands? People must thank their stars it was only a train that she hijacked.

Will things get any better? Consider what Piloo Mody wrote more than fifteen years ago: 'Look at the picture of India. Does it inspire any confidence? Does it show that there is a government in this country?..... There is no order, there is no government, there is no leadership, there is no prime minister. Various territories have been captured by the local mafia, operating their rackets and holding the populace to ransom with arbitrary law and no justice... Good men sleep, while mob rule reigns in India.'