Tears for Afzal, Praise for Shinde

Tears for Afzal; Praise for Shinde!

By Prem Chandran

What do you make of India’s media, post Afzal Guru hanging, when they shower praise on home minister Sushilkumar Shinde for his “tough” decision and on those who run the central government for their “dare-devil” act to hang this parliament attack plotter within just 80 days of the hanging of Ajmal Kasab? Eighty days? And what of the seven-year-long vacillation on the part of the political leadership after the Supreme Court ratified the hanging of the man who, to the people of this nation, deserved no sympathy? Or, frankly, what is the integrity of the men who were quick to find fault with the government for acting in ‘haste’, or for not commuting death to lifer, or for not following ‘proper’ procedures in the hanging?

We are into funny times. So funny that a bunch of discredited men and women on “panel discussions” keep testing the patience of TV viewers night after night, arguing for and against, where no argument is called for; and when, in reality, all what it serves is to highlight the ‘super human’ nature of the ‘heroes’ and ‘heroines’ who anchor the shows by way of unending ego trips. If we thought television was a means for us to end the boredom of the day, we were mistaken.

Argument is that Afzal Guru did’t deserve such a harsh punishment as he was not part of the gang that stepped into Parliament premises (with explosives to blow up the building and hold the leadership their hostage); and that he had not been given proper legal defence. Really? India’s august legal institutions are not made up of a bunch of jokers; not yet. The case went through the due process; and the apex court, in its wisdom, ratified the hanging. Rather it did its job. Those who sulked, kept the government on sleeping pills, and thought governance was all about lining their pockets – namely, India’s political leadership – are the ones who failed the people of this nation, tested their patience, and hurt their national dignity. What were they doing in Delhi for seven years is still a question that demands answer.

Afzal Guru, or the Rajiv Gandhi assassins, only symbolizes the ineptness of our leadership; there are hundreds of thousands of examples of how we have a leadership that is failing its people. A Manmohan Singh magic with the economy kept the nation and its people under a spell for the past two decades – after he was brought in as finance minister when disaster struck the economy in the beginning of the 90’s due to bad governance and an outdated economic philosophy. We successfully outlived the global economic downturn for a while, but the ‘magic’ has by now lost its carry-forward power. While the economy raised hopes, greed multiplied; especially of the political class. And, with an inept leadership, which thrived more on show and less on substance, we are in a dark abyss.

We are concerned not just over the fact that national dignity has been compromised with the “seven-year-slumber,” but more importantly over the realization that action is falling short, while institutions fall apart and the centre fails to hold; that loot has become a national pastime; and that evils like crony capitalism are shattering our systems. Pardon Vinod Rai for opening his mouth. Speaking the truth has not been a good trait in a society dominated by bad elements. Why did he, an accountant -- was how the political leadership reacted. Are accountants a lesser breed than politicians?

The CAG, the accountant of all accountants, however, has been among our heroes for a while now, having boldly spilled the beans after a careful examination of the government deals, be it the 2G, the Coal Block, or the sell-out of the national airlines for individual advantage – all at the cost of the national exchequer. And, no doubt, Rai enjoys respect, unlike the balding, barking, boy scouts of Indira Bhavan, who shamelessly defend a discredited leadership.

Vinod Rai hit the bull’s eye when he said, in his speech at the Harvard Kennedy School, that a nation needed to encourage enterprise, and not entrepreneurs selectively – something that has been happening here for ages by way of political patronage involving quid pro quo. New enterprises have cropped up across the nation in the past two decades, taking advantage not just of the economic liberalization and end of the licence raj, but also of the thriving of the black money market. So much so, several of the top-rung establishments have been seen to be places for the political class to dump their ill-gotten money; the money that they took as bribes and commissions for various deals.

There were times when we thought large-scale corruption existed only in defence deals. Today, riff-raffs have turned politics into the most thriving family business of this country. So much so, even at the lowest levels of government, no government employee gets a transfer and posting – his or her due entitlement – unless he or she greased the palms of the political class that handles the ministry. And, these are also the days when the bribe quoted for a bail (a la the mining baron case in Andhra Pradesh) is in the range of a few crores! Who made this skyrocketing possible? Who other than the political class? Sonia Gandhi has seen the flash of beacon lights on vehicles transporting politicians as a bad influence. It was but a symptom of a deeper malady.

Beacon lights are symbolic of the rot that has set in in the nation’s political process, thanks to the free-wheeling culture of corruption and ego pursuits that Sonia's own party, in particular, has spawned; something which gave courage to politicians of various hues to bend the rules and make a mess of established systems.

Why, one might ask, is a Manmohan Singh different from the rest of the political class when it comes to integrity? It goes into his conditioning as an individual, his academic background, his exposure to global institutions like the IMF, and of the intellectual aura that surrounds his persona – all of which keep his skin thin. What of the rabble rousers, the school-dropouts, the musclemen, the show offs, the hand-in-the-honeypot breed, on the other hand; and, in whose hands our national interests are unsafely placed?

Vinod Rai and the likes can keep exposing the filth that envelops India’s administrative system; and the media can scratch the surface, the TV performers can put on many more antics on screen, make heroes and villains out of those who in reality are neither this nor that, and move on to businesses as usual. But, India will remain the same -- as long as its establishments remain under the tight grip of inept and unscrupulous elements who don the political coats; and a change for the better will still be a far cry. -- premcee@gmail.com