DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI analyses the situation in which corruption is ruling the roost and how the Congress-led dispensation, one after another, has been deferring any anti-corruption measure.
The Congress and the Congress-led UPA dispensation will have to unlearn from experience. The current image of the Congress is that of a status quoist. It is fast damaging its credibility. And the irony is that it insists upon its policies which are on the verge of rejection by the civil society, which wants a deep burial of corruption. But the Congress spokesperson, Ms Jyanti Natrajan does not miss any opportunity to degrade the learned of the civil society who are drafting and are helping in drafting a comprehensive bill on the subject in cooperation with the Government representatives.
It should be recalled that for the last 42 years, the Lokpal Bill has been hanging fire in Parliament. Its resolution has been postponed under one alibi or the other, while most of the time the Congress has been in power at the Centre during the last over six decades. In the meantime, corruption has increased in the country. Today Bharat is the fourth most corrupt country in the world.
DISGUSTED AND ANGRY
The masses, the electorate, the taxpayer, in brief, each and every citizen is disgusted and angry at the rampant dishonesty, cheating and swindling. What is adding fuel to the fire is the ever rising curve of crime and prices. There is marked unrest in each and every stratum of the plural society. That is why dubious characters are turning into leaders. It is simply because they articulate the key issues affecting all and sundry.
Lack of sensitivity and seriousness are speedily tarnishing the Congress face. How did Manmohan Singh feel when a cynic, Sunil Kumar, owing allegiance to Baba Ramdev, waved a brand new shoe at the Congress front ranker, Mr. Janardhan Dwivedi?
VISION AND COMMON SENSE
Another problem of the Congress is lack of vision rather common sense. Instead of fretting and fuming at our allegation, just think about the level of IQ who advised the Prime Minister to send five powerful ministers to the airport to greet the half-naked yoga guru? Did he and the emissaries add to the glory of the Congress by their questionable rather foolish act?
Secondly, by this gesture what impression the party wanted to convey at the national level? What political or administrative gains the Congress expected from the midnight sweep upon the sleeping men, women and children and the elderly?
Add to it the tissue of lies like: the yoga guru’s life was under threat and a Gujarat-like situation was likely to emerge. How did the Prime Minister feel when the highest palladium of justice, the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the inexplicable night attack on the unarmed gathering? The National Human Rights Commission also took notice of the deplorable event. The uncalled for police action shows UPA’s political bankruptcy alone. Simultaneously, this action did not add any feather to the Prime Minister’s cap when he maintained that there was no alternative.
RESPECTIVE STANDPOINTS
The current tiff between the civil society representatives and those of the Government is on bringing the Prime Minister, Members of Parliament and the Apex Court judges under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill.
The view of the principal minority of India, as far as crimes are concerned, is that there should be no differentiation between the criminals. The high-ups do not deserve exceptional treatment simply because they are educated, respectable and influential. In the dispensation of justice the high and the low do not count. Punishment should be the same for both. The Head of the State or the Head of the Government, the Chief Justice and the proverbial Daridranarayan stand shoulder to shoulder if they commit any act of crime. In Islam the Caliph is not above law. So is the case of Qadhi or other high-ups.
HAZARE VS. RAMDEV
Mr. Anna Hazare, in the very beginning, refused to play the ball set in motion by the Saffron. He politely asked them his bhagua admirers not to sit on the dais. It is obvious he had seen through the RSS game to use him for their own game to somehow or the other come to power. But Yogi Ramdev, who was eager to join politics, fell an easy prey to the Hindutva brigade. It is alleged that the Saffron finances were behind the Ramlila Ground show. The 5-star pandal could not escape popular attention. Add to it the yoga guru’s announcement to create a youth army to help him catapult to power. Is it the way to bring back the black money and eliminate corruption? He owes to the nation a cogent reply.
LOKPAL: A WATCHDOG
We are of the firm view that even an ideal, perfect Lokpal Bill or Act would not succeed in removing corruption from the surface of the soil. The fatal flaw of such acts lies in their very nature. They seek to punish the offender. They do not seek to reform him or bring out his noble qualities.
Let us first reiterate that the Lokpal is a watchdog to check corruption in society. The other similar watchdogs are the Central Vigilance Commission, the Election Commission, the Legislatures and the Judiciary. Some lesser watchdogs are our Intelligence Agencies and other regulatory bodies. Are these Lokpal bodies free from public allegations and too-visible blemishes on their face? One more Lokpal would be added to the list. And when it would be formulated by the civil and Government representatives, lacunae are bound to creep in or are bound to be left therein to wriggle out of the muddy. Just recall that defection has in law been banned. But in reality are the political loyalties not being changed by the Aya Rams and Gaya Rams? The truth is this is what that makes politics a dirty game, lacking in nobility and basic morality.
To the utter dismay of the nation and the Government, Illegality is playing havoc with our national character. Illegality is zealously cooperating with the black money. They work hand in hand. Both help sustain each other. Without illegality, black money cannot work. Recall how many historic steps had been taken to eliminate corruption; Haldar Committee was set up in 1956, the Santhanam Committee in 1964, the Vanchoo Committee in 1971, the Dagli Committee in 1970, the NIPPP Committee in 1985 and the Kelkar Committee in 2002. There are also Reports of Estimates Committee, the Comptroller and Auditor General of the Public Accounts Committee. The point is why the recommendations of these committees were not implemented. Is it also not a case that frequently happens after the recommendations of the judicial enquiries set up after big communal conflagrations? Perhaps that is the only “legal way of subversion” of the system. That is why the murky situation refuses to be altered.
At individual level, change sprouts from within. Our system has been blunted by ourselves. Our conscience does not feel pricked when we deliberately ignore its call. So is the case with the leadership which only bamboozles the public through committees and does not implement their recommendations.
DIVINE LAW GUARANTEES CHANGE
It is the Divine Law in the form of the Qur’ān and the Holy Traditions that does change the situation. But you can subvert it if you are hypocrite of first waters. The Christians and the Jews did not care for the purity of their scripture. Therefore now no Jew or Christian can claim that the New Testament, the Old Testament, the Talmud are original and untempered. The Holy Qur’ān is the only Book that can and does claim to be pristine pure, free from any editing of any sort.
Below we give a few examples how these two sources of inspiration changed the life. Once a woman belonging to a high, noble family of Madina was caught stealing. Some simple-minded but well-intentioned people thought that the Last Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) should be persuaded through any person closer to him to overlook the case. The enraged Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) retorted: If Muhammad’s daughter Fatima had committed this crime, her hand too would have been severed.
Another example: Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz was busy in his office when his tiny tout son barged in and picked an apple from the big basket overflowing with the fruit. The Caliph snatched the apple from the hands of the naughty son who, weeping went into the house and protested to his mother. When the Caliph went in the house, the mother protested to which the Caliph coolly replied: those apples belonged to the Baitul Maal. If you want an apple for our son, I am going to fetch one.
Another instance: the Second Caliph, Umar bin Al-Khattab was, in the dead of night, making rounds of the city as a part of night vigil. He heard the advice of a mother:
Mother: Rise up daughter, rise up and add water to the milk!
Daughter: Mom! It is a sin. The Ameerul Mumineen has issued a proclamation that no one would adulterate milk with water!
Mother: (raising her voice) Where is Ameerul Mumineen here? Rise up. Be quick and add water to the milk!
Daughter: Mom! May be the Ameerul Mumineen is not here but Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is very much here.
Yet another case: The same Second Caliph, also known for his height was about to deliver a speech in the Masjid-e-Nabavi.
Listen, he said:
A Bedouin, perhaps, raising his voice said: We will neither listen nor obey you till you explain to our satisfaction wherefrom you got two sheets of cloth of which you are putting on this shirt. Only one sheet of cloth had been given to every one of us from the exchequer. For a tall person like you one sheet would not have been sufficient. How your long shirt was made?
The Caliph coolly pointed towards his son and said he would explain the point.
The Caliph’s son stood up before the audience, saying the sheet of cloth that he had received from the Baitul Maal was given to his revered father by him, so that he (the Caliph) could make his shirt.
The questioner, who had raised the issue, stood up and respectfully submitted: Now we will listen to you and will obey you.
Can the Lokpal Act do this? A moment to pause and ponder over the ground reality.