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Ram Jethmalani is a senior politician and eminent lawyer.
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Rashtrapati Bhavan is too sacred a place for issuing statements such as ‘endemic protest may lead to chaos’.
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Pranab Mukherjee at the Amar Jawan Jyoti on the 66th Independence Day at the India Gate in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI
nna Hazare may have disbanded his team of close comrades whose
guidance and help were available to him ever since he decided that a
strong Lokpal is one of the most urgent solutions for the ubiquitous
political and bureaucratic corruption prevailing in our country. His
sudden decision did intrigue me, as it must have intrigued many others
too. I do not believe that he did it like a whimsical dictator. The
disbanded team must have so decided with his complete concurrence. Soon,
I am sure, the rationale will surface, but there is nothing to be
dismayed by it. Anna has quickened the national conscience and made the
people of this country aware of the root cause of poverty, destitution,
disease and crime that make the life of at least half our population
hell on earth. The silent sufferers will speak in 2014, if not earlier,
and will expel the looters occupying the lush and lucrative seats of
power and send them where they deserve to be — I mean inside the not so
enjoyable jails of India.
Swami Ramdev and his countless admirers and supporters have already taken up the mantle from the disbanded Team Anna. Their high tension energy reflects the undiminished anger of the people of India against relentless corruption and a remorseless government. I hope the happenings of the last few days at Ramlila Maidan and Ambedkar Stadium are not wholly lost on the Sonia, Rahul, Pranab, Manmohan foursome. The fire will spread to every nook and corner of the country and scorch all poisonous predators that fall in its way. Former Army Chief, General V.K. Singh has lent his support and threatened tough action if immediate steps are not taken to check corruption. "Ex-servicemen should come forward and take over the mantle," he pleaded. He compared the government with real estate agents acquiring land for wealthy corporates, while farmers are committing suicide in large numbers. It is ironic that Indian Express was worried only about long traffic snarls caused by Ramdev and his supporters choking the city roads. Even the Supreme Court has recognised that public roads are legitimate areas for political processions and even meetings in poor India. Poor people cannot buy accommodation in five star hotels. What causes anguish and anger is the Independence Day response of the Honourable President of India. Pontificating from the inaccessible altitude of Rashtrapati Bhavan, he uttered what he must have imagined to be "a rarest gem of purest ray serene" his following piece of advice: "People have the right to express their discontent, but you cannot take away legislation from Parliament and justice from the Judiciary. When protest becomes endemic we are flirting with chaos." Mr President, I had thought that you would show some humility expected of you after your elevation, and refrain from making partisan, provocative and non sequitur statements of this kind, as if you were still the Leader of the House. You compel me to examine the wisdom and truth of your statement. But I regret that I do not see much of either. If there are endemic protests, it indicates that there is something seriously wrong with your governance that should be urgently addressed. Simply shooting messengers by saying they are creating chaos is not a solution — something that has been proved quite universally, over the last few centuries. May I request you to please recapitulate how the anti-corruption movement has grown in India. It is not Baba Ramdev, but the UPA government that created the black money scandal. Please recall how attempts to have a meaningful discussion on the subject in Parliament were frustrated. Everyone is aware of how the Lokpal Bill was sabotaged in the Rajya Sabha, during debate one late evening. When I narrated some inconvenient facts that have never been denied, the proceedings were interrupted, and after secret parleys the House was adjourned. The repatriation of Indian wealth stashed in tax havens abroad is the national duty of all stakeholders, but particularly of the ruling government, of which you were a prominent member and the relevant minister. You and your government deliberately and dishonestly reneged on that duty. It is a fair inference from this conduct that this was done to protect those who are controlling the government. The only way the government can rebut the almost conclusive evidence of its guilt is to open up for public inspection the evidence oral and documentary of any steps it has taken in the direction of repatriating black money laundered abroad. I will be able to prove to any impartial tribunal that every step that government has taken is clearly intended to make the task more and more difficult, if not impossible. Government has paralysed Parliament by its perfidy with complete cooperation of its sycophantic friends. No honest man can blame Hazare or Ramdev or any of their supporters for having destroyed the principal institution of democracy. It is the UPA government of which you were an important member, the trouble shooter, to put it precisely, that has destroyed it. When Parliament stubbornly refuses to legislate for public good, particularly of an issue pertaining to economic terrorism of such a humongous scale, the demise of democracy commences, and people are left with no alternative except protest. Now let me turn to the judiciary. It is true that Hazare and Ramdev have not knocked at the doors of the judiciary. But I have, along with a small group calling itself "Citizen India". We narrated to the Supreme Court the story of our frustration and the government's deceit and obstructionism. The court delivered its judgment on 4 July 2011. Most people may not have read it, because the loyal mainstream media did not find it important or relevant enough to publicise its damning conclusions to the people of India. Any government possessed of minimal democratic values and an iota of shame would have resigned. But this government cannot even claim to fulfil these minimal criteria. The conduct of your government and the finance ministry headed by you after the judgment was atrocious. But in a way, it confirmed all that had been published before. Let me start by referring to the prestigious Swiss magazine Schweitzer Illustrate, which soon after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi included him in the list of 14 international thugs with a secret bank balance of more than $2 billion. Following this, the Russian book KGB State Within a State carries this at page 223: "A letter signed by Viktor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as head of the KGB in 1982, noted: 'The USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi [of India]... R. Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for benefits accruing to the Prime Minister's family from the commercial dealings of an Indian firm he controls in cooperation with Soviet foreign trade organisations. R. Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R. Gandhi." These publications have never been contradicted. Coupled with other circumstantial evidence, the corruption of la famiglia reale of India, that holds the Congress party in its vicious grip, is more than what lawyers call "grave suspicion" enough for framing of charges in a criminal trial. By contemptuously refusing to comply with the Supreme Court orders with no stay obtained, the grave suspicion is now irrefutable and conclusive. To be continued... Source: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/an-unsolicited-advice-to-the-president-2 |
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