POLITICAL PRISONERS AND POLITICS IN THE COUNTRY

The judicial system left behind by the British is such that it is highly time consuming and the judges allow any number of adjournments leading to such delays that by the time verdict is announced, people might have forgotten the original case itself.  The joke that normally shared in this regard that my great grand father filed the petition and now I am in my seventies fighting the case and yet to be decided though the original litigants had all died, holds good especially when it comes to a case involving a political person. In a country where it is easy to target a politician and slander him/her with all sorts of allegations, it is seldom a political person is convicted.  If at all s/he is convicted by a court, the political person has enough muscle and money to go to higher courts and extend the lease of life outside. In case of a few political persons the time taken to decide on the case is so long that in the meanwhile they get elected to the legislature and take decisions affecting the common man in various ways.

The disproportionate assets case involving the former chief minister of TN took almost 25 years before a verdict could be pronounced.  Even after the verdict, the convicts moved the higher court which granted them freedom by setting aside the order of the lower court.  The government had to move the highest court to get the order of the high court vacated. In the entire time period and the judicial process she was elected a legislator thrice and became Chief Minister five times (once after getting acquitted by the high court).  The decision taken by her during the pendency of the case in the lower court and later the appeal by the government in the highest court of the land, might have serious implications to the common man. 

If that is the case of the former CM of TN, the case of the former CM of Bihar is even more intriguing. He also had been convicted in a corruption case as in the case of the former CM of Tamilnadu. He is out on bail as the court has decided that as long as the appeal is not decided, his personal liberty should not be affected.  While in the case of a political prisoner or a convict such rules are enforced immediately by the courts, there are lakhs of under-trials and convicts who are waiting for the case to come up for verdict, or their appeals to be decided upon, languishing in the prisons for want of bail.  Why the learned courts do not apply the same logic of personal liberty in all such cases and allow bail to all these people whose cases have not been heard or whose appeals are pending in higher courts? Why be selective in applying this logic only in cases involving high and mighty?

The former CM of Bihar is calling for a coalition to fight the BJP in the forthcoming elections and a rally is organized in Patna.  The former CM and his son the former Dy. CM both claim a huge crowd of about 3 million people attended the rally and the public meeting.  The former CM calls on all the leaders of major political parties aligned against the ruling clique and insisting on formation of the coalition.  The media goes overboard in giving him lot of coverage and gets a sound byte from him on any national issue.  

In the case of Tamilnadu, the ministers were queueing up outside the prison to take the orders from the former Chief Minister while she was in prison for a short term until the verdict was overturned by the high court. Now also, for a short term the ministers and elected legislators were making a beeline to the prison in Bengaluru to meet the self anointed general secretary of the party and get directions from her once the former CM died and the highest court upheld the verdict of the lower court and overturned the order of the high court.  The money and muscle power of these political prisoners is far reaching that they live a royal life while in prison.  A comparison with the convicted son of the Haryana's former minister in a murder case is not odious.  It is reported that the former minister got a hotel constructed just near the prison where his son could spend time  while out of jail on some or other pretext.  In case of another high profile case, an actor was given parole far in excess of his eligibility and the time spent in the prison had become sort of a picnic for him.

These political prisoners either out on bail or even inside the prison, they had been and continue to pull the strings to determine the course of the nation politically.  If the BJP had not had enough seats to form a government on its own in 2014, the coalition compulsions would have made the party not much of a different one from that of the earlier dispensation or that of the times of ABV.  It is the nation's good fortune that in 2014 the BJP got the required number of seats to form the government on its own.  Still it had to contend with the opposition in the upper house where it does not have the required majority.  In such a scenario, the compulsions of politics leave a lot to be desired and become highly detrimental to the interests of the common man.  What happened during the period 2009-14 does not require recounting to strengthen the above point.  

The governments may come and the governments may go but when it comes to the national interest it would be prudent for all the parties in the country to stand together to provide a untied face to the world. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in the last three years since the present administration took charge.  The opposition parties had been trying to belittle the achievements of the government and project different faces to the world. All the parties both in the government or in opposition will do well to learn a few lessons from the American political parties when it comes to their national interest and providing a bi-partisan view to the world. The actions of the POTUS against the Taliban and the Islamic terrorists post 9/11 had the support of both the Democrats and the Conservatives despite differing political views on many issues.  Here was a case of avenging the attack on America and naturally the bi-partisan outlook of both the parties came to the fore.

 The government had been trying to get all the parties on board to go ahead on various agenda of the government. But each party in the opposition feels that it is not good for a bi-partisan approach even in border disputes.  The recent happenings in DokLa is a pointer, when the VP of the GOP the main opposition party went and met the Chinese Envoy surreptitiously, denied such a meeting took place and later grudgingly accepted the fact.  The leftists as usual, over looking the security implications, sounded that India should not enter into a dispute between Bhutan and China, least understanding the border disputes between India and China in that area.  Even assuming that the loyalty of the leftists are always with the communists worldwide and not with the nation, the fact of the GOP going to extremes to justify the surreptitious meeting of their VP with Chinese Envoy is a matter of serious concern.  The opposition parties seem to be abide by the age old dictum that to spite the face cut the nose.  Highly deplorable attitude from the main opposition party on many issues in the last few months .  The role played by the convicts either on bail or in prison in directing the events in individual states or in the national level is another low to which the Indian politics has fallen in the recent times.