Daily Post 1393
AMBITION BEYOND CONSTITUTION!
It took three years for 299 stalwarts headed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar who studied the constitutions of around 60 countries and his sheer legal, academic, intellectual visionary brilliance to give us a constitution, which we have proud of. The document laid down the foundation stone of a sovereign republic and also its operations for all times to come. It was drafted by people who had complete faith in democracy and that India would turn out to be it’s finest example, the world has ever seen. It was so easy to follow the constitution and make the dreams of every Indian come true. With a User Manual in your hand, its like a latest tech gadget in a child’s hand.
Was this User Manual read and understood or been left for the likes of Nani Palkhivala to interpret and battle it out in the Supreme Court, while the real practitioners signed on dotted lines of affidavits, parawise remarks et al. The framers of the Constitution would have never believed that even in 2020, the first tenet of the Preamble, Justice, Social, economic and political might look more distant than it was 1947. Decades change, technologies change, brands change, life can change to virtual but nothing else changes. The variety of President’s rule have their own story. From the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery scandal, 1993, to save the minority govt of our Chanakya Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao to the unfolding Gehlot – Pilot saga in Rajasthan has been a sordid political journey.
Power has nowhere been defined in the Indian constitution but that remains the real underplay. The neat demarcation of power remains in the realm of the abstract. The legislators by way of being in the political executive and even otherwise control the wheels of the executive way beyond a power brake. How far is it true or false in the case of Rajasthan remains unknown but the reality is that the JMM model has become the most sought after democratic model in this country. The capability to reinvent over and over again is the variant of creativity and innovation our political practitioners possess. The Anti-Defection Act seems to have been given a burial which the insincere legislatures had themselves mandated.
Petty ambition translating into an official position is both a mockery of human existence and the constitution. How long will the position remain with him is a Billion Dollar Question? It can be as short as a few days. Does the so called parliamentary language limited to the Legislatures? The outpourings of Rajasthan CM for his Deputy, till a few days back speaks very high of the democratic traditions we have built and also the great team they had created to transform Rajasthan to glory. Can the state be left bereft of governance? For the CM to the cabinet to the MLAs, COVID-19 does not exist. Unaware of their own ignorance of law, they have perfected the art of selective application of law and the enforcement agencies. With the High Court also giving enough time to the self created slugfest, the expectation of fair play, responsiveness, transparency and succour for the citizens has all but evaporated.
POWER SLUGFEST HAS PRECEDENCE OVER THE COVID-19 EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.