Justice Markandey Katju on Election Fairness, Political Double Standards and the Limits of Electoral Democracy in India
Justice Markandey Katju responds to Kapil Sibal’s concerns over election fairness, examines the Congress’s political record, and questions whether elections improve the lives of ordinary Indians.
The plaintive lament of Kapil Sibal
By Justice Markandey Katju
In a recent press conference, my friend Kapil Sibal, MP, senior advocate, Supreme Court, and former Union Minister, lamented over the lack of fairness in Indian elections. emphasising what he called 'the illegal functioning of the Election Commission'.
In this connection, I wish to say two things.
1. Firstly, there is an adage ''All is fair in love and war''. Politics and elections are a kind of war, so everything is permissible there.
One may recollect the Mahabharata War. Before the war started, the leaders of both sides sat together and made certain rules of warfare e.g. a foot soldier can only fight another foot soldier, a man on a horse can only fight another man on a horse, there would be no blows struck below the navel, no attack on unarmed persons, no fighting after sunset, etc.
But during the Mahabharata war all these rules were broken one by one, just like the rules of war in the Geneva Convention were flagrantly violated by Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
The same happens in Indian politics and elections.
I may remind Kapil that his own former party, the Congress, was in power for decades after Independence. And how did it behave ?
Jawaharlal Nehru no doubt did not rig elections or do any election or political malpractice, but he did not have to. Under his leadership, Congress kept winning elections because of its prestige and reputation of having led India's Independence struggle.
However, this prestige and reputation could not last forever, and his later successor Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977, and then again from 1980 to 1984, realised this. Hence, she became the master of 'realpolitik ', i.e. winning elections using every 'saam,daam,dand, bhed'.
In the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, she coined the slogan,'' Gharibi hatao '' which befooled the Indian people, who thought that with her victory India's massive poverty would end. The result was her landslide victory.
However, thereafter several forces grouped together and started a civil disobedience movement under the veteran leader, Jayaprakash Narayan, called 'Sampoorna Kranti ', i.e.Total Revolution.
When the Allahabad High Court declared Indira Gandhi guilty of corrupt practices in elections on 12th June 1975 and debarred her from contesting elections for 6 years, she refused to accept the verdict, got it reversed by a compliant Supreme Court bench, and imposed a fake Emergency on 25th June 1975 on the ground of internal disturbance. She jailed all important political leaders, muzzled Parliament and the press, curtailed civil liberties and ushered in a totalitarian regime. A servile Supreme Court kowtowed before her by delivering the infamous MISA judgment ( ADM Jabalpur vs Shiva Kant Shukla ).
During her tenure as Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi did all kinds of political misdeeds. For instance, she got sacked, through her servile Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Ramlal, the popularly elected Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, as he was proving to be too independent for her liking. She got the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhajan Lal and almost all MLAs of the ruling Janta Party in Haryana to defect en masse to the Congress.
When Narsimha Rao was Prime Minister, and the Congress did not have a majority in the Lok Sabha, he gave a bribe to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren to get his support to win a vote of confidence
As regards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's UPA government, scam followed scam, e.g. coalgate scam, 2G scam, CWG scam, chopper scam, Tata truck scam, cash for vote scam, etc
As for rigging elections, the Congress did not lag behind, and left no stone unturned. For instance, the J&K state assembly elections were frequently rigged, e.g. the 1987 elections
So what is Kapil complaining so vociferously about? Why did he not mention in his press conference the misdeeds which the Congress did when in power? Surely, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
2. Secondly, as I have repeatedly said, the test of every political activity and political system is one, and only one: does it raise the standard of living of the people? Does it give people better lives?
When we examine the matter from this perspective, it becomes clear that whether there is rigging or not is irrelevant. Even if there is no rigging, how will that give better lives to the people? Our politicians, of all parties, only seek power and pelf, with scant regard for the people's welfare. So whichever party comes to power, its leaders will soon start enjoying the fruits of office, and care two hoots for the people's welfare, as I explained in an interview :
My own opinion is that elections are irrelevant in India.
Whoever wins, it will make no substantial improvement in the lives of the people--massive poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition ( every second Indian child is malnourished, according to the Global Hunger Index ), skyrocketing prices of food and other essential commodities, lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc will continue as before, or get worse.
One is reminded of the slave girl Manthara's statement to Queen Kaikeyi in the Ramcharitmanas when the question arose: who should be the next King of Ayodhya after Raja Dashrath's death, Ram or Bharat?
"Koi nrip hoye hamein ka haani
Cheri chaand ki hoib rani "
i.e.
"How does it matter to me who will be the king?
Will I be anything but a slave? "
So the people of India are like Manthara; it will make no difference in their lives, and no improvement in their wretched condition, whether there is rigging in elections or not, and whoever is in power
People of India must realise the truth, that elections only result in change of leaders, who only seek power and pelf for themselves or their kith and kin on coming to power, but will not do anything which radically improves the people's lives.
History: It is only by a mighty, united protracted people's struggle, led by genuinely patriotic, selfless, modern-minded leaders, culminating in a historical people's revolution, and the setting up of a political and social order under which there is rapid industrialisation and a steady rise in the standard of living of the people, who start getting decent lives, that there will be a substantial transformation of India.
(Justice Katju is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
