The bad news is that there seems to
be no end to the plundering of India.
Sign any deal, there is kickback. Auction any resource, there is quid
pro quo. Spot any stretch of land, there
is hanky-panky. Worse, where there is
hanky-panky, there are namby-pamby ministers grovelling to justify it. Two gems came up last week. As scandals
swirled around the nation's son-in-law, Salman Khurshid said : “Sonia is my
leader and I would defend her till my last breath”. Jayanti Natarajan said:
“Sonia is our president and we are ready to give up our lives for her”. We knew
that life was cheap in India. But this cheap?
The good news is that The First Family (sic) is being directly named and
charged. This was overdue. It was anomalous that a family enjoyed powers to
take decisions affecting the lives and
fortunes of the people and yet a conspiracy of silence was built around it. The otherwise unstoppable television channels
asked no questions. Even the BJP, ever alert to attacking the Congress, turned
deferential before The Family.
The Congress justified everything in
the name of privacy. But those who exercise
power have their right to privacy limited by the imperatives of
democracy. Today A. B. Vajpayee has full
right to privacy; his physical
condition must be bad, but that is not the public's business. However, when
Vajpayee as Prime Minister had to undergo knee surgery, his right to privacy
was superceded by the people's right to
know how he would take the strain while
still heading the Government. Vajpayee and his Government respected the
people's right and information was provided including details about the surgeon
attending on him.
By contrast, the people do not know
to this day what exactly is Sonia Gandhi's illness, what treatment she
underwent and what the medical prognosis is. People do not know when she is in India and when she is not. Privacy
considerations can in no way cover these issues as long as she wields power
exceeding the power of the prime minister.
The right to privacy completely
vanishes when it is used to do what ordinary citizens cannot do under law.
Ordinary citizens who are not natives of Himachal Pradesh cannot buy land in
that state. Priyanka Gandhi broke that law with assistance from both Congress
and BJP governments; see how enemies unite to serve The Family. Ordinary
companies with a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh cannot get an overdraft of Rs 7.9
crore from a nationalised bank. Robert Vadra
got that and several other facilities
for his companies. The Government has no responsibility to look into
these matters? The people have no right to know the truth?
A surprised nation learned that
Robert Vadra enjoyed exemption from checking at the country's airports. An
official explained – whether truthfully or not,
we do not know – that the
exemption applied only when he was accompanied by a person entitled to Black Cat security, no doubt a reference
to his wife. No one objects to the lady having all the protection she needs.
But why was no such consideration extended to Lt. Gen. K. S. Brar despite seven
assassination attempts on him for his services to the country? (The London attempt was the eighth).
It's obvious: The Family's members
are more equal than all others. The belief is widespread that they enjoy
prerogatives not compatible with democracy, and that these prerogatives are
often used for self-aggrandisement. Congress leaders make it worse by saying
that Vadra is a private individual and therefore his business activities do not
call for any inquiry. That is like saying that suspicious transactions are beyond the purview of the
state as long as they are carried out by private citizens. Then why was Hasan
Ali Khan investigated?