This morning we witnessed in Delhi the arrest of Anna Hazare, who was all set to go on a fast to get an effective Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the Parliament. The intention of the government was to foil Anna's movement under the avowed duty of a government to ensure law and order. However, what the arrest of Anna, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others meant was a death - knell to Parliamentary Democracy. Therefore, as in 1975 when Indira Gandhi declared Emergency, the people of India should decide today whether we should be governed by Parliamentary dictatorship or Parliamentary democracy.

The seeds of human rights like right to life, liberty, equality and good governance without corruption is indeed embedded in a person's right to free speech and free movement. This morning, these seeds of human rights were crushed by the Parliamentary Dictatorship in the name of law and order. That too when there was no break - down of law and order and when it was a peaceful protest.

Right to protest is our Constitutional right. If it were not to be there, then India would have been a communist or a totalitarian country. The bed - rock of a Constitutional democracy is the right to protest and not the right to wage a war against the country. And Anna Hazare and his followers were neither waging a war nor creating a law and order problem. Already he had given a call to his followers not to indulge in violence, whatever the provocation, but to go to jail. Then, why rob the right of our citizens to protest?

The present Sarkari Lokpal Bill is a mockery. It is a medicine worse than the disease. The Congress spokespersons are never tired of saying that the Bill is no longer with the government and it is in the Parliament. Therefore, wait. The elected representatives, in their collective wisdom, will decide the final text and shape of the Bill, thereby suggesting even the opposition would be involved in passing the Bill. Only a moron will accept this argument of the Congress spokespersons. In a parliamentary democracy it is the majority, no matter how cogent and convincing the arguments of the opposition are, that carries the Bill. Therefore, here too, at the end of the day since UPA has a majority in the House, it is the government's Lokpal Bill that will be passed in the form the government wants. Hence the apprehension and protest.

There is another lopsided argument put forward by the Congress spokespersons. In a democracy, Parliament is supreme. Once elected, you the “Aam Admi” shut your mouth. If you want, contest the next election and enter the Parliament. Well, it was with this kind of perverse logic in 1975 that Emergency was declared. Sadly Supreme Court also gave its seal of approval.

We have elected our Parliamentarians not as our masters, but as our servants. If the word servant is abhorring, then call them as our representatives. Certainly not as dictators for five years to run rough - shod over our life, liberty and aspirations. Here in the present case, our aspiration is to tackle the canker of corruption that is eating into the very fibre of our society at every level — political, bureaucratic, defence and industry. This evil of corruption has now crossed its threshold limit and if continued unabated, corruption would be the cause for the downfall of our democracy. Roman Empire fell because of rampant corruption and profligate life of the rulers. In the recent history, corruption was among the causes for the fall of Soviet Union and in some other countries government alternated between dictatorship and democracy. In some cases it led to Balkanisation of the nations. We are warned. The Gujarat Chief Minister had discovered such straws in the wind already and has warned the Centre.

That government is doomed, which does not respond to the aspirations of its people. To ensure that this does not happen the elected representatives, the MPs, should go back to their constituencies, address the people as they did while begging for votes, and then come back to Parliament and inform the government and the Parliament accordingly; not turn insensitive to the hopes and aspirations of the people. Sadly, this is not happening in our Parliamentary democracy. Getting elected [no matter with fair or foul means] does not mean getting a carte - blanche licence to pass laws as the government pleases. Let not Congress party repeat its mistake of 1975.

If Anna Hazare's fast for a cause is wrong, then Mahatma Gandhi was wrong. But the foreign ruler allowed Gandhiji this right, though there was no democracy. What an irony.

Let us remember today Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who on Jan. 26, 1950 said that, "If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. Not to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert this institution. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul, but in politics, Bhakti or hero - worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship."

Alas, today we are witness to many of our institutions, considered sacrosanct, being subverted subtly or blatantly as apprehended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Was he prophetic when he said this?

By K. B. Ganapathy
Editor in Chief
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
Courtesy: Star of Mysore