What is common between Afzal Guru, Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Davinder Singh Bhullar, three assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and four associates of Veerappan, the slain forest brigand? Their pleas are among a pile of 28 mercy petitions involving 40 persons pending clearance with the President of India.
Unfortunately, even those unfettered by ideological compulsions and political bias have been unable to put their cases in the correct perspective. Psychologists and behavioural science pundits have an inkling of the terrible suffering borne by these convicts. Why must they endure such unbearable anguish for years only due to a delay in decision making? Why can't decisions on their pleas be taken within a fixed time frame of, say, four to six months?
The file on Afzal Guru's petition stayed in cold storage for four years. Those responsible for holding it deserve exemplary punishment. Only a morally bankrupt polity can permit such avoidable cruelty to its prisoners. When bureaucrats become pliant to political bosses at the cost of rules, regulations and moral values, they sow the seeds of a decline in democratic values while making their pay master — the common man — undergo untold hardship. The inability to take decisions stems from the Government's compulsions to weigh each and every act in terms of its electoral import.
At the face of such continued decline and the resulting erosion of ethical standards in public life, even the most die-hard optimist would appear perplexed. The citizen is made to rue lack of adequate governance practically on a daily basis. The education system is no exception. For the last one year, falling standards of quality in educational institutions and failure of regulatory bodies, which exist only for this specific function, to ensure the same have come to fore. The all-pervading corruption in All-India Council of Technical Education, Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India is now public knowledge.
Crimes such as possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income have spread so wide that one is now almost resigned to their occurence. Public sector undertakings have come to be known for colossal wastage of funds on one hand and sharp deterioration in work culture on the other. Air India currently ranks the foremost among them. The top management appears busy in cornering more and more facilities for themselves. The plane crash in Mangalore shocked the entire nation. Apparently, it had little impact on the conscience of the Air India staff who went on a flassh strike even before the identification of the dead bodies was complete and relatives were able to receive them for conducting last rites. Many family members of the victims needed to travel resulting in huge costs to the company. In this particular instance, the ends of justice could be met only if the resulting financial losses to the company are recovered from those who went on strike.
No critique of corruption in political and public life would be complete without a mention of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Mr Shibu Soren. Mr Soren and three other JMM MPs accepted illegal gratification of Rs 3.5 crore in lieu of voting for the P V Narsimha Rao Government during a no-confidence motion in 1993. In the legal battle that ensued, he was saved on technical grounds. Subsequently, Mr Soren became the first Union Minister to have been held guilty of murder. He received a life sentence for the murder of his personal secretary but was acquitted later. He went on to become a Chief Minister, without being a member of the State legislature. Mr Soren has been the darling of the ruling alliance at the Centre and the leading national party tried its best to cling to him in order to remain in power.
What a change from the 1950s when democracy was just taking roots and the values of the freedom struggle still dominated public discourse and the conduct of politicians and officials! The first two decades in independent India drew the attention of the entire world. When the first democratically elected Communist Government took oath of office in Kerala, it reflected a victory of democratic values. Its dismissal in 1959 while it was still enjoying a majority in the Legislative Assembly on the recommendation of the Governor was against the letter and spirit of parliamentary democracy and set an unhealthy precedent. The rot had begun.
The new generation of political leadership does not have the ideological moorings of their predecessors. Not many are ready to swim against the tide. The results lie before us.
