The Hindu : Making politicians accountable

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 07, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Making politicians accountable

IRRESPECTIVE OF THE background and the alleged motives of the Congress Government in Punjab in initiating corruption cases against the former Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, there is no cause for any form of Central intervention on this issue as demanded by the Opposition parties, Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP. In defending Mr. Badal and deriding the actions of the Amarinder Singh Government, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, who is in charge of the Home portfolio, has clearly sent out wrong signals to the investigating agencies in the State. Even if Mr. Advani was not seeking to influence the investigation into the cases as alleged by the Congress, he seemed to have prejudged the issue by his public declaration of support to Mr. Badal. Although investigation of the cases was yet to reach a conclusive stage, Mr. Advani, apparently acting on alliance compulsions, painted the entire exercise in political colours. Mr. Badal, for his part, publicly claimed he was under pressure to pull out of the BJP-led NDA.

While it is possible that the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, had had his political reasons for going after Mr. Badal, there was no prima facie evidence of any violation of the procedure established by law in the handling of cases. Indeed, contrary to the standard political vendetta procedure of following up the filing of corruption cases with sudden arrests, Mr. Singh took the decent step of assuring Mr. Badal that there would be no pre-trial detention. Too often, in politically sensitive cases, arrests are used as a mode of punishment without trial. Surely, there can be no reasonable argument against the stand of Mr. Singh that Mr. Badal, while not having to suffer arrest, will have to clear himself of the charges in court.

But the larger issue thrown up by the Badal episode is the absence of any systemic checks on politicians in power. In the recent past, there have been several instances of politicians out of power being dragged to court in corruption cases. Chief Ministers and Ministers who enjoyed untrammelled power while in office were made accountable immediately after they were voted out. Evidently, the very laws and investigating agencies that enable the arrest of politicians out of power on charges of corruption are helpless in checking politicians in power from indulging in corruption. Inevitably, the `hounding' of Opposition politicians often appears like witch-hunting, frequently generating sympathy for the hounded. In such a situation, the imperative is to put in place an effective system of checks and balances to prevent ruling politicians from wielding unfettered power. The much-delayed Lok Pal regime, when it is put in place, can be a starting point. An institutional watchdog against corruption essentially means that the corrupt do not have to be electorally defeated to be brought to justice. Another effective anti-corruption step will be persuading or pressuring the political class to drop its resistance to a potent law making declaration of assets mandatory for anyone contesting elected offices. After all, most cases against politicians out of power relate to amassing disproportionate wealth. If tighter laws and institutionalised mechanisms against corruption were put in place, we might see an end to the soap-operatic spectacle of politicians changing places between the Secretariat and the prison.

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