Prima facie, the parliament legislation to automatically remove ministers, including the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers from their posts if they are arrested and incarcerated for up to 30 days, looks well-intentioned. This is claimed to be a part of the government’s drive against corruption and, on a wider scale, against the criminalization of the political process. What adds credence to this legislation – introduced on the last day of the now-ended parliament session– is that a similar law exists in respect of government officials. But, a deeper scrutiny of the Modi government’s record in various aspects would show that it likely has a ‘hidden agenda’ behind this move – namely to target opposition leaders occupying such positions. It is also likely that the Leader of the Opposition, who holds a cabinet rank, too would be facing a similar situation in future.
The context of this legislation – which needs to be put to vote in another session — cannot be lost sight of. It was last year that AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal as the then Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested and jailed in connection with the Delhi Liquor Scam case. Kejriwal ran the government from within his jail cell without tendering his resignation, as no law existed to bar him from this. A similar scenario had occurred in Bihar, when Lalu Prasad Yadava as CM was jailed in the Fodder Scam in 1997. He went on to install his wife Rabri Devi in the chair. Kejriwal too eventually installed a woman leader as the chief minister to take the administrative process forward without hindrance. While these women ruled the states, the ‘super leaders’ did the mentoring/governance from behind bars. In other words, they stretched the limits of political propriety.
It would be an acceptable proposition that laws that are applicable to government officials should also encompass politicians who function as ministers. Once this bill passes into law, it could be applicable to the ministers of the BJP as well. For now, however, it is unlikely that any BJP minister at the Centre or the state could face an arrest for the reason that they are bound to be well-protected at multiple levels by the Modi establishment. No investigation against them could progress in the right direction or end up in an arrest. The central investigating agencies under the NDA dispensation have earned a poor reputation for delaying the investigations on several fronts and failing to nail the corrupt as long as the accused are pro-Modi. The benefit also applies to some top Congress leaders. While the prime minister is not seen to be corrupt, he lacked the will and the determination to rein-in the deeply corrupt. A survival instinct guides him when it comes to taking critical decisions. Generally, he gave a long rope to the investigating agencies led by his own hand-picked officials. Hardly any corrupt leader or bureaucrat has been taken to task under his governance even as corruption is subverting the system as a whole, thereby turning it into a hydra-headed monster.
