DOST KHAN
JAMMU: The most powerful lady of Indian politics after Sonia Gandhi is now languishing in jail. Hours before Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jaylalithaa is not now even a Member of Legislative Assembly. This is supremacy of judiciary in the world’s largest democracy that has come of age. This is also the strength of democracy which if practiced in true spirit can humble the most powerful. The phenomenon of sending corrupt behind the bars is not new. We have seen the politicians like Lalu Prasad, A Raja, Kanimonzhi, Suresh Kalamadi and others rehabilitating jails but Jaylalitha is perhaps the one public figure who moves from a red-light vehicle to detunes vehicle in a split second. She was convicted and sentenced to four years jail in an 18-year-old corruption case in a judgment that has set a stage for unseating her from the post, disqualifying her as an MLA.
Watching corrupt getting punished across the country raises a big question in Jammu and Kashmir as to why tainted politicians and bureaucrats remain insulated against any action. The situation is so alarming that some ministers and bureaucrats are cherishing loaves of power despite having been named as accused by the agencies of the government which they preside over.
Jammu and Kashmir is not too big a state where the antecedents of people in public life remain shrouded in mystery. People know about their representatives and also those running the bureaucracy. They know how non-entities have become entities overnight. This has not happened because of their ‘extra-ordinary talent’ or ‘hard work’. They owe their affluence to bad and corrupt practices. Who doesn’t know the poultry farm owners raising mansions or street actors becoming masters of peoples’ destiny in brief period of few years? Those known as today’s elite were just like thousands of those struggling for two meals in every locality, every village, every town and every city. This is not the case only in mainstream politics. The separatists too have made money out of the miseries of those who rehabilitated martyrs’ grave-yards during the past about two and half decades. The law-enforcing agencies and the departments charged with responsibility of detecting economic offenses have always looked to the other side when it comes to a state like Jammu and Kashmir. The so-called ‘freedom movement’ has witnessed ruffians becoming international leaders, small time village preachers settling in cozy city mansions and traveling in sedans and rag pickers turning rich. The ‘freedom movement’ has also seen grave yards getting extensions, happy parents becoming destitute, young children turning orphans and brides becoming widows.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir is unique in many ways; not only because it enjoys a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution of India but more because of the ethics, the code and the morality its political class has been pronouncing and practicing in public life. The present generation of politicians or for that matter their predecessors (of course, with humble apologies to those standing by the civilised norms) may be having different faces but the essence of their (mis)deeds remains identical. They may be at loggerheads when it comes to making to the seat of power, by hook or crook; by entering into alliances more based on conveniences rather than commitments and shifting loyalties, but when it comes to their self-interest, the modus operandi of usurping whatever they can remains the same. Irrespective of their political and ideological diversities they smartly adhere to the common plank of keeping the noose of law away from their necks. The fate of Jammu and Kashmir State Accountability Commission (SAC) is a pointer in this regard. Constituted under Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission Act, 2002, the watchdog body had been conceived to inquire into grievances and allegations against public functionaries and for matters connected therewith. The people of this State have witnessed how politicians of all hues have taken extra pain in rendering it defunct. The commission had taken off on a promising note when established. It had made very strong recommendations to the Jammu and Kashmir Government against 50 politicians and top bureaucrats but no action was taken. Reportedly 14 senior politicians are facing very serious charges of corruption and misuse of their power.
In a first case of its kind, the commission had held on 30th March 2007 a ruling People’s Democratic Party MLA guilty of taking bribe from his own partymen and asked the then Governor to initiate action against him. The MLA was charged with taking Rs 60,000 for arranging jobs for his son and son-in-law. Similarly, the commission is reported to have made recommendations against some present and the former ministers. But this was nobody’s concern. In fact, some of those who took pride in reviving the commission went to other side of the fence by questioning its jurisdiction over taking suo-motto cognisance against the corrupt. This was an indicator of the prejudice the politicians have against any such institution which makes them accountable. The criminal silence or connivance of those running the affairs of the state with law breakers has given people a reason to believe that politicians of one salt or the other always remain hand in glove to save their skins.
Jammu and Kashmir is living up with the stigma of being the second most corrupt state in the country. The people know about the politicians having amassed huge assets by misuse of their power. They only wait for the time when the corrupt will meet the fate of J. Jaylalitha, Lalu Prasad Yadav, A Raja, Suresh Kalmadi, Rasheed Masood Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and their likes. Will it ever happen?
