Wise and Gutsy after hanging the boots!

Katju, a person of great eminence was on the backfoot in the Times Now debate yesterday. Despite performing a commendable job in highlighting the impropriety committed in granting extension to a tainted high court judge of the Chennai court, the other two panelists were successful in pulling him down over the issue of his remaining mum, both while he was in active assignment and also for the over two years that elapsed since he hung up his boots.

His defense that he could not have gone beyond a point in expressing his resentment over the grave impropriety being committed right under his nose by the supreme authorities of the land obviously does not cut much ice. That his hands were tied by the compulsions of being an active judge and therefore not able to resist the mischievous actions of those in power is an argument that we often hear, especially from the bureaucrats who on similar lines grow wise and gutsy after retirement.

Is this, the conventional approach of being silent partners in crime the right course of action I wonder? Is permitting without a whimper, gross cases of misconduct under the garb of remaining within the ambit of the conduct rules applicable to government servants, the ethical way of doing things?

The answer is NO, yet almost all of us with exceptions of the likes of Khemka, Khairnar or Kiran, all with first names starting with the letter K, find it the most convenient and justifiable action that despite the voice of conscience saying otherwise, we absolve ourselves with throughout our lives. Incidentally Katju also belongs to the same variety and that makes me reverent of the alphabet K. 

Silent partners in crime with allegiance to powerful individuals and not to the government or the nation, is what almost all of us in the service of the government have emerged as. Rampant corruption and injustice therefore flourishes right under our noses and we tend to look elsewhere till at times we take a direct hit.

Is it not our duty to be truthful, honest and compassionate and at the same time put our foot down when someone else howsoever powerful he may be fleeces the nation by his misdemeanors. While our conscience that is an integral part of the almighty winces at all such acts, our intellect tempered by the everyday happenings of the society guides us otherwise in the garb of being practical for fear of retribution that may or may not come in the shape of a transfer or a spoiled confidential report. Is it not therefore a case of paying a very high price for avoiding a minor inconvenience?

This lack spine at crucial moments in our service career provides the wherewithal to powerful individuals to carry on with their acts of gross misconduct while at the same time remaining on the right side of the conduct rules framed for the servants of the government. This is the greatest irony of the so called service of the nation.

Any system or structure that regards an expose’ as a much bigger crime than the criminal deed itself would never be able to propel the nation to the league of developed countries. Any organization where the frank and free expression of its constituents is regarded as dissent worthy of grave retribution is bound to wither away with time. The functioning of organizations and states has to have its foundations on pillars of justice, justice that meets the voice of conscience not merely some rules and procedures written in books. Unless this realization dawns on the mandarins of the republic, we would forever remain occupied in a futile search for growth and development. 

The failure of Indian democracy

Today for the first time I felt as if the Indian democratic system has collapsed. The suspension of Durga and the escalation of the political fight over her, not for the cause of justice but for earning brownie points made me sad as never before. Never before, even while witnessing abject poverty, failed governance, rampant corruption and rapid downslide of moral values I regarded them as the failure of the democratic system, yet this single incident crashed the world and hope around us.

I was momentarily transported to those cold wintery days of December 2002 when after having been given the boot from the post of CMD/ITDC, I was reverted unceremoniously to my parent cadre, the railways for having delivered a performance that was regarded as sterling even by my rivals in the hospitality sector. Despite the uproar and the apparent travesty of justice, the government did not budge and went ahead with the sacking even though many in the cabinet expressed their annoyance with the treatment meted out to an officer for turning around a sick public sector organization. Yet the difference remains that apart from the blatantly unfair repatriation, the government did not persecute me like the Durga of today.

The suspension of Durga somehow did not shock me. After all this was what she truly deserved in the India of today, a nation far removed from the ideals that it held close to its heart while aspiring for independence from foreign rule. It is indeed true that the tall personalities who led this nation to freedom would have been unable to visualize the massive drift from human value systems that we are witness to in the present times.

Perhaps our democratic model has been faulty. The social structure that has emerged post independence is bereft of values of any kind and service, despite the piety it evokes has degenerated to service of the self cutting across the bureaucratic and political spectrum throughout the length and breadth of the nation.

Durga Shakti therefore faced the consequences of her action, an action that would have placed her on a very high pedestal had it taken place in a society that places good acts above everything else. Unfortunately the degeneration that picked up pace in the early nineties now runs so deep that far from being considered laudable, such actions have started being regarded as worthy of a severe punishment. Yet the inherent strength of her name and the radiance that her personality exudes makes me confident that her resolve to take on illegal activities regardless of the strength of the powers that (mis)rule would indeed get strengthened with time.

The case of Durga, spurred by the media has caught the imagination of the nation. Yet there would be hundreds of such cases where honest bureaucrats are routinely crushed by dishonest politicos, cutting across party lines. Khairnar was one and Khemka is another. I wonder what would have been the state of affairs had the media not been what it is today.

Sadder still is the race amongst the politicos to adopt a holier than thou attitude in castigating the Uttar Pradesh government, yet following identical norms in territories that they govern. It is also true that the brazenness of the politicos and bureaucrats alike in committing loot or unjust acts is gaining ground in the absence of better alternatives with the electorate. The electoral system is now confined merely to election of the best amongst the worst and this is not what the founding fathers of Indian democracy visualized or what we actually deserve.