The Dividing Line

In the battle between two of the three pillars of our democracy, it is not useful to take sides. The Chief Justice of India believes the tension between the two pillars is "natural", even "desirable". Meanwhile, I don't think we've heard the last of the clamour for the taming of the judiciary, especially its tendency to reject legislation passed by our elected representatives. However, I can tell you who is going to lose the battle if hostilities get out of hand. It's the netas, because for all its misdemeanours, the judiciary has public support. And the politicians manifestly do not.

Civil society frequently turns to the courts when politicians turn deaf. We in the media, too, increasingly work with the judiciary to get 'justice' for the crooks in khadi. Without the pressure of the courts, our political class would never have agreed to declare their assets. Of course, all judges are not angels. Alas, public opinion is firmly on their side. A necessary caveat here: the goodwill the judiciary enjoys is being steadily eroded due to the absence of a credible mechanism to punish corrupt judges. To that extent, the clock is ticking against the judiciary. One of the prerequisites needed to run a democracy is that rare thing called common sense. Both sides must realise that there are no winners in this battle. It is a lose-lose situation for our democracy if full-scale war is declared. Best for both sides to take a deep breath and withdraw to their respective barricades.