Last week, retired chief justice J.S. Verma said in an interview to the Times of India: "I have from the beginning maintained that in a democracy everyone should be accountable." He also said: "I have never been under any pressure in my entire legal and judicial career."
During the Jain hawala case, he told the open court that he was being pressured on the case but would not succumb. Despite prodding he never disclosed the identity of the person who sought to subvert justice by exerting such pressure. Thereby, did not Verma himself abet a crime?
Last week, the Samajwadi Party released a video cassette in which Mayawati urged her mlas to divert government funds to her party. Mayawati claimed the cassette was doctored and that she was quoted out of context. Whatever the context, her remarks were self-incriminating.
In retaliation, Mayawati launched an inquiry into Mulayam Singh's alleged corruption during his tenure as CM. Why was the probe against Mulayam Singh ordered only after he produced the cassette? Similarly Raja Bhaiya, an mla, was arrested under pota only after he opposed Mayawati. Is this rule of law? Or is law an instrument for personal vendetta? Perhaps the entire political class is criminal. But wrongdoers are punished only if they oppose the leadership. They are protected if they support it. Ask Bangaru Laxman who got on Advani's wrong side!
The deputy prime minister said in Parliament that the Mayawati cassette could be discussed in the state assembly, not in Parliament. Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said he would resign rather than infringe on a state legislature's autonomy. Parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that when Mayawati made her remarks she was an MP, not the CM. This is absurdity compounded. If an ex-MP urged diversion of central funds sanctioned by Parliament, it becomes indubitably a subject for Parliament.
Such examples abound. But media avoids pursuing awkward questions. It lacks a passion for the truth. We are each living a small lie. Together we have made India into a Big Lie. One day the truth will explode in our faces.
The public is agape
As it views each tape!
We want to ape the West
But it's democracy we rape!
