Since the days of Pandit Nehru? When Bombay High Court judge M.C. Chagla, after delivering a judgement favouring the Congress party, joined it to become an MP and then the law minister?
Since Supreme Court justice K.C. Hegde joined the BJP to become an MP? And later became the party’s vice-president and also a speaker in the legislature?
Since Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra became a Congress MP after retiring from the Supreme Court bench?
There is also a current example, of T.N. Chaturvedi, who earlier graced the constitutional post of comptroller and auditor general. He joined the BJP after retirement to become an MP and then the governor of a state.
In British parliamentary practice, the speaker of the House snaps links with any political party after becoming speaker. Subsequently, he may enter Parliament as an unchallenged independent. How far have speakers of the Lok Sabha observed this convention?
One does not know if the present speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, has snapped his ties with the CPI(M). Perhaps Gill’s critics could enlighten us. And didn’t an earlier speaker, Balram Jhakar, once attend a Congress Working Committee meeting even while he was speaker? If one starts digging, one might discover a surprisingly large number of people occupying such posts who entered partisan politics after retirement.
The democratic norm which Gill’s critics refer to is important, and deserves to be upheld. It has been ignored, like many other democratic conventions, in independent India. If the critics want to introduce sweeping democratic norms they should state this. As things are, Gill is only following the practice of his peers. But does that make him blameless?
Of course not! He has caused embarrassment in a manner that his critics underplay. As a seventy-plus veteran and former CEC, Gill accepted a non-cabinet post! Won’t every septuagenarian hang his head in shame?
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
