“(A) bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse.”
One of the founding fathers of American democracy, Thomas Jefferson said this on December 20, 1787. This was the time when America was struggling to find a balance between the citizens’ rights and the power of the state. And after intense brainstorming for almost four years, it was agreed that the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights to protect citizens from the ruthless march of the state. The Bill of Rights is basically a celebration of the human spirit and endorses that no state, however powerful it might be, should not be allowed to trample over the individual. It is an endorsement that man without equality, liberty and fraternity is everything but a human; no dignified life is possible without these universal values which human civilisation has attained after a long and arduous struggle. Though sophists had proclaimed before Socrates that man is the measure of the universe, it took a French Revolution to free man from the clutches of the almighty state.
During antiquity and in the medieval world the king was the center of the universe. He was at liberty to take the life of an individual without any explanation. He was the divine incarnate. He was God in human form. The individual was at his mercy. But after the crusade, when the King of England, King John, tried to impose unbearable taxes on barons to fill his exchequer then the same barons revolted and forced him to sign a ‘great charter’ in 1215 which was later called the Magna Carta. Now the king was not unfettered. He could not act indiscriminately. He had to follow certain rules. The divine incarnate was chained by worldly practices. Humans for the first time could breathe easy. Their dignity could not be violated at will by the state. Though, it took many battles and centuries for human civilisation to attain democracy in the true sense and the American war of independence and subsequent constitution played a huge role in this struggle.
It is no wonder that when the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution were framing India’s drafts for democracy then they derived many features from the Bill of Rights and tried to ensure that no government in general or particular should be allowed to deny a citizen its right to live with dignity. But unfortunately, when India is celebrating ‘Amrit Kal’ today, the basic spirit of the Constitution is being violated at will by the state and citizens are helpless.
India has never witnessed such a huge attack on the democratic rights of the citizens earlier except when Emergency was declared. The way central agencies, led by a draconian ED, have been unleashed not only on the leaders but also on anyone who is opposed to the government of the day, takes us back to the pre-Magna Carta age when the king could do no wrong. The way ED and other agencies are hounding Opposition leaders sends a very dangerous signal to our democracy and we need to ask if the republic, as envisaged by Babasaheb Ambedkar, will survive. It is true that Ambedkar did apprehend that the survival of the Constitution would depend on those who would implement it. He had an apprehension that democracy might slip into dictatorship if the spirit of the Constitution was undermined by a powerful government.
It is true that on the surface it appears that the government is cracking down on corruption, but a deeper study reveals a frightening picture. It has three wide ranging consequences.
One, raids and arrests of Opposition leaders violate the basic feature of the Constitution, that is the Rule of Law which is one of the fundamentals of democracy. No democracy can survive if there is an arbitrary application of the law. Law by its nature can’t be discriminatory. Its basic principle is equality before law. It does not differentiate between two individuals, be it the richest man or the poorest, be it the prime minister or the peon, be it army officer or police personnel, be it a superstar or a non-entity. But today these agencies are using the law indiscriminately and are only picking Opposition leaders and parties. In their eyes, corruption by those who belong to the BJP or are friends of the government is not corruption and they should neither be raided, surveyed, or arrested. It has become so brazen that some, when terrorised by the agencies, join the BJP and or ally with them, cases against them rot in the files and the person concerned can sleep well. It is not to say that these agencies have not been misused earlier, but today it has become so rampant as to be termed shameless.
Second, the agencies are killing the space of the Opposition. It is an attempt to traumatise the Opposition into submission so that they stop speaking against the government. It has its effect too. Many leaders from the Opposition parties are defecting to the BJP or siding with the BJP to save themselves from the wrath of the government. The case of the Shiv Sena is a classic example. Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati also seem to have given up the fight and it is alleged that they have been successfully silenced. A vibrant media is also a part of the Opposition space, and it has majorly surrendered before the government. A democracy can’t survive without strong Opposition and active media. If the Opposition is rendered toothless either by lure or coercion, then democracy will turn into dictatorship.
Three, it is horrifying to see how the bureaucracy has been compromised. During Indira Gandhi’s time the concept of ‘committed bureaucracy’ was debated. It was said that the job of the bureaucracy was to implement the agenda of the government of the day. Bureaucracy as visualised by the founding fathers is not accountable to the government but to the Constitution. It is not their job to fulfil the whims and fancies of the government or to implement their agenda, but to implement policies as required by the Constitution and rule of law. They are duty bound to say no or object in writing if asked to follow illegal orders. Bureaucracy is the steel frame of the administration. Governments will come and go but bureaucracy is permanent. If bureaucracy is compromised, then administration will collapse and if that happens then there is no future for the country. Today, all the bureaucrats who are helming these agencies have lost their spines and are violating their oath to the Constitution. And this is dangerous.
At a time when there are serious question marks over the functioning of these agencies, it was expected that the judiciary would come to the rescue of victimised citizens. But the courts have also been, in many cases, found wanting. The accused persons do not get bail for months and years. Judiciary is the protector of the Constitution but if they also look the other way then where is the hope?
Jefferson was talking about the Bill of Rights, but he was referring to a ‘just’ government. These days one must be an ideological parrot to see a ‘just’ government at the helm.
The writer is Editor, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B
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