The Hindu Business Line : A tale of two democracies

Whenever and at whatever forum Americans and Indians get together, it is a safe bet that they will indulge in a bit of self-congratulation on coming from the world’s largest and the most populous democracies. However, the manner of their functioning is conspicuously different. They are poles apart in safeguarding the spirit of democracy.

The US is an open society, where public functionaries are held to account by the people’s right to information enacted into law more than half-a-century ago. India’s governing class fought a rear-guard battle against the right until as late as 2005. Even after passing the law, people find the ruling establishment using various pretexts to make the task of securing information difficult. In the US, official documents are regularly placed in the public domain on the expiry of 30 years.

I do not recall any instance in all the 60 years after Independence of the release by the India’s State and Central Government of official documents of the vintage of 30 years or more for public information.

For instance, the reports of General Henderson-Brooks on the military debacle in the North East in 1962, the Union Home Ministry’s investigation in 1967 into foreign funding of India’s political parties and the L. P. Singh committee on the revamping of the IB and the CBI following the severe indictment by the Justice J. C. Shah Commission of the excesses committed by them during the infamous Internal Emergency of 1975-77 are yet to see the light of day, although they are of vital concern to the people and Parliament.

Contrasting scenarios

The most important difference in the working of the two democracies is in the adherence to the requirements of the rule of law. In the US, the highest and the mightiest in the land, whether in politics, government, corporate sector or public life, are arrested and handcuffed immediately on prima facie material on violating the law coming to the notice of the investigating authority, put through a quick trial lasting barely a few weeks, and if found guilty, sentenced to long prison terms of anywhere between 10 and 40 years.

It is unthinkable for a case to drag on or be botched up as the Bofors had been in India. Recently, Mr Larry E. Craig, who was a US Senator belonging to the Republican Party, was trapped by the Minnesota State police at the Minneapolis airport rest room for ‘lewd’ conduct. The reading of the whole transcript of the conversation between Mr Craig and the policeman who arrested him should be made compulsory for India’s political class, bureaucrats and the police.

They would find it unbelievably startling to see the policeman not only standing his ground but telling off the powerful Senator who was the ranking member of important Congressional committees as to where he got off, when he flashed his visiting card.

The policeman subjected the Senator to such a grueling grilling that eventually Mr Craig pleaded guilty, and besides being convicted and sentenced to a suspended prison term and resigned from the Senate as well.

Can you imagine the likely scenario in India? The first in the order of probability would be the policeman beating a hasty retreat with profuse and groveling apologies on seeing the visiting card. The next possible scenario is that of the arrested person effectively silencing the policeman with a few rupees of bribe.

The third, the arrested person phones the party faithful and within minutes a violent mob of hundreds descend on the airport, savages the poor police officer and sets fire to a few buses. In addition, the police high-ups humbly apologise to the party bosses and have the hapless policeman dismissed from service!

B. S. RAGHAVAN