Dr Subramanian Swamy has taken the great trouble of rummaging through old Supreme Court judgments to buttress his demand, made in a public statement, that the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr B.S.Yeddyurappa, arrested on October 15 on corruption charges and lodged in Parappana Agrahara jail in Bangalore should be immediately released on bail, by the Chief Justice himself taking up the bail application at his residence for hearing..

After referring to some Supreme Court judgment to the effect that just because there was a power to arrest, it was not necessary to carry out the arrest, he argues that Mr Yeddyurappa is too prominent a person to disappear without trace and he is not in a position to tamper with the evidence as the report of the Karnataka Lokayukta has already been formally submitted to the State Government.

Dr Subramanian Swamy has thereby done a great disservice to Mr Yeddyurappa, taking little account of the great vision, imagination and forethought the latter had exercised in preparing for exactly the contingency he is now up against.

As soon as he came to power, he undertook the salutary project of adding to the jail an impressively posh new VVIP Block, called D Block, with each spacious cell measuring 20X15 ft, sporting an attached bathroom, cosy, comfortable beds, LCD (3D) TV and other such attractions.

This is what enabled Mr Yeddyurappa to freshen up as he arrived in the jail. He washed his face in the marble-lined bath-room of the VVIP Block, had dry fruits and nuts, and washed them down with mineral water from one of the several bottles kept on the table. The doctors immediately trooped in to take his blood pressure and other vital parameters, which they will do every morning, afternoon and evening. Even a well-to-do householder cannot ever aspire to have the benefit of a three-hourly check-up as against once or twice a year at the most.

TORTUROUS HELL-HOLES

Dr Swamy will now realise that instead of denying Mr Yeddyurappa the simple, spontaneous pleasures he is entitled to as Undertrial Prisoner No.10462, he should direct his campaign towards expanding each of the nation's jails with similar VVIP Blocks, permitting a certain measure of one-upmanship in upgrading the facilities, amenities and comforts. This will equalise the lifestyles of our precious politicians both inside and outside the jails — never mind the torturous hell-holes jails used to be in the days of the freedom struggle.

The matter brooks no delay. For, Dr Manmohan Singh is already levelling the grim threat of enacting a strong Lokpal Bill. If all goes well (or ill, depending on which side of the fence one is), it might even get passed in the forthcoming winter session. But there is one silver lining for the freebooters-cum-plunderers waiting in the wings: The fact of Anna Hazare and the members of his team being at sixes and sevens, and doing their uttermost to thwart the prospect with their cacophonous caterwauling and rambunctious road shows.

Thus, there is the beckoning hope of the Government being able to do an encore of putting it off to some other distant session of Parliament whether within or beyond the lifetime of Team Anna and members of all the movements that have sprouted, including the latest one kicked off by Dr Swamy himself.

DAILY TORMENTS

As a post-script, I might add that the kind of capacity for anticipatory planning that Mr Yeddyurappa has demonstrated has already been at work on another plane among the high and mighty in the political power structure. Each of the fabulously furnished residences of those in power and authority has been made absolutely proof against power cuts, scorching summer heat and freezing winter cold, and any hint of the rough and tumble of the life of 90 per cent of the population they are supposed to serve.

The last time someone came up with the idea of those at the top having a taste of the daily torments of the people by living like them was Mahatma Gandhi (is that the name?). Whoever he was, to Hell with him!

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