The former Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Mr N. Vittal, in his article “Will a miracle occur at the end of double foolishness?” published in The Hindu of September 4, has undertaken what he calls “an exercise in double foolishness”.

One type of foolishness is offering sound and sensible advice when no one has asked for it, and the other is offering it knowing full well that it will not be heeded by those for whom it is meant.

Since I am going to strongly endorse the suggestions coming out of Mr Vittal's undertaking of such an exercise, I suppose I shall be quadrupling the foolishness, but without the least hesitation on that score.

In that article, Mr Vittal exhorts the Government of India to regain a modicum of credibility, in the wake of the Anna tsunami which swept it off its feet, as a regime which will really and effectively fight corruption, essentially a Frankenstein monster created by itself.

To that end, he proposes that within a week after the end of the current Parliament session, the Government should issue five Ordinances providing for the following:

the prohibition of benami transactions;

confiscation of the illegal wealth of corrupt public servants;

protection of whistle-blowers;

barring persons against whom courts have framed criminal charges from contesting elections until he is acquitted or honourably discharged; and

making it mandatory for concluding the trial of persons charged with corruption within six months, and completing the appellate process also within a similar period, allowing for only one appeal.

In keeping with the principle of preserving “the institutional integrity” enunciated by the Supreme Court in setting aside the appointment of Mr P. J. Thomas as the CVC, Mr Vittal argues for replacing, in cases involving corruption, the “holy slogan” of presumption of innocence until proved guilty by presumption of guilt until proved innocent.

STILLBORN

It is worth mentioning here that there is already a law passed in 1989 prohibiting benami transactions, and there are recommendations by the Law Commission and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission for the other purposes mentioned by him which have been embodied in draft Bills, languishing in the various Ministries. Mr Vittal calls his proposal “simple”, but considering that each one of the measures will hit the political class where it hurts the most, we can take it that the brainchildren of his ‘double foolishness', further doubled by my endorsement, will be still-born.

Anna Hazare is shrewd enough to realise this and that is why he has begun talking of subjecting the Government to “repeated shocks” as the only way of jolting it to face realities on the ground.

One wonders whether the Government is aware of the hundreds of fiery messages circulating among netizens on the Internet round the globe giving vent to their utter contempt for India's political class and their condemnation of the “dirty tricks” played by the Government.

It is significant that they emanate from young professional groups such as IIT-alumni associations and enlightened persons who normally keep their cool and do not jump into any fray unless deeply stirred by patent acts of venality and oppression. One such message doing the rounds and making a powerful impact is an imaginary statement which a young IIT-alumnus claims he would make in Parliament if he were Om Puri or Kiran Bedi replying to the Privilege Motion.

NEUTRALISING THE LOATHING

Going by the reactions of Team Anna, there is every chance that the Privilege Motions will boomerang in a big way, and the situation, from the perspective of the Government, will be worse than before.

It is time younger (say, between 40 and 55), leaders of political parties took a serious view of the deepening alienation and devised a method of neutralising the loathing associated with the way India's democracy functions. It is advisable for the Speaker/Chairman to take the advice of a confidential Working Group which, in turn, can take the help of a highly reputed public relations consultant, on how to reach out to people and win them over.

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