Why Flog a Dead Horse called Justice
by Sudheendra Kulkarni
One of the memorable experiences from my years as a journalist is associated with the centenary celebrations of the Congress party in Mumbai in 1985. Covering the event as a reporter in the late Russy Karanjia’s daily newspaper had given me an opportunity to get better acquainted with the party’s — and India’s — glorious pre-Independence history. Still vividly sketched in my mind is the frail figure of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the ‘Frontier Gandhi’ who was a special guest at the celebrations. Known for his non-violent struggle against the British and also for his strong opposition to the partition of India, this Pushtun leader’s deeds and words (“O Pathans! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it, and remember to what race you belong”) carry a message even today.
This follower of Mahatma Gandhi from the land of the Pathans, then 95 years old, was in a wheelchair. But welcoming him graciously was another Gandhi, who, at 41, was already India’s Prime Minister. If Badshah Khan embodied the best ideals of the Congress movement from the pre-1947 era, Rajiv Gandhi personified the hope and idealism of a new generation, which had come to admire him as Mr Clean. Rajiv’s presidential address at the Congress centenary session must rank as one of the most important political speeches in the annals of independent India.
Political pundits were astonished at the candour with which Rajiv spoke about the ills that had corroded the Congress party after Independence. In a passage that hit out at power brokers within his own party, he said, “Millions of ordinary Congress workers throughout the country are full of enthusiasm for the Congress policies and programmes. But they are handicapped, for on their backs ride the brokers of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert a mass movement into a feudal oligarchy. They are enmeshing the living body of the Congress in their net of avarice. They are reducing the Congress organisation to a shell from which the spirit of service and sacrifice has been empted. How have we come to this pass?”
What a sad irony that, within a couple of years after this stirring speech, Rajiv found himself at the centre of a controversy that quickly snowballed into independent India’s most explosive corruption scandal. More disturbingly, it soon became known that the leader who had lambasted power brokers in his party had somehow allowed a power broker, a foreigner at that, to operate with the patronage of his official residence. That power broker was Ottavio Quattrocchi, a Delhi-based Italian businessman, who, thanks to his close association with the Prime Minister’s Italian wife, enjoyed privileged access to the most important address in the capital. This in-house Italian connection proved extremely costly for Rajiv. It embroiled him in the Bofors corruption scandal. The people of India who had given Rajiv’s Congress more that 400 MPs in the 1984 parliamentary elections, dethroned him by defeating his party in 1989.
It is a law of history that those who espouse high ideals are made to pay a higher price when what they practice violates what they preach. This is what happened to Rajiv Gandhi. But so strong is the influence that the Italian power broker has continued to wield at the highest level in the Congress party that 22 years after the Bofors scandal broke out, he still gets the party and its government to do his bidding. It is impossible to draw any other conclusion from the shocking disclosures, made in the investigative reports published in this newspaper last week.
The Congress leadership first assisted Quattrocchi to flee India in 1993, just a couple of days before he was required to appear before the Supreme Court. He later stated that he was not coming to India to face trial because “I have no faith in India’s justice system”. The person who made this arrogant and disparaging remark was publicly defended by Sonia Gandhi, who said in 1999, “The CBI has said he is a suspect. But we have never seen the papers naming him in the deal. They should show the papers establishing that he is guilty.” She had conveniently forgotten that four courts (three in India and one in Switzerland) had already established Quattorocchi’s involvement in the Bofors scandal.
But it was not enough for Quattrocchi to remain safely away from the long arm of India’s justice system. He wanted total freedom through an official burial of the Bofors investigation. And this is the wish that the UPA government granted him through a step-by-step subversion of justice. In 2006, it defreezed his account in a London bank. In 2007, after he was arrested in Argentina, the CBI put up such a marvelously collusive show that he escaped extradition to India. And now, with only a few weeks to go before its term ends, the UPA government has granted Quattrocchi, an absconder for 12 years, his wish. No less a person than Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has sprung to the defence of this scamster, further devaluing the high office he holds. If ever there was a case of government-assisted acquittal without trial of an accused, it is seen in the Congress leadership’s brazenly executed ‘Operation Save Quattrocchi’.
In the past few days, Congress spokespersons, ably assisted by their friends in the media, have been heard asking, “Why is the opposition flogging this dead horse called Bofors?” They are wrong. The Bofors case is not the horse that is dead. What has been flogged to death is a horse named Justice. It is painful to see that even the higher judiciary in India has remained a passive observer as this hapless horse has been done to death with the whole world watching.
My thoughts go back to the Congress centenary event. And the words of Rajiv Gandhi haunt me — “How have we come to this pass?”
(This article was first published in the Indian Express on May 3, 2009.)
Comments
13 Responses to “Why Flog a Dead Horse called Justice”
Bravo!!!
Very well written, now if we can get the core of this message to the masses and let people see the hyprocricy of our biased media and a party which really does not believe on anything anymore I think we will be on to something.
I was waiting to see something like this in the media. If ‘84 can cost Tytler his election ticket.Even Bofors case can be kept alive till justice is attained. If not Quottorachi atleast his uspporters on high command positions can be held.
Election come and Bofors is spoken. I have always had a simple Q. If its not Mr. Quotorachi then who is guilty?
Solution for the overburdened courts of India faced with pending cases is to stop flogging the horse after a few years have gone by.
thought provoking, action demanding article Mr. Kulkarni, Justice certainly seems to be a dead horse at this juncture. What is worrisome is the fact that CBI, Election commission and other offices are heading that way. For e.g. Candidates are asked to disclose their assets, how many of them do you think have given the correct account of their assets? we have been fools all the while and we will be made so in future too.
Very good pick. India has been made play ground by politicians.It is hard to understand why Gandhi faimily aslways spared. It is not democracy, Indians are still slaves of Gandhi family.
A wonderful article. Some of the best quotes is:
In the past few days, Congress spokespersons, ably assisted by their friends in the media, have been heard asking, “Why is the opposition flogging this dead horse called Bofors?” They are wrong. The Bofors case is not the horse that is dead. What has been flogged to death is a horse named Justice.
There are tons of material on misfortune of India that the country is gone for dalals of the motherland.
Also, interesting but unfortunate for India, information is available about the first CON(gres)s family such as
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BfdiWpICo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTzLOxnppRA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vX64jdbJh0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj_QGmGcS0k
etc etc.
The Congress made sure that the whole investigation was one step forward adn three steps backwards, not two!
unfortunately, the public memory is very short adn it was incumbent on the BJP to continue flogging this issue as it involved theft of public money - and we all know who got the money.
Here is a writeup on the state of the judiciary.
Kasab’s route to a Bharat Ratna
Surprising as this article may seem, i outline a sure route for him to recieve this award.
This is the sad state of the media and judiciary in this country
1)Case will drag on for 15+ yrs like the 93 Bombay blasts
because the public prosecutor will be bribed, judge threatened, cops bribed to tamper with evidence and witnesses threatened.
Congress will play it’s role in dragging on the case, so that it can indulge in vote bank politics.
2)He will get bail, appear on TV and cry. He will say, “Allah punishes him everyday, and he dies a thousand deaths”. Arundathi Roy will support him and get him Indian citizenship. Barkha Dutt will interview him and say that he is a very cute boy who has reformed his ways. Maybe he could even land a role in some movies.
3)Amar Singh or someone like him will offer Kasab a seat.
4)He will get elected from a constituency like Azamgarh(This is not preposterous(after all Phoolan Devi did it), he has all the qualifications necessary to become a great politician–an excellent criminal background).
5)There will be plenty of talkshows where chest thumping page 3 celebrities will claim India’s greatness to forgive and move on. Arnab, Rajdeep and the like will indulge in the same inane talkshows where nothing conclusive ever comes about and they can decry the BJP for being communal.
6)If election results end in a hung parliament, he could even become prime minister, with congress support from the outside.
7)After his term ends, he will get a Bharath Ratna
So much for justice in India
well written Pramod but when shall the day arise when more Indians realise how we are being taken for granted.
It really angers me to see even that even the people convicted of 93 blasts, have not recieved punishment and are on a perpetual appeals process.
What sort of a signal does this send to all criminals?
It says do whatever you want for the law will never catch up with you.
Mr. Kulkarni,
Your thoughts are well structured, and hitting the spot where it should. But whay can’t you handle Congress and so called their friends (Read:Media). Many times Nation has ssen you fumbling and not being able to counter others convincingly which could leave nation thinking about wrong doings of Congress and the media not performing its duty in correct fashion? I again say we should have been more aggressive and convincing with facts and figures rather then being defensive.
Will you have time to reply to my post Mr. Kulkarni. Will definately let know others whether you really read comments after uplioading your posts or you are just posting your thoughts as you have to, to keep the site active.
Regards,
P
kasab is given royal treatment in our jails whereas our prisioners are languishing and tortured in pak jails. Kasab who killed hundred of innocents Indians cutting jokes in the court , buying time in giving false statements in the court about his age, Given a defence lawyer who is playing with the judiciary,asking for chicken tandoori, urdu news papers, TV , enough space for walking etc..,People are making mockery of our judiciary. In the mean time , years roll, people will forget, kasab will be released on the grounds of lack of evidence. The man who killed our people, who entered our country illegally should be hanged in public or stoned to death in a stadium with out any trail.Even if he is given a capital punishment, the mercy petition will lie with our president for next 30 years. Great India.
jai hind