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The
Badals-Amarinder fight in the shadows of Punjab Assembly raises
larger questions
Serious questions of impropriety, legislature Vs court are
involved
And will we even begin discussing the entire
gamut of Mega Development?
Sach Kanwal Singh/WSN Bureau
 CHANDIGARH: Political discourse has hit the rock bottom in
Punjab as the ruling Akali Dal and the opposition Congress are
trading cheap tactics and gutter diction at a time when both face a
situation where the functioning of Parliamentary democracy lies
severly questioned and the legislature is struggling to underline
its jurisdictional area in the High Court.
After a committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha found former
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh guilty of favouring a private land
coloniser by exempting his 32 acres of land from a larger scheme of
government-run urban development agency PUDA, he has knocked at the
doors of the High Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the
Assembly panel to expel him.
He, in fact, challenged the very setting up of a panel to
probe any wrongdoing that happened during the tenure of the previous Vidhan Sabha.
Obviously, serious questions are involved. Foremost,
virtually no one is challenging that records of the Vidhan Sabha
were tampered with to escape the need for an inquiry.
Secondly, someone did benefit the private coloniser thus
helping him make crores while causing loss to PUDA.
 Thirdly, the three Congress MLAs of the probe panel set up by
the Assembly participated in all the proceedings, and only at a
later fag-end stage, protested against expelling Amarinder.
And then, there is the proverbial other side of the story.
It is not clear how the Assembly reached the quantification
of the punitive action against Amarinder? Also, how did the Assembly
panel try to push for custodial interrogation, a component of its
decision that has been stayed by the High Court?
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Akali Dal and
Congress are pursuing the same pro-coloniser big-money real
estate development agenda of malls, estates, multiplexes, public
schools, super highways, metro plans. There is a strange and
disturbing uniformity in their vision of development. |
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Matters of norms in Parliamentary democracy have become
entangled with competitive and bitterly partisan
Punjab politics.
Some role of Amarinder's own detractors within the party is also
involved. Voices defending Amarinder are countable on the fingers of
one hand. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu… that’s
about all.
Ditto for CM Parkash Singh Badal who is hardly getting any
support from fellow Akalis.
Ghost-written press releases in the name of Capt Kanwaljit
Singh and Prem Singh Chandumajra are fired every evening with ample
references to Amarinder Singh's personal life, his friend Aroosa
Alam, and sundry such things. Who needs to refer to Aroosa Alam to
defend Punjab Assembly’s decision? May be Akalis do!
After Amarinder Singh informed the High Court and went abroad
in connection with his upcoming book, Akalis started making noises
about an absconding Amarinder.
He, too, responded by saying he will come back and “Kalle
Kalle nu dekh lavanga” (I will deal with every single one of you
morons). One wonders if such is are the Parliamentary norms that
Punjab
deserves.
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Dear Blue Pencil!
With the media blissfully ensconced in its ivory tower, it
was left to the Akali Dal’s spinmasters to tell the story of the
Vidhan Sabha probe panel’s work and findings. Days after the
report was circulated to the media men by the Speaker of the
Vidhan Sabha and available for the asking from Badal’s
penpushers like Harcharan Bains, no reporter considered it worth
his while to browse through the documents.
Finally, Akali Dal paid for some front page advertisements
disguised as news stories to tell how Ratna, the then Congress
Chairperson of the Amritsar Improvement Trust had brought out
the story of pressures, threats and bribes on offer and how she
was removed because she was probably not doing anything wrong.
Editors in
newspapers like the Hindustan Times, Ajit, and some others
shamelessly put out the advertisements, and thought the fine
print of one word “ADVT” and a box around the disguised news
item will keep their conscience clear. But did any editor ask
his reporter why he did not do a story? Please don’t ever bet
money on blue pencils, not in Punjab. |
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No one gains from such poor debates than the politicians.
Just imagine what could we have been discussing if Amarinder-Badal
duo had not dragged us into this wormpit of politics: Both main
parties are pursuing the same pro-coloniser big-money real estate
development agenda of Malls, estates, multiplexes, world-class
public schools, super highways, metro plans for bigger cities. There
is a strange uniformity in vision of development.
It has been months since we heard of agriculture crisis,
condition of government schools in villages, the menace of
cubby-hole private schools in Punjab's countryside, the debate on
teaching English from Class I, the condition of our dispensaries,
the availability of veterinarians in rural areas, not even the
problem of stray dogs who are killing young children with a
regularity so disturbing that a single image in the media will shock
you out of your senses.
And the media in
Punjab has not even started discussing the possible fallouts
of the Assembly action.
Theoretically, now a majority in the Assembly can go through
the steps of an inquiry, find a problematic MLA guilty and expel him
for the entire term of the House. If the Punjab Assembly’s decision
passes muster the High Court and later the Supreme Court, we are
possibly looking at a dangerous trend in parliamentary democracy.
But are the politicians and the media even warning us about the
inherent conflict of interest and jurisdiction between legislature
and courts that the Punjab Assembly decision involves?
And if the Assembly action fails in High Court, would that
mean that no wrong doing happened? Complex questions need our
engaged participation, these are too important to be left to
politicians and the media. Your call!
17 September 2008
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