Counterpoint: Can we ever focus on the efficacy of the System?
By Vivekanand Jha*
Paying a glowing tribute to the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, the incumbent Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, said Yew transformed Singapore, a mere island, into an economic powerhouse, by focusing on the efficacy of the System as the sine qua non for the transformation of the nation into a modern democracy.
The System, Lee Hsien Loong, emphasised, is the cornerstone of any nation, under the democratic system to flourish. Significantly, what Prime Minister Loong said, had its salience with the global community, “What we are doing; in fact, we are doing nothing, other than ensuring that the very System, which was so robustly institutionalised by the founding father, remains at its place. We are persevering to ensure that the System remains straight, everything else will follow”.
Whereas Singapore showcases a democracy where the System is underscored as an object of paramount importance, even elevating it as the nation’s raison d’etre and summum bonum, where politicians are subservient to the System which continues to guide the nation towards its cherished objectives seamlessly; towards attaining its Constitutional ideals and aspirations as a modern democracy. Singapore has globally showcased that an infallible System is the panacea of all curses which bedevil democracies worldwide.
Contrast the situation back in our country: despite our much vaunted Constitutional Democracy being bestowed upon us by our Constitutional forefathers, the problems and challenges thrown by it, ever since its being in force, had sought to usurp the intent of those who bequeathed upon the nation, what they thought was a priceless heritage for the nation.
Paradoxically, the elite members of the Constituent Assembly, in their collective wisdom, in the wake of collective brainstorming and intellectual deliberation, sought to transform British India into a Parliamentary democracy, where the role of the judiciary as a watchdog to democracy, stood inevitably cemented.
Significantly, the prime ministerial whims and fancy tampering with the underlying spirit of the Constitution were self-manifest right from the beginning. Small wonder then, the so-called System, about which Lee Hsien Loong spoke in such glowing terms, was put to shreds by Indira Gandhi when not only she suspended the Constitution, imposing an emergency upon the nation, but also inserted the word ‘ Secularism’ in the Constitution in the year 1976 obviously to cement the Muslim vote bank as well as keep the sections of disparate Hindus in her fold.
The System which defines the gravity of Singapore as a nation, paradoxically exposes India as a democracy where the System is in perpetual shamble since independence for its fixation, yet none is there to listen to its agonising cries.
Even the judiciary raises more questions about its integrity than it answers the people’s aggravating woes and sorrows brought about by the delay in dispensing justice. The greater sense of corruption had engulfed it in its overwhelming grip: often we found judges to be mindful of political succour, blowing the trumpet of politicians for their immediate gratification after retirement–their quick accommodation in politics, gubernatorial assignments, and other positions, such as Human Rights Commissions and other quasi-judicial bodies, became an established norm. Only recently we found a judge singing panegyrics for the Prime Minister to get elevated to the chairmanship of a commission. Justice P. Sathashivam was rewarded with the gubernatorial assignment of Kerala, in the wake of his retirement from the apex court, while Justice Ranjan Gogoi entered Rajya Sabha, soon after hanging his boots in the apex court.
Judges making a beeline to seek political favours continue unabated. However, can the apex court verdict on electoral bonds be a game-changer and prove to be a turning point? Will Chief Justice DY Chandrachud be able to restore some sanity to the System with the judgment? Can an Indian Prime Minister ever eloquently eulogise the System for the nation’s progress like what the Singapore Prime Minister did? It is a time for retrospection at a time when India is set for the largest democratic election in human history.
*Vivekanand Jha is an Author, Academician and Public Intellectual. The views expressed are personal.
