DC Debate: Government answerable to people

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The Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI), of which Mohan Dharia is chairman, has said in a note to the government that ‘the time has come for the political wing of society to state categorically and unambiguously that they are answerable to the people through Parliament and state legislatures.’ Else, the day may not be far when a ‘non-political oligarchy will come to assume dictatorship.’

Dharia is a well-known Pune-based social and environment activist of socialist pedigree with a life-long reputation for probity in public life. He has been Union minister and Planning Commission deputy chairman. Along with Chandra Shekhar (later Prime Minister), Dharia spearheaded the Young Turk movement from within the Congress when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister.

In CNRI’s view, ‘certain sections of civil society are spreading a wrong message, (that) they are superior to the political wing of society.’

The CNRI appears especially conscious that what it calls the political wing derives its strength from the people’s mandate ‘election after election’ and these polls are conducted by an Election Commission that is thought to be among the most impartial in the world.

The note of June 3, 2011 is a clear intervention in the discussions initiated by the Anna Hazare group on the issue of corruption and the proposed Lokpal Bill. It was addressed to Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who chairs the drafting committee for the legislation comprising government ministers and Hazare’s representatives.

Coincidentally, the note was sent at a time when the so-called ‘Baba’ Ramdev movement against black money was building up to a crescendo. It was signed by L.V. Saptharishi, the honorary co-chairman of CNRI.

On account of ‘serious corruption charges pending against some members of the political wing in power,’ some civil society members have initiated a movement that ‘questions the raison d’etre of the political authority in force within the framework of our Constitution.’

The purpose of the note, says the CNRI communication, ‘is to warn and caution all sections of society to beware the machinations of some sections of civil society which have come forward to play the role of the Messiah, pretending that they have the full representative authority to speak on behalf of the entire people of the country while they have their own skeletons in the cupboard to hide, and none of them in the biblical sense is so innocent that no stone should be hurled at them.’

It also warns that ‘it is afraid that the dimensions of the anti-corruption movement launched by some sections carry the seeds of destroying the very structure of the Constitution of India.’

They arrogate to themselves the role of ‘the victim, prosecutor and judge.’

In sharp tones, the CNRI notes that a section of civil society ‘is determined to usurp the powers of the government and dictate terms as to how the political discourse of the nation should be conducted beyond the framework of political democracy.’