Low vermin in high places

By: V Sundaram
January 27, 2006
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The Supreme Court in its historic verdict has declared that Governor Buta Singh displayed unnecessary and undue haste in his unconstitutional attempt to dissolve the Bihar Assembly. The Supreme Court has given the verdict that the action of Buta Singh was mala fide and unconstitutional. The whole nation knows that he acted as the election agent of Sonia Gandhi, the de jure Prime Minister and went out of his way to prevent Nitish Kumar from becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar. Unfortunately for both Sonia Gandhi and Buta Singh, the people of Bihar thought otherwise and gave a genuinely secular verdict against the pseudo sham secularism preached by the Congress party.

When President of India dissolved the Bihar Assembly on the advice of the Council of Ministers in February, 2005, I had observed in this Newspaper: `The recent decision to dissolve the Bihar Assembly is an act of Constitutional immorality if not irregularity or illegality. When the Supreme Court (a nine Judge Bench) delivered its landmark judgment in the S R Bommai case in 1994, it made it clear that the Supreme Court is vested with sweeping and overriding powers to correct any misuse of Article 356. I am sure the matter would be taken up to the Supreme Court to move them to stay the implementation of the Presidential Order relating to dissolution of the Bihar Assembly under Article 356.

The fact that this Article has been misused in the case of Bihar is indisputable and unquestionable, excepting perhaps by those two Union Ministers of unimpeachable integrity and unsurpassed moral stature (especially of the non-saffron kind!) like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and others of the same ilk.

The whole tragedy gets compounded by the silent and suave neutrality of the non-descript Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh between the fire brigade and the fire, between good and evil and between existence and non-existence.

Buta Singh`s record in politics cannot be a role model for any one in the country. As an arbiter on behalf of the Congress party in Bihar, he can only see horse-trading in the routine move of every political party which is other than the Congress. His great report alleging `horse-trading` of MLAs in Bihar will carry no conviction in responsible sections of society anywhere in the country`.

My independent assessment above has been fully vindicated by the Supreme Court in its verdict yesterday. Even after this Supreme Court verdict, Buta Singh is showing the bravado to declare: `I will not step down and I shall take the salute on the Republic Day parade`. The Government of India and the President of India are watching this militant, unconstitutional and illegal declaration of Buta Singh even after the Supreme Court has given a definite verdict against him. This clearly shows Buta Singh`s contempt for the Supreme Court, the President and the Prime Minister of India. He obeys only the oral instructions, may I say oral commands, of our de jure Prime Minister! The smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen. Buta Singh must understand that it is not always politically profitable to analogise `fact` to `fiction`. La Fontaine`s fable of the crow, the cheese, and the fox demonstrates that there is a substantial difference between holding a piece of cheese in the beak and putting it in the stomach. Circumstantial evidence is as convincing to the mind as direct testimony, and often more so. A number of concurrent facts, like rays of light, all converging to the same centre, may throw not only a clear light but a burning conviction; a conviction of truth more infallible than the testimony even of two witnesses directly to a fact. A chord of sufficient strength to suspend a man may be formed of threads, each of which would not support the weight even of an ounce. Based on this principle, the Supreme Court of India has rightly indicted Buta Singh, the shameless Governor of Bihar.

The Congress spokesman Abhishek Singvi is equally shameless in his statement that the Supreme has in no way indicted the Council of Ministers ?which means the Government of India. If someone were to abuse me as a `bastard` based on irrefutable evidence, Abhishek Singvi`s advice to me will be to give a retort in this manner: `I am no bastard. This is factually incorrect. You do not know that I am only illegitimate`.

The Council of Ministers cannot pose to have functioned like a routine post office at the highest level. If Buta Singh sent a mischievous report to New Delhi, the Council of Ministers should have thoroughly examined the proposal in the interest of the nation setting petty politics aside before sending it during midnight to the Indian President who was then touring abroad for his instantaneous approval. I would like to ask what was the national emergency in Bihar at that time which made our Prime Minister talk to our President on the midnight of March 22nd, 2005 requesting him to accord his immediate approval to the proposal for the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly on a war footing. What is amazing is that the President of India also succumbed to the pressure of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister and put his seal of approval in a manner which does not bring credit either to his high office or the Government of India. The fact that this was done when he was in a foreign country should be viewed by all of us as a matter of national disgrace not only within India but in all parts of the world.

The theory that the Indian Constitution is a written document is a legal fiction. At any rate it is a Congress fiction. The idea that our Constitution can be understood by a study of its language and the history of its past development is equally mythical. It is what the Government and the people who count in Public Affairs recognize and respect as such, what they think it is. A nation may make a Constitution, but a constitution cannot make a nation. Men like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were not created by the Constitution. Low vermin in high places like Buta Singh are the creation of our constitution. Men like Dr. Manmohan Singh cannot be under the mistaken impression that they can create a proper public opinion by abuse of their authority. The day on which authority in India gets to be controlled by public opinion will be the day of final victory for our democracy.

I would request that the President of India should take immediate action to dismiss Governor Buta Singh forthwith for having spoken in so contemptuous a manner even after the decisive verdict of the Supreme Court against him. Buta Singh, the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister have shown that the oral instructions/commands of our De Facto Prime Minister are more sacred and sacrosanct than the letter and spirit of the Constitution or the verdict of the Supreme Court. The Council of Ministers should also resign immediately in the interest of the nation and survival of democracy.

The Constitution cannot be viewed or used as a code of civil practice as is being done by the minority UPA Government today. Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution are constitutional.

The Supreme Court in its historic verdict has declared that Governor Buta Singh displayed unnecessary and undue haste in his unconstitutional attempt to dissolve the Bihar Assembly. The Supreme Court has given the verdict that the action of Buta Singh was mala fide and unconstitutional. The whole nation knows that he acted as the election agent of Sonia Gandhi, the de jure Prime Minister and went out of his way to prevent Nitish Kumar from becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar. Unfortunately for both Sonia Gandhi and Buta Singh, the people of Bihar thought otherwise and gave a genuinely secular verdict against the pseudo sham secularism preached by the Congress party.

When President of India dissolved the Bihar Assembly on the advice of the Council of Ministers in February, 2005, I had observed in this Newspaper: `The recent decision to dissolve the Bihar Assembly is an act of Constitutional immorality if not irregularity or illegality. When the Supreme Court (a nine Judge Bench) delivered its landmark judgement in the S R Bommai case in 1994, it made it clear that the Supreme Court is vested with sweeping and overriding powers to correct any misuse of Article 356. I am sure the matter would be taken up to the Supreme Court to move them to stay the implementation of the Presidential Order relating to dissolution of the Bihar Assembly under Article 356.

The fact that this Article has been misused in the case of Bihar is indisputable and unquestionable, excepting perhaps by those two Union Ministers of unimpeachable integrity and unsurpassed moral stature (especially of the non-saffron kind!) like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and others of the same ilk.

The whole tragedy gets compounded by the silent and suave neutrality of the non-descript Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh between the fire brigade and the fire, between good and evil and between existence and non-existence.

Buta Singh`s record in politics cannot be a role model for any one in the country. As an arbiter on behalf of the Congress party in Bihar, he can only see horse-trading in the routine move of every political party which is other than the Congress. His great report alleging `horse-trading` of MLAs in Bihar will carry no conviction in responsible sections of society anywhere in the country`.

My independent assessment above has been fully vindicated by the Supreme Court in its verdict yesterday. Even after this Supreme Court verdict, Buta Singh is showing the bravado to declare: `I will not step down and I shall take the salute on the Republic Day parade`. The Government of India and the President of India are watching this militant, unconstitutional and illegal declaration of Buta Singh even after the Supreme Court has given a definite verdict against him. This clearly shows Buta Singh`s contempt for the Supreme Court, the President and the Prime Minister of India. He obeys only the oral instructions, may I say oral commands, of our de jure Prime Minister! The smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen. Buta Singh must understand that it is not always politically profitable to analogise `fact` to `fiction`. La Fontaine`s fable of the crow, the cheese, and the fox demonstrates that there is a substantial difference between holding a piece of cheese in the beak and putting it in the stomach. Circumstantial evidence is as convincing to the mind as direct testimony, and often more so. A number of concurrent facts, like rays of light, all converging to the same centre, may throw not only a clear light but a burning conviction; a conviction of truth more infallible than the testimony even of two witnesses directly to a fact. A chord of sufficient strength to suspend a man may be formed of threads, each of which would not support the weight even of an ounce. Based on this principle, the Supreme Court of India has rightly indicted Buta Singh, the shameless Governor of Bihar.

The Congress spokesman Abhishek Singvi is equally shameless in his statement that the Supreme has in no way indicted the Council of Ministers ?which means the Government of India. If someone were to abuse me as a `bastard` based on irrefutable evidence, Abhishek Singvi`s advice to me will be to give a retort in this manner: `I am no bastard. This is factually incorrect. You do not know that I am only illegitimate`.

The Council of Ministers cannot pose to have functioned like a routine post office at the highest level. If Buta Singh sent a mischievous report to New Delhi, the Council of Ministers should have thoroughly examined the proposal in the interest of the nation setting petty politics aside before sending it during midnight to the Indian President who was then touring abroad for his instantaneous approval. I would like to ask what was the national emergency in Bihar at that time which made our Prime Minister talk to our President on the midnight of March 22nd, 2005 requesting him to accord his immediate approval to the proposal for the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly on a war footing. What is amazing is that the President of India also succumbed to the pressure of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister and put his seal of approval in a manner which does not bring credit either to his high office or the Government of India. The fact that this was done when he was in a foreign country should be viewed by all of us as a matter of national disgrace not only within India but in all parts of the world.

The theory that the Indian Constitution is a written document is a legal fiction. At any rate it is a Congress fiction. The idea that our Constitution can be understood by a study of its language and the history of its past development is equally mythical. It is what the Government and the people who count in Public Affairs recognize and respect as such, what they think it is. A nation may make a Constitution, but a constitution cannot make a nation. Men like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were not created by the Constitution. Low vermin in high places like Buta Singh are the creation of our constitution. Men like Dr. Manmohan Singh cannot be under the mistaken impression that they can create a proper public opinion by abuse of their authority. The day on which authority in India gets to be controlled by public opinion will be the day of final victory for our democracy.

I would request that the President of India should take immediate action to dismiss Governor Buta Singh forthwith for having spoken in so contemptuous a manner even after the decisive verdict of the Supreme Court against him. Buta Singh, the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister have shown that the oral instructions/commands of our De Facto Prime Minister are more sacred and sacrosanct than the letter and spirit of the Constitution or the verdict of the Supreme Court. The Council of Ministers should also resign immediately in the interest of the nation and survival of democracy.

The Constitution cannot be viewed or used as a code of civil practice as is being done by the minority UPA Government today. Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution are constitutional.

V Sundaram

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