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EDITORIAL
The Law And The Lady
A great victory for Jayalalitha, a giant leap backward
for democracy
 The
law is an ass", and Charles Dickens seems to have got a surprise
ally in Chief Minister Jayalalitha to endorse him. Convicted by the law
but acquitted by the people, the lady personifies a fundamental question:
does the popular mandate, however massive it may be, legitimise a convict
in power? For the conviction by a court had earlier made the supreme leader
of the AIADMK unfit to contest an election. That was a constitutional
safeguard against the criminalisation of democracy. But look what has
happened now. Someone who is unfit to contest elections is today more
than fit to be the chief minister. The reason: her party has won a massive
mandate, and she has been elected leader of the legislature party. The
paradox is overwhelming, and it raises many questions that no democracy
can afford to ignore; questions about constitutional ambiguity, moral
legitimacy and the autonomy of popular mandate.
True, Chief Minister Jayalalitha may not be
a constitutional anomaly, for Article 164 makes the governor's choice
constitutionally correct, and the courts have no power to interfere when
a governor invites a person to become the chief minister and to form a
ministry. But a correct decision need not be the right decision, and that
is why the invitation extended to Jayalalitha by the governor of Tamil
Nadu is debatable. It may have followed the letter of the Constitution,
but it has violated the spirit of the constitution. The framers of the
Constitution could not have foreseen a situation where a person convicted
by a court of law would be holding the chief minister's office. Indeed,
it was some faith in the spirit of Indian democracy! So it is the responsibility
of the upholders of constitutional propriety to see that the dynamics
of democracy don't make the law redundant. The Tamil Nadu governor could
have avoided the haste with which she swore in Jayalalitha, without a
pause of doubt, without realising that she was setting a dangerous precedent.
Of course, it was too much to expect from the imperious AIADMK leader
to clear herself legally before claiming the chief ministership. Like
the governor, she too was in such a hurry. Perhaps she could have been
a bit more patient.
It's a strange scenario, and the first of its
kind in this country. An outcast of the law is in a position to implement
the law in a manner that suits her. Jayalalitha is involved in numerous
corruption cases, most of which relate to her earlier administration.
Going by her record in retribution, it's quite likely that political power
will make a mockery of official prosecution, and, going by the competitive
vindictiveness of Tamil politics, it's also quite unlikely that she will
avoid such temptations. After all, she continues to maintain that the
cases against her are politically motivated, that she is the victim of
a conspiracy. Is this then the flip side of democracy? Is it all because
of some blank spaces in the Constitution? Yes and more. In any evolved
society, there should be harmony between the spirit of democracy and the
letter of the constitution and the rule of the law. The unsaid, but obvious,
factor in this desirable relationship is morality, the keeper of which
is not the people, who in Tamil Nadu have a history of being more emotional
and less rational in their political expression, but the person who claims
to have won their mandate. And Jayalalitha has consistently demonstrated
that she is not the person. As a result, in Tamil Nadu political morality
has become the biggest loser.
It's a loss for Indian democracy too. The term "criminalisation of
politics" is a shopworn item in Indian political rhetoric and is
only matched by "corruption in public life". Maybe because it's
a way of Indian political life and is all too familiar to be underlined.
Morality and truth are disposable abstractions for the Indian political
class. They are so used to living in lies and living outside the law.
Still, Chief Minister Jayalalitha marks a defining moment in the degeneration
of political morality. The convict is no longer always a convict; the
qualification of an electoral candidate is no longer compatible with the
qualification of the chief minister. Jayalalitha heralds a new age in
Indian politics: the corrupt and the convicted, listen, you have nothing
to lose but a few days in jail, and you have everything to gain including
the chief ministership. And who knows, tomorrow the prime ministership
itself. Really, can India afford such a scenario? The urgency of the moment
is this: make democratic approval legally-and morally-sustainable, make
the distance between the court of the people and the court of law nil.
If a constitutional amendment is the only solution to save the Republic,
then go for it. The great victory of Dr Puratchi Thalaivi J. Jayalalitha
is a giant leap backward for Indian democracy.
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