Offstumped – Commentary on Indian Politics

Janlokpal bill activist Prashant Bhushan who will be allegedly representing our (Indian citizen’s) interests at Anna Hazare’s pleasure, on the Joint Bill Drafting Committee, has in an op-ed explained his view of what the Lokpal ought to be

Prashant Bhushan's Lokpal is a heady cocktail between Social Justice and Criminal Vigilantism http://t.co/SDZBeCy—
Offstumped (@offstumped) April 14, 2011

There are many red flags in his defense of the proposal Lokpal Bill.

The first area of problem is in what Mr. Bhushan sees as corruption and as a legitimate area for the Lokpal to look into:

#1 policies that have created enormous incentives for its proliferation

#2 Under the garb of liberalisation and privatisation, India has adopted policies by which natural resources and public assets (mineral resources, oil and gas, land, spectrum, and so on) have been allowed to be privatised without transparency or a process of public auctioning

#3 Almost overnight, hundreds of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have been signed by governments with private corporations, leasing out large tracts of land rich in mineral resources, forests and water. These allow the corporations to take away and sell the resources by paying the government a royalty, which is usually less than 1 per cent of the value of the resources.

#4 profit margins in such ventures are often more than 90 per cent. This leaves huge scope for bribe-giving and creates incentives for corruption. The same thing happened when A. Raja gave away spectrum without a public auction to companies at less than 10 per cent of its market price.

#5 Private monopolies in water and electricity distribution, airport development and so on have been allowed to be created, where huge and unconscionable levels of profit can be made by corrupting the regulator and allowing private monopolies to charge predatory prices. Tens of thousands of hectares have been given away to corporations for commercialisation in the guise of airport development, construction of highways, creation of Special Economic Zones and so on, at prices that are less than 10 per cent of the value of those tracts of land.

#6 policies have resulted in the involuntary displacement of lakhs of the poorest people, leaving them on the brink of starvation and forcing many of them to join the Maoists. The beneficiaries have stripped the land of natural resources (a good deal of which is exported) and destroyed the environment. Most ominously, such deals have resulted in the creation of monster corporations that are so powerful and influential that they have come to influence and virtually control all institutions of power

Mr. Bhushan’s line of reasoning reveals deep socialist biases and raises serious question

if the proposed Lokpal is about Criminal Justice as it has been sold to the Indian Middle Class

Or

as his biases reveal if it is really about Social Justice.

The problems with Mr. Bhushan’s defense of the Lokpal go further into the basic structure of Constitution as he seeks to keep this Ombudsman independent of Parliament, chosen by a Jumbo committee of politicians, bureaucrats and Judges. The Ombudsman can only be removed by a 5 member panel of unelected Supreme Court Judges which in reality means the Lokpal is hardly a Jan Lokpal with no direct accountability to the people or indirect accountability via the people’s representatives.

The line of reasoning offered by Prashant Bhushan in defense of this method is at best weak.

We have seen how the “democratically elected” Prime Minister, Home Minister and leaders of the opposition have normally selected weak and pliable CVCs.

Mr. Bhushan also fails to explain how a Jumbo committee comprising of two Politicians and several bureaucrats and judges (not to speak of Civil Society hangers on) will fare any better given how fractious and contentious political decision making has been in this raucous democracy of ours marked by coalition compulsions.

It appears that Mr. Bhushan has compensated for bias in the selection process by seeking refuge in diversity of numbers of unelected Public Servants instead of  opting for a coherent  political process by which partisan biases in selection could have been checked and balanced.

If we are going to create this parallel Executive independent of Parliament to investigate and prosecute, why not as well go ahead and make the Executive independent of parliament by directly electing it.

Any kind of Ombdusman has to be accountable to Parliament and not to unelected Judges, for both processes of appointment and impeachment.—
Offstumped (@offstumped) April 14, 2011

If it is Constitutional to have an Ombudsman independent of Parliament then why not an Executive directly elected independent of parliament.—
Offstumped (@offstumped) April 14, 2011

If this autonomous ombudsman is not violative of basic structure of the Constitution then we may as well have a Presidential form of Govt.—
Offstumped (@offstumped) April 14, 2011

In closing one can only say that one is deeply conflicted over what to be most alarmed about:

Mr. Bhushan’s Social Justice colored view of Corruption that envisions a Lokpal meting out Robin Hood Justice

Or

Mr. Bhushan’s political naivety in proposing a Jumbo selection committee with the presumption of good faith and good behavior on the part unelected public servants

OR

Mr. Bhushan’s  contempt for the Court of Public Opinion that subordinates Parliament to a 5 member panel of Supreme Court Judges

The bottomline is Prashant Bhushan doesnt speak for me and millions of Indians who while troubled by Crony Capitalism and flawed Policy making, seek political solutions and not quick fix Vigilante Justice.

The Government of India has no business indulging him on this harebrained proposal for a Robin Hood Lokpal at the expenses of my Tax Rupees.

Indulging the likes of Prashant Bhushan who are motivated by deep socialist biases in setting public policy without any political legitimacy sets a dangerous precedent for it goes against both spirit and the text of our Constitution.

Filed under: Anna Hazare, betrayal of aam admi, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, A. Raja, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, India, Kiran Bedi, Lokpal, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan