Afzal's fate: Criminal subversion of rule of law

Though the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was ordered to be hanged in 2006, he continues to live another day thanks to criminal subversion of the rule of law. He may live another two years or more or even get some reprieve given the kind of spineless political leadership that we are blessed with. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the law of the land will take its course not only invited scorn but a kind of distrust that the citizens are bound to have such loose talks come out from the highest in the echelon.

The law of the land had awarded death to Afzal. The parliament attack had almost brought India and Pakistan to war, with their respective armies staring at each other on the border, though the Big Brother (the US) played the referee in the hard ball game of politics.

In 2006 Afzal Guru filed mercy petition plea, apparently on the ground that he had an ailing mother and was the sole bread earner for the family. The mercy petition plea file was diverted to the Congress led Delhi government and the chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, did what she was asked to do by her bosses in the party, that to let the file gather dust in her home department. Then after four years, the file moved only to land up at the desk of the Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna who is now "studying the document closely".

The home ministry had sent the file to examine the merits of the clemency plea, that is whether the claims made by the convict were true or not. However, Mrs Dikshit shocked the media by stating that one of her former chief secretary had noted that there would be law and order problem in Delhi if Afzal was executed. Such a comment by that bureaucrat, who would qualify to be an idiot of the highest degree, has been rewarded by Mrs Dikshit after his retirement by appointing him the special advisor for the Commonwealth Games. His new job is to just write letters to private companies carrying out various construction works in the capital for the Games, which is nothing but a loot of the taxpayers' money.

Why was the Delhi government studying the genuineness of the Supreme Court verdict awarding Afzal the death punishment is baffling. It was not the mandate. It just had to go into the merits of the mercy petition. Now, Mr Khanna is studying the 75-page verdict of the Supreme Court. Is he qualified enough to examine the verdict of the Supreme Court. Does he have the mandate to review the verdict of the highest judiciary in the country?

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Obdulla has been making statements as if the principle of management schools of LIFO (Last In First Out) of FIFI (First in First Out) applies on the 30 convicts who are on death rows and are awaiting disposal of their respective mercy petition pleas. He should rise above from making such stupid statements.

Lastly, the President of India, which is a rubber stamp position for all the practical purposes, can be a little active in disposing off the files at her table or rather should prod the home ministry to clear the files concerning her at the earliest. She being the Constitutional head must ensure that the rule of law is not subverted for petty gains of spineless and brainless politicians.

No takers for truth in Mahatma's land

Call them three musketeers who dared to speak to tell the truth and in return got unprecedented backlash in the country of Mahatma Gandhi who stood for nothing but the truth. The men in question are Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Union minister for environment Jairam Ramesh and the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. They all stated what were accepted to be truth in the public domain but faced unbridled attack to the extent that they were all called names. 

First thing first. No one in their right frame of mind expected India to win the T20 world cup. The Indian players were not only spoiled by the gruelling IPL, which lasted for one and a half months, but also faced total burn out. The IPL late night party which lasted till the dawn will not figure in the itinerary of any sports management but only in the IPL, which is nothing but crass commercial exploitation of cricket. Dhoni had remarked before he headed for the Caribbeans that he had never been to such IPL parties but the same could not have been true for others. The body language of Indian cricketer's appeared to be nothing but of a dull lot out there to party at the beaches in the Caribbeans with little regards for millions of fans' expectations. Dhoni is absolutely right and he showed the guts that he call a spade a spade and suffers no insecurity.

The cricket crazy nation paid no interest to the exploits of Indian hockey players who showed unexpected performance in the Azlan Shah trophy. No wonder why these people are the poor lots. 

The BJP president Nitin Gadkari is a raw politician and has not yet honed his skills for shrewed political talks. He talks straight. That is why the RSS has picked him for the post. He literally called the Samajwadi Party and RJD president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav "dogs licking the heels of the Congress" to use a Hindi phrase. The political observers will not find any lack of truth in the statement. The SP and RJD leaders acn fall at the feet of the top Congress leaders any other day and both are facing serious charges for amassing assets beyond their income. However, Mr Gadkari was hauled like anything.

Lastly, Mr Ramesh has always been a politician not known to follow the established political diktats. First, he called the ceremonial robes worn at the times of taking college degrees a colonial legacy. That is true. All will agree. Then he went on to deliver the bombshell on the Chinese soil that the Indian internal security managers are a paranoid lot when it comes to deal with the issue concerning the Chinese. This is also true. Mr Ramesh also was hauled up. Mr Ramesh had earlier cut Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit to size for all her "achievements", which he called were due to judicial activism. That was true but that time has was saved as he had attacked a lesser mortal.

To cut a long story short, the Indian Psyche is far detached from tolerating a blunt truth. The exponents are banished with no loss of time. Dhoni, Gadkari and Ramesh bring freshness, which hopefully will not wither away amidst all attacks launched at them