Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: Sept. 2, 2007
Cong-Left panel is illegitimate
It is astonishing that the Congress should
try to bypass Parliament and ignore the Opposition by striking a private deal
with the Left. The committee that is being set up by the Congress to discuss
the finer nuances of the 123 Agreement and the implications of the Hyde Act
with the Left lacks legitimacy and cannot supplant Parliament where the India-US
nuclear deal should be discussed. It is for the Congress to resolve its differences
on policy with its 'natural' allies both within and outside the Government;
if it fails to do so, it is entirely the Congress's problem. Just because
the Prime Minister finds his bluff and bluster has failed to scare the Left
and the Congress is faced with the very real possibility of a mid-term general
election, Parliament cannot be denied the right to debate and discuss an issue
that impinges on India's national security and could have a profound impact
on our strategic programme. Yet, this is precisely what has been done by the
Congress with the backing of the Communists: They have slyly worked out a
'political mechanism' to protect each other from being made accountable for
their acts of omission and commission. More important, by restricting deliberations
on an issue as significant as the 123 Agreement to a chosen few who do not
represent majority opinion, either in Parliament or in the country, gross
injustice is being done in the most brazen manner to the people of India.
If the Congress's intentions - as also those of the Left - had been honest,
then a Joint Parliamentary Committee would have been set up to ensure the
widest possible discussion on the nuclear deal. That this has not been done
speaks volumes about the dishonourable intentions of those who have come up
with this remarkable idea that flies in the face of the very essence of a
functioning democracy - transparency. Had Parliament or a JPC debated the
deal, the nation would have got to know of the details of the discussion.
With a cabal comprising Congress leaders and their allies discussing the deal
behind closed doors, we will never get to know the truth.
Such an illegitimate arrangement cannot be
accepted, not least because it makes a mockery of Parliament and repudiates
all notions of open governance; the birth of this 'political mechanism' that
has so delighted the Congress and the Left is a blot on our democracy and
must be resisted by every right thinking person. It excludes half of Parliament
and represents interests that can only coalesce in a manner that is not beneficial
to India. Hence, it must be resisted and disowned. What is particularly galling
is the attitude of the Congress: In a throwback to the era when authoritarianism
had come to replace democracy, it is once again placing its own interests,
more specifically those of its leaders and their cronies in the Communist
parties, over those of the nation. If the committee is 'unofficial', as the
Congress now claims, then how can its views be considered while formulating
policy? How can the Government depute bureaucrats to deal with a body that
has no legal sanctity? And, how can the Congress presume overriding power
to announce outside Parliament while it is in session that an 'unofficial'
committee will examine the 123 Agreement and that the operationalisation of
the deal will take its views into account even as MPs are not being allowed
to discuss the issue? Let's not forget that the last time our democratic institutions
were hobbled, the Congress and the Left had joined hands.
