Salman Khurshid takes on poll panel, apex court
Mr Salman Khurshid is known to put his foot in the mouth all too often. That he should be doing so as a senior Congress leader and the country's External Affairs Minister, makes the issue all the more grave. Yet, there has been little indication that either his party or the Prime Minister has effectively intervened to ask him to maintain the decorum which is expected of a person in his position. This has only emboldened Mr Khurshid to continue with his completely scandalous diatribes. It is bad enough that the Minister has been levelling unsubstantiated and outrageous allegations against his political opponents. But what has taken the cake is his latest attack on institutions such as the Supreme Court of India and the Election Commission of India. He may seek to wriggle out of the controversy by saying that his remarks were made half in jest and should not be taken in their verbatim sense. But we find nothing funny in what he has said. Speaking at the School of Oriental and African Studies in london recently on the subject, ‘Challenges of democracy in India', Mr Khurshid contemptuously held that the Supreme Court's verdict disqualifying convicted lawmakers was a mere “judge-made law”. He seems to have forgotten that the so-called judge-made law has been unanimously hailed by bipartisan observers as an important step in cleansing the country's politics of corrupt elements, and that the ordinance which the Government had sought to bring to negate the court's verdict had to be withdrawn after his party's vice president objected to it. There was absolutely no need for Mr Khurshid to rake up an issue that stands settled. But the Minister did it because somewhere deep within him, the apex court's order has continued to rankle. His comment demonstrates — if it was not already known — that many Congress leaders like him have not taken kindly to the court's courageous step to bar convicted lawmakers from representing the people.
Mr Khurshid’s unflattering words for the Election Commission of India, which has the mandate to ensure that political parties play by the rules during election time, are a reflection of the intolerance he, his party and the Congress-led UPA Government have for independent institutions. His claim that the poll panel functions on the guideline that parties must not say or do nothing to “win elections” is in bad taste. If parties resort to unlawful means, such as promising religion-based reservations that go against the provisions of the Constitution, or offer sops after election dates are announced, they cannot be allowed to get away. The problem with the Congress is that it cannot reconcile with strong and independent institutions such as the Election Commission, the Supreme Court, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, the Central Vigilance Commission and such others. The party tries to either manipulate them or browbeat them into submission. One can only pity the Minister's contention that strong and democratic institutions are posing a ‘challenge to democracy’.
Despite all the nonsense that he has said, Mr Khurshid is likely to be let off with a mild rebuke from the high command, as has happened on many occasions in the past. But since he also spoke in the capacity of a Minister, it becomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's responsibility to strongly pull up his Cabinet colleague. But Mr Singh, counting his last days in power, is as likely to do so as the Congress is of winning the coming lok Sabha election.