‘Democracy and Governance Through
Lens and Blurred Glasses
A Journey into Distorted Visions
of Modern-Day
Politics’
Book Authored by Jwala Narasimha Rao
An Appraisal of the
book By Justice V Ramasubramanian
{Justice V Ramasubramanian, a ‘Distinguished Legal Luminary’ and former Supreme
Court Judge, is now the Chairperson of the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who exemplifies the Ideal blend of Intellect,
Integrity, and Public Service. Justice Ramasubramanian’s humility, sincerity,
and measured wisdom is unparalleled. Justice V Ramasubramanian, stands as an
exemplary Saint in Current Day Robes, a Walking Encyclopedia of Contemporary
Jurisprudence and Ancient Wisdom alike. He brings to public life a rare combination
of legal wisdom and Sanatana Dharma.
Prior to his
appointment as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court on July 31, 2006,
and later as a permanent judge on November 9, 2009, Justice Ramasubramanian
practiced for 23 years in the High Court of Madras. From April 2016 to June
2019, he served in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the States of
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, before moving to Himachal Pradesh High Court as
Chief Justice. He ascended to the Supreme Court of India in September 2019 and
was the Supreme Court Judge till his retirement on June 29, 2023. His career
reflects a commitment to upholding justice across various levels of the
judiciary}-Jwala Narasimha
Rao Vanam, Author
Plato classified the forms of
Government as Aristocracy, where Philosopher Kings will rule: Timocracy,
Oligarchy, Democracy, and Tyranny. What is interesting to see is that, Plato’s
classification is in the descending order of merit. According to Plato, although
freedom is a true value, democracy involves the danger of excessive freedom, of
doing as one likes, which leads to anarchy. Secondly, equality, related to the
belief that everyone has the right and equal capacity to rule, according to
Plato brings to politics, all kinds of power-seeking individuals, motivated by
personal gain rather than public good. Democracy, according to him, is thus
highly corruptible and it opens gates to demagogues, potential dictators, and
can thus lead to tyranny.
In an article by Robert A Dahl,
Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale University, appearing in
Encyclopaedia Britannica, the author defines democracy and analyses certain
fundamental questions that confront democracy. The following is an excerpt from
the Britannica:
‘Democracy, literally, rule by the
people. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratia, which was coined from
dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”) in the middle of the 5th
century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek
city-states, notably Athens. The etymological origins of the term democracy
hint at a number of urgent problems that go far beyond semantic issues. If a
government of or by the people-a “popular” government-is to be
established, at least five fundamental questions must be confronted at the
outset, and two more are almost certain to be posed if the democracy continues
to exist for long.
(1) What is the
appropriate unit or association within which a democratic government should be
established? A town or city? A country? A business corporation? A university?
An international organization? All of these?
(2) Given an
appropriate association-a city, for example-who among its members should enjoy
full citizenship? Which persons, in other words, should constitute the dēmos?
Is every member of the association entitled to participate in governing it?
Assuming that children should not be allowed to participate (as most adults
would agree), should the dēmos include
all adults? If it includes only a subset of the adult population, how small can
the subset be before the association ceases to be a democracy and becomes
something else, such as an aristocracy (government by the best, aristos) or an
oligarchy (government by the few, oligos)?
(3) Assuming a
proper association and a proper dēmos, how are citizens to govern? What
political organizations or institutions will they need? Will these institutions
differ between different kinds of associations-for example, a small town and a
large country?
(4) When citizens
are divided on an issue, as they often will be, whose views should prevail, and
in what circumstances? Should a majority always prevail, or should minorities
sometimes be empowered to block or overcome majority rule?
(5) If a majority
is ordinarily to prevail, what is to constitute a proper majority? A majority
of all citizens? A majority of voters? Should a proper majority comprise not
individual citizens but certain groups or associations of citizens, such as
hereditary groups or territorial associations? Two Additional Questions if
Democracy Continues to exist for Long.
(6) The preceding
questions presuppose an adequate answer to a sixth and even more important
question: Why should ‘the people’ rule? Is democracy really better than
aristocracy or monarchy? Perhaps, as Plato argues in the Republic, the best
government would be led by a minority of the most highly qualified persons-an
aristocracy of ‘philosopher-kings.’ What reasons could be given to show that
Plato’s view is wrong?
(7) No
association could maintain a democratic government for very long if a majority
of the dēmos-or a majority of the government-believed that some other form of
government was better. Thus, a minimum condition for the continued existence of
a democracy is that a substantial proportion of both the dēmos and the
leadership believes that popular government is better than any feasible
alternative. What conditions, in addition to this one, favour the continued
existence of democracy? What conditions are harmful to it? Why have some
democracies managed to endure, even through periods of severe crisis, while so
many others have collapsed?”
Therefore,
democracy is a form of Government which has its own quota of congenital
defects. But given the dangers posed by human fallibility of the Kali Yuga,
democracy, among all existing forms of Government, appears to be the least
destructive one.
When India
attained freedom from colonial rulers and became a democracy, the western media
predicted the complete disintegration of the country within a couple of years.
But all those doomsday fore sayers, ate a humble pie, when the people of the
country, though impoverished systematically both in material welfare and
intellectual attainments, stood united and ensured that democracy survived here
more than in developed countries.
It is in that
context that the book on hand is a very significant contribution by an
illumined mind. In my view, ‘Democracy and Governance Through Lens and
Blurred Glasses- A Journey into Distorted Visions of Modern-Day Politics’
is a priceless gem among the genre of books on the state of democracy today.
While
optimists may say that democracy’s health is robust, pessimists may say that it
is in intensive care unit throughout the world. But Jwala Narasimha Rao
presents a very balanced and objective picture identifying areas where there is
cause for worry and areas which carry bright spots. As he has said in one of
the articles contained in this collection, democracy is not a perfect mode but
must prevail.
The book
contains about 75 articles dealing ‘In Extenso’ with topics, ranging
from administrative reforms to civil service and its ethical dilemma to
emergency and its effect on judiciary to parliamentary accountability to polls to the election commission and its role
to ethics in governance to the need for cooperative federalism to electronic
voting machines to gubernatorial gimmicks to constitutional spirit and customs
to citizens’ life beyond welfare and development to the role of the media to
education policy and what not.
What makes the
book an interesting read, is that it is not just theoretical or rhetorical, but
contains empirical data and historical evidence in support of every conclusion
it draws. If it is about administrative reforms, Jwala Narasimha Rao provides
the entire history, starting from Ricketts Report on Civil Establishments and
Salaries of the year 1866 up to the Reports of the Second Administrative
Reforms Commission submitted in 2009.
After talking
about decline of Parliamentary Accountability, Jwala has penned an interesting
article on the question of ‘Resignations of Law Makers and the UK Experience,’
where he points out that in England, a Member of Parliament once elected,
cannot resign. This chapter is very illuminating with the example of Gerry
Adams, belonging to the political party ‘Sinn Fein’ who got elected to
the Parliament from Northern Ireland, and who remained an ‘Abstentionist’
Westminster Member of Parliament from 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011. His
case gave rise to lot of legal conundrums and is worth reading.
There is an
enriching article on ‘Genesis and Evolution of District Administration’ which
traces the system of administration to the days of Manu and its evolution
during the colonial Rule as documented by SS Khera. This chapter is followed by
one on ‘Civil Servants shoulder shared responsibilities.’
There is an
interesting anecdote in this chapter, which happened when PV Narasimha Rao was
the Chief Minister of the State of Andhra Pradesh. It appears that in the midst
of riots for a separate State, the Chief Minister wanted to visit Vijayawada,
but the then Chief Secretary Valluri Kameswara Rao advised him not to go. But
the Chief Minister reminded the Chief Secretary that he was his subordinate and
hence should obey his instructions. The Chief Secretary agreed. But the Chief
Minister’s Car driver did not turn up. When PV Narasimha Rao enquired, he was
politely told by the Chief Secretary that just as the Chief Minister ordered
him (his subordinate), he had ordered his subordinate namely the driver not to
come for work. The Chief Minister then understood the gravity of the situation
and even appreciated the Chief Secretary. Such anecdotes make the book a
compelling read.
The article on
‘Adherence to Lakshman Rekha’ deals with an interesting tussle between the
Legislature and the Judiciary in the State of Telangana. Two members of the
Telangana Legislative Assembly, belonging to Indian National Congress were
expelled from the Assembly by a unanimous resolution, on the ground of
misconduct. But a learned Judge of the High Court set aside the expulsion on
the ground of violation of the principles of natural justice. Jwala Narasimha
Rao discusses as to how this judgment triggered heated debates on the role and
power of the courts to interfere with the decisions taken by the Assembly in
accordance with the procedure established by law.
Incidentally,
I was serving the Telangana High Court at that time and I was part of the
Division Bench which stayed the judgment of the Single Judge. Therefore, I am
aware of what actually happened though Jwala Narasimha Rao may not. The 2 MLAs
who were expelled from the Assembly first committed the blunder of making as
parties to the writ petition, only (1) the State of Telangana, Law and
Legislature Department, Hyderabad (2) the Legislative Secretariat of the State
of Telangana represented by its Secretary, Legislative Assembly Buildings and
(3) The Election Commission of India represented by the Chief Election
Commissioner.
They argued
before the learned Judge that the court should summon the CCTV footage to
ascertain what exactly happened in the Assembly. When the learned Judge asked
the then Advocate General of Telangana, he agreed to produce the CCTV footage.
But the then Chief Minister took exception to the Advocate General’s concession
in court, which forced the Advocate General Mr Prakash Reddy to resign. Since
the Government took a stand not to produce the CCTV footage on the ground that
the Court had no jurisdiction to subject the resolution of the Assembly to
Judicial Review, the learned Judge drew adverse inference that the allegations
on the basis of which the MLAs were expelled cannot be taken to have been
proved.
Consequently,
the learned Judge allowed the writ petition and directed the restoration of the
membership of the MLAs. But the Government decided not to implement the
judgment nor to appeal against it. However, a few MLAs of the ruling party
filed a third-party appeal but the Division Bench refused to grant leave to
them to appeal by invoking the theory of locus standi. The MLAs then filed a
contempt petition on which the learned Judge ordered notice. The contemnors
were the (1) Secretary to Government, Law Department and (2) Secretary to
Government, Legislative Affairs department, both of whom did not have the
mandate to implement the order of the learned Judge. When they brought to the
notice of the learned Judge that they had no mandate to implement the order,
the learned Judge was at his wit’s end and the establishment was in jubilation.
When the
learned Judge had a casual conversation with me during a committee meeting, I
pointed out that the person capable of giving effect to the order was not even
made a party to the writ petition and that therefore, the learned Judge may
think of now impleading him. The Judge took the clue and dropped a bomb shell
on the next day in court that he will be impleading the necessary party suo
moto. This forced the Government to drop their initial adversarial pasture and
to rush to the Division Bench with an appeal. The rest is history. Since Jwala
(or anyone else, for that matter) could not have gained information about this
part of the story, I took the liberty to narrate the same so that the readers
may know that they will never get to know the full story in any case, unless
the actors who are involved speak up.
The article on
Evolution of Electronic Voting Machines is very illustrative and is a must read
for all students of electoral democracy.
There are 2
articles on Raj Dharma. One is titled ‘Sri Rama’s Raj Dharma’ where the advice
given by Lord Rama to Bharata on State Craft is discussed very lucidly, showing
how India was far ahead of the rest of the world, in political science. The
other is titled ‘Raj Dharma vital for peace and prosperity’ where both Ramayana
and Mahabharata are cited with authority. Both the articles showcase how
Sanatan Dharma laid emphasis on Raj Dharma. In fact, Ramayana is strewn with
gems of wisdom for the Rulers. There is an interesting sloka in the Ayodhya
Kanda, which encapsulates the essentials of public policy. While enquiring with
Bharata, about the welfare of the people of Ayodhya, Lord Rama asks:
कच्चिद् अर्थम् विनिश्चित्य लघु मूलम् महा उदयम्
क्षिप्रम् आरभसे कर्तुम् न दीर्घयसि राघव |
‘O, Bharata! I
hope considering your interest fully, you launch an undertaking, which has
maximum benefit with minimum cost and indeed do not delay it further.’ The
above sloka contains the essence of how a public policy should be framed by the
Government. Public Policy should (1) bring forth the maximum benefit (2) at
minimum cost and (3) it should be achieved at great speed.
There are two
articles dealing with ethics. One is titled ‘Decline of ethical behaviour in
Politics’ and the other on ‘A Travesty of ethics in Indian Politics and
Democracy.’ Both represent a mother’s cry about the current state of affairs.
‘Ethics in public life’ has become an oxymoron or contradiction in terms. While
the second article is actually on anti-defection law and how political parties
have turned the law into a mockery, the first article is replete with several
anecdotes which demonstrate how this country had its quota of decent
politicians. But ethics is not just about decency.
When war
became imminent in the Mahabharat and they had to perform a sacrifice at an
auspicious time to become victors, Duryodhana chooses to go to Sahadeva (the
enemy), who was well versed in astrology. This is because of the faith he had
in the ethical values of Sahadeva. Much against the advice of Lord Krishna,
Sahadeva provides the correct advice to Duryodhana, at the cost of losing the
war and the lives of his own kith and kin. That Lord Krishna then had to do
some gimmick to change the course of things is a different matter.
If only we had
people in public life and politics who valued ethics more than capturing power,
the destiny of this country would have been different. Therefore, the article
on the ‘Decline of ethical behaviour in politics’ is a warning bell for the
citizens.
‘Life Lessons
from the Puranas for modern times’ is a must-read article for all politicians,
as it shows how even the mightiest fell out of power, due to greed,
authoritarian tendencies, or arrogance.
There are few
Telangana Centric Articles which are appreciative of the former Chief Minister
under whom Jwala served. But for these articles, the book has universal appeal.
I am sure that the book will serve as a guiding light to all those who are and
who aspire to become part of the 3 pillars of democracy. For me it was a great
learning experience, going through these articles. I congratulate Jwala
Narasimha Rao for his lucidity of expression, felicity of language and the
collation of great ideas.
(Thank You Sir,
Justice Ramasubramanian Garu, for your appraisal of my book
‘Democracy and Governance Through Lens and Blurred
Glasses
A Journey into Distorted Visions of Modern-Day
Politics’
Which will be
release shortly)
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