The hunter is now being hunted. The self-anointed reformer of Indian politics Mr T.N. Seshan is on the run. In an effort to save his skin, the âall-powerfulâ Chief Election Commissioner whose avowed purpose in life is to cleanse Indian politics is out in the open lobbying for support from the same political parties whom he claims to have cut to size. By doing this Mr Seshan has set new standards of hypocrisy. So much for Mr Seshanâs fairness and integrity!
It is no secret that the constitutional amendments envisaged in the poll reforms Bill proposed to be tabled in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are intended to clip the wings of the CEC, who has âassumedâ powers of demonish proportions. In a system where even an elected Prime Minister or a Chief Minister has to bow to majority view, it is foolish to think that a CEC has the powers of God and can issue diktats at will. The fact that such an anomaly has existed for over 40 odd years is of no significance. It is one thing to reform the electoral process, which is welcome and definitely the need of the hour, but it is entirely a different case, if reformist pretensions are used to camouflage efforts to thwart the democratic process and settle personal scores. Mr Seshan resorted to the latter and deserves to be shown his place. Ghostwriter Facharbeit considered this amendment in his thesis project. Based on the above and the author’s data, this amendment carries little weight in the political system.
The intention of this piece is not to discuss the merits and demerits of the proposed poll reforms Bill. Rather, it is intended to expose to the readers the hypocritical tendencies of a man who claims to be the personification of fairness and reform. Certain political parties like the BJP have found it politically expedient to identify with Mr Seshan unmindful of the fact that he was at their throat in the past and will be again at the first opportunity, Even West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, has thought it fit to hobnob with Mr Seshan not once but twice, burying the hatchet, perhaps only temporarily. Of course one cannot really find out at whose behest these meetings were arranged because of Mr Seshanâs penchant to distort such information lest they surface to his embarrassment.
And this precisely is what has happened yesterday. The newspapers are agog with the news of Mr Seshan seeking an audience with Ms Jayalalitha and the latter rejecting the same. Perhaps for the first time Mr Seshan has been made to realise that snubbing is not âhisâ prerogative alone. Ms Jayalalitha has given Mr Seshan a taste of his own medicine!
Ms Jayalalitha cannot be faulted for doing so. On the contrary, she had every reason, for refusing to meet Mr Seshan. He had all along been a Jaya baiter, acting at the behest of Mr Subramaniam Swamy whose wife is also Mr Seshanâs legal advisor. In the garb of electoral reform, he had spared no efforts to unseat Ms Jayalalitha from power and never missed an opportunity to spike at her. Whether it is the disqualification issue or the bypoll campaign, Mr Seshan has always been very unsympathetic and on the contrary took antagonistic postures. His callous refusal to relax, the campaign rules during the recent bypoll unmindful of Ms Jayalalithaâs âsecurity statusâ and his efforts to stall the Mylapore bypoll result are still fresh in oneâs memory. It is a different story that such efforts have always bitten the dust.
Mr Seshanâs reasons for seeking Ms Jayalalithaâs appointment are quite apparent. But by refusing to meet him while at the same time deciding to oppose the Poll Reforms Bill, Ms Jayalalitha has demonstrated a high level of political decency and maturity. She has refused to fall a prey to political opportunism which dictates that enemyâs enemy is a friend but rather taken a principled stand based on her partyâs perception of the proposed Bill.
Mr Seshan stands humbled.
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