The Jana rekha

The Jana rekha

The Bharatiya Janata Party president Jana Krishnamurthi’s idea of a code of ethics for party MPs, MLAs and all elected representatives is, indeed, remarkable. In a country, where political morality has sunk so low that dubious and unscrupulous arms dealers have easy access to the corridors of power, without any regard for national security, the idea of a code of ethics is welcome. ‘‘Our party should be able to demonstrate that it is willing to apply standards to itself which it expects from other parties,’’ announced Krishnamurthi. Fair enough. No quarrel with this. The problem begins when we consider the timing of the announcement about three weeks after the Tehelka expose.

The announcement of a code of ethics right after the Defencegate seems like an open admission of guilt that there were indeed skeletons in the cupboard of the NDA government as the Tehelka expose revealed. The implication is that the Bangaru Laxmans and the Jaya Jaitlys might have done something that cannot be termed strictly ethical.

Tehelka, then, did the right thing. In fact, it did something that was in the national interest expose the rottenness of the system. If all this is true, then, going by the first principles of formal logic, Tehelka couldn’t be a mere conspiracy. After all, something and its opposite cannot be true at the same time. Although Krishnamurthi is an honourable man and is a lawyer by training, yet he insists that Tehelka was an Opposition-inspired conspiracy. In fact, even after Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani has publicly accepted that the conspiracy theory was a mistake, Krishnamurthi prefers to stick to his stand. Then why do we need this new code of ethics? And if the answer is why not, then why so soon after Tehelka expose? There clearly seems to be a logical contradiction between the two positions of the new party president.

The announcement of an ethical code of conduct is not new. Model codes of conduct have existed all along for all political parties. The major sections of the code were implemented only when T.N. Seshan took over as the Chief Election Commissioner. Although it did not have legal teeth, Seshan was able to have his way. The success of an ethical code of conduct will depend on the individuals concerned and the leadership of the party. In short, its success will depend greatly on Krishnamurthi’s own personality and leadership abilities.

The problem begins when his MPs and MLAs become ministers. It is after becoming ministers and getting control of public resources that they turn towards venality. This means an ethical code of conduct must include ministers, and even the prime minister. Given the fact that Krishnamurthi believes that there must be a Lakshman Rekha between the government and the party, how can a party leader lay out an ethical code of conduct that will govern the government? Either the stand is contradictory and proof of the BJP’s doublespeak, or it could be a sneaky strategy of overstepping the Lakshman Rekha and, in effect, controlling the government through remote control.