In extraordinary haste, both houses of Parliament have enacted a law to remove Dr P. Venugopal from the directorship of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Such things happen not because Parliament is supreme but because intellectuals — and the people — have become impotent.

In the early years of Independence, Dr A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar was the vice-chancellor of the University of Madras as well as leader of the opposition in the legislative council. As opposition leader, he was a thorn in the flesh of the ruling Congress. Although the party had an absolute majority, it never thought of removing him. Times have changed. Now the same party throws probity to the winds merely to get some breathing space.

Prime Minister Narasimha Rao once asserted that every single action taken by the government was on expert advice. Therefore, the experts, not the government, were to blame. He was apparently right but actually wrong. The government instituted wrong policies only because it chose wrong experts. As Shakespeare said, bringer of unwelcome news hath but a losing office. Therefore, intellectuals in office can only be those who mirror their masters’ desires, not those who correct their errors.

A democracy is supposed to minimise such errors by electing the right people. We are so proud of our democracy that we are prepared to confer untrammelled authority on our legislators. Unfortunately, our democratic process is deeply flawed. It is from our electoral process that all our troubles emanate: almost all our legislators are elected with a minority of the popular vote, once as little as 7 per cent of the total vote! Everybody knows and agrees that our system of one vote per voter sets at nought the wishes of a large majority. This is an error we have inherited from the British. The British have largely escaped the consequences of this because they have had, essentially, a two-party system. Our country is far too diverse to enjoy this luxury. Hence, what is tolerable distortion in Britain has become in India intolerable pain.

... contd.