It is this syndrome — “Shouldn’t we have our man, or woman, in this or that post?” — that is rapidly corroding our democracy. And the syndrome is operating at all levels of governance. Shouldn’t we have our man in the Election Commission? Our persons in the higher judiciary? Our speaker in Parliament, who can be relied upon to gag the voice of the Opposition? Our man to head the CBI, who can be depended upon to do our bidding — be it in the Quattrocchi matter or the Jalagon murder case? And shouldn’t we have as prime minister a person who is willing to be unassertive, indeed submissive? It is this perverse mindset that has determined the choice of the new Rashtrapati.

Devaluation of democratic institutions is the first step towards destruction of democracy. Recall that the Constitution could be vandalised during the Emergency (1975-77) only because Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, had applied the criterion of “we must have our man in the Supreme Court”. She installed a compliant A.N. Ray as the chief justice, superceding three senior and competent judges, all of whom resigned in protest. Recall also how the Emergency proclamation itself was signed by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, a rubber-stamp president who was aptly caricatured by cartoonist Abu Abraham as dutifully signing Indira Gandhi’s undemocratic ordinances from his bathtub.

The eclipse of democracy during the Emergency was not a natural occurrence. It was made possible by the deliberate dismantlement of several political and constitutional safeguards. The Congress party had been reduced to a fiefdom of one family, so that no questions could be asked from within. The situation is no different today. Once again, the party has been made incapable of questioning any decision of Sonia Gandhi.

... contd.