Eleven Indian politicians were thrown out of Parliament yesterday over the Questiongate scandal, only the second time that any parliamentarian has been stripped of his or her post for being corrupt.
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Whatcha gonna do |
Ten Lok Sabha members and one from the Rajya Sabha were expelled at the end of a long debate on the five-member probe committee’s report recommending expulsion. [Link]It is the first time since 1951 that any MP has been expelled for corruption and the biggest single expulsion ever. [Link]
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p>The prime minister also weighed in:
“At no cost should we allow Parliament’s image to be tarnished,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while speaking in the upper house. [Link]
Cobra Post and Aaj Tak carry on Tehelka’s fine muckraking tradition. Predictably, the BJP, which took the brunt of the demotions, focused its fire on the messengers:
Lal Krishna Advani, the leader of the Opposition, summed up the BJP’s mood. “It was stupidity more than corruption that is the issue. The MPs fell for the lure of money…” During today’s debate, many of them targeted the media and called for legislation to rein in the electronic media. [Link]
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To the corrupt politicans I say:
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But only slightly less well-known is this: “Never go in against Sepia Mutiny of Britain when page rank is on the line.” [Link]
Picture this …
In a country (“A”), a bunch of people (“B”) walk into private residences of other people (“C”) with secret cameras, microphones attached to their body and record illegal activity (“D”) going on. This is then broadcast on live-TV and the people who are caught meet fate (“E”) and the people who catch them meet another fate (“F”).
Now let’s fill in the wildcards in two scenarios and see what we get….
Scenario 1: Scenario 2:
A = India A = USA B = Sting journalists B = FBI Agents C = Politicians C = Muslim leaders D = Bribes D = Plans for terrorist activities E = Suspended from Parliament E = ACLU/NY Times defending their privacy F = Become celebrities. F = Suspended for violating privacy without warrant
I cannot fathom how people who are gloating at scenario 1 seamlessly transition to abhorring scenario 2. It’s as if taking a bribe is a worse crime than plotting to kill thousands of people and hence warrants violating people’s privacy.
The BJP is right in questioning the propriety of this. For one, most of the caught are from BSP or BJP (only one token person is caught from the Congress). Secondly, the Congress connections of the person who masterminded the sting operation is coming out. Thirdly, the Congress needed some news to divert attention from the Volcker report. Fourth, the UP elections are close by and the Congress needed something desperately to hit the BSP and BJP with, or else it’s seat percentage in UP is rumoured to be in single digits.
What people don’t realise is that this opens a can of worms. I would have had no problem if they had filmed these politicians in their offices (public property). But when you walk into people residences with secret cameras, you violate so many laws that I cannot begin to list. (Apparently the latest fad in India is that porn movie makers bribe the house-maids and servants to install secret micro-cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms which wirelessly broadcast bedroom activity to a remote receiver.)
The Congress has opened a pandora’s box. Two can play at a game, and when the tables turn it won’t be a pleasant day for the Congress.
M. Nam
See Moor, none of this business would have happened if the Indian Government had planted bugs all over India and tapped people’s phone messages and generally kept everyone on a tight leash like you have suggested in the past, as part of your libertarian (!) stance on privacy and things of such nature.
Since your blog is visible to many Desis, I want to mention this case here: http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/gen/21689prs20051121.html http://www.raksha.org/raksha/documents/Community_Response_Final.htm
I don’t this there is no risk for india with these 11 stupid politicians who fell for this. The MP’s who did not fall for this is much more dangerous to india and they should be summarily dismissed.
MoorNam your arguements hold no water. If it had been 60 minutes that pulled this off the result in US would have been the same. The point is pure and simple. These fuckers didnt even bother checking the existance of NISMA. BJP is pissed that it loss leverage. India today is a biased organization, But so what? Yes it did not target congress but the fact is bjp’s members got caught. Advani is losing all grip with reality. He should have asked for resignations himself and win some brownie points (especialy after the jinnah incident) BTW I lean towards BJP on ‘real’ political issues not contrived ones. So it annoys me more that the sons of soil type are fucking around.
MN, since you have helpfully diagrammed out your thought process, let me use your letters:
A check.
B: Journalists cannot be equated with FBI agents. FBI agents are the government, and the government has a lot of power. The idea behind many of our civil liberties is that the government serves at the will of the people, and the people put restrictions on what the government can and cannot do, because it has the full weight of itself to throw around. Here’s an example: if the government prosecutes you, you have the right to defense counsel. If I sue you, you’re on your own. If the government breaks into your house, it’s violating the constitution and can be sued for violating your civil rights. If I’m breaking into your house, I’m guilty of only the misdemeanor of breaking and entering. There are lots and lots of ways in which equating Journalists and FBI Agents makes no sense at all.
C. Equating with elected politicians with Muslim political leaders? Significant differences in expectation of privacy. Significant differences in power gradient.
D. Accepting a bribe is a crime that has been definitively committed without need of interpretation. Planning a terrorist act is very nebulous, b/c since the heart of the crime hasn’t been committed yet, it’s totally upto to interpration whether or not the crime of conspiracy is actually happening yet.
E. the ACLU and the NYT can do whatever they hell they want–it’s a free country, at least for now. Moreover, you are conveniently ignoring all the other things that can happen to people–the extent to which their identity can be stolen, their privacy violated, their flights cancelled, their time wasted with interrogations, or even their lives ruined by ambiguous and difficult to verify evidence.
F. I’m under the impression they already were celebrities. And yeah, I hold my government agents to a higher standards than I do private citizens. That’s because the former work for me while the latter do not.
All that said, I’m surprised that the suspension happened already and with such quick discussion, and a little discomfitted by it. It seems a bit too easy, let us say.
BTW, Manish, great post title.
I think it would be comical if someone seriously thinks that this scandal shows corruption in BJP or BSP party alone. I dont think explanation is even necessary.
Lets get the context of corruption in India, right. Here is just one of the slightly larger corruption scandal Since almost more than 20 years nothing substantive done on this scandal, the same may happen this time, as the ousted MPs have decided to go to court on this.
But my congratulations to the bloggers of this blog, for being involved in this huge story in the biggest democracy in the world. Hey, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Saheli,
No – they cannot. They should have fewer rights than FBI Agents to do this kind of stuff.
And also on what other people can or cannot do.
Wrong. You are also guilty of violating the Constitution for encroaching on my property.
Wrong. A home is a home is a home. It’s private. An elected politician is entitled to the same privacy in his/her house as is anyone else.
Actually, in this case, the bribe was taken in a residence – not in a government office. The politician could easily claim that he was practising for a play!!
Oh, and a bunch of people are going over the schematic diagram of a tunnel or a bridge, and there’s talk of some nitrate, pressure points, high-traffic time and get-away plans. I’m not sure someone really needs a degree in law-enforcement to interpret this one!
Trust me – a couple of more 9-11 type of attacks and we’ll lose a whole lot of freedom that you can ever imagine. The US is not like Gandhian India where terroists will be allowed to be active in six states for decades. The intolerance that’s inherent to Protestantism is buried in decades of peace and prospertity and MTV. Once this intolerance is dug up by militant Islam, muslims won’t know what hit them. They will pass laws that all brown colored people should wear chips under their skin for easy identification. Islam will be a banned religion. Calls for nuking Mecca will come from mainstream politicians – both Democrat and Republican. Anybody(including ACLU/Times) who protests against this will get a midnight knock on the door and will never be seen or heard from ever again. It will be like Nazi Germany times ten.
That’s why I want law enforcement officials to have all the power they need to prevent another terrorist attack from happening, even if it means losing some of my privacy. I have a lot at stake in this wonderful country – and I don’t want to lose all of this because there are those who cannot distinguish between privacy and liberty.
Here I am in agreement with you – but in a different way. I want government to be more responsible – so any government which is not monitoring radiation from mosques needs to be fired.
M. Nam
A “Princess Bride” reference? Manish Vij, you’re my hero!