The Political Justice

Many a times I am confronted by a nightmarish question. In a democratic country where majority counts, if a political party or alliance with a two-third majority can do anything by just enacting a legislation, I wonder what their limit is ?

If on one fine day I invent a gadget something like a legendary magical mirror which can tell me where one is and what the person is doing or acquire the ability to predict the same with a beetle leaf and kajal, can the politicians decide that I will be a nuisance and enact a legislation to exterminate me. Or to be more practical, can they one day say Reliance is a property of the nation and not of the two brothers or can they declare an emergency and say there are going to be no elections or election commission for the next 10 years.

In case such political parties decide to enact such a law the fate of those concerned will depend on The President of the nation, secondly The Judiciary and then the World community. But with a thumbing majority, it is very doubtful that the president will be in a position to oppose anything even if he feels it is not justified. Or what if the President himself favours the bill. Now the only other option would be be to take the case to the Supreme Court. With the recent stand-off between the parliament and judiciary, it is very unlikely that justice can be expected from the judiciary. Te final option will be for the ill-fated party to voice their protest in whatever way possible and mobilise support for their cause amoung the world community.

I think we are in fact living in such an era of political correctness, be it the emergency days or the US invasion of Iraq or the more current issue of reservation based on caste for the OBCs, SCs and STs.

The dictatorial attitude of the then prime minister was well personified in the days of emergency. Every Indian citizen including the press was deprived of the basic freedoms including freedom of speech, which was justified by the then political scenario including the then President of India. But the plight of the opposition and those who decided to oppose the emergency remains un-justified. Those days will remain to be a black days in our democratic system for centuries to come.

The US invasion of Iraq is more to do with military might than political correctness. But, the point to be noted here is that even the most powerful politician needed approval and backing from the congress for his live military adventures. Anyway, there is no justification for killing thousands of innocent people who were caught unaware and for those who fought the only super-power for the sake of defending their nation. But the hind-sight is that, in more than one way it is safe and good to have a super power like America. Can you or me live in a world where Afganistan or Iraq is mightier than the rest of world?

Coming to the current issue, the reservation based on caste or religion, the UPA with their number strength (or expecting the support of the so called OBCs who are considered to be the majority in this country) is trying to snatch the very right of equality from one section of the population. Again the politicians are trying to justify it politically. What justice can they give to a candidate belonging to general category who is economically backward while it is not his mistake to have born to his parents?

Every politician must understand that there are two types of justice, one is legal/political and the other being moral. The political system in a country may legalise what they ever to do. But they should look at their inner self to check if they are morally justified. In any case, one thing for sure is "Might is Right". So, it is more important that you are mighty than being morally right. If you are mighty you can survive even if you are morally unjustified where as there is no guarantee if you are morally right and not mighty enough.