O J's Corner : Reflections

George Fernandes, the adviser

Whenever he got an opportunity, George Fernandes did not lose any time to castigate Sonia Gandhi. In a democratic set-up, political rivals should oppose prevalent policies and programmes. Fernandes has been doing more than that.

One can understand the vengeful feelings of Fernandes, who was ill-treated during the 1975 Emergency proclaimed by Sonia Gandhi’s mother-in-law, the-then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Without going into the merits of the incidents which occurred during those days, it should also be pointed out that Fernandes was involved in a criminal case.

A lot of people had suffered under the Emergency, which taught a lesson to Indira Gandhi herself. She was also arrested by the Morarji Desai regime . She was a mellowed leader after losing power and regaining it next.

Is there a semblance of the ideological, ethical, moralist views held by Fernandes of yore, compared to his postures doing the last few years? Many of the Jayaprakash Narain acolytes have become opportunists afterwards. Passage of time transforms people. Some of the sublime ones turn tainted, and a few wayward ones turn saintly.

Let us come to the point. When Fernandes was the Defence Minister in the NDA dispensation of A B Vajpayee, he threw his bungalow open for anyone to meet him. “Acting” military stuff “wheeler-dealers” of the Tehelka sting operators could not meet Fernandes, instead they met his life-partner for help in getting orders for military equipment. The same sting operators had bowled BJP’s president Bangaru Laxman over with wads of currency.

Fernades had offered justification for the doings of Laxman and Jaya Jaitley.

The same person is now offering Sonia Gandhi seemingly wise pieces of advice. She should act on office of profit bill as desired by President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
Sonia’s no “not only blatantly insults our patriotic President” but also sets a dangerous precedent for the law-makers of the future that “the Constitution could be shamed and sullied as per their whims and pleasure”.

Fernandes would say that the President was fulfilling his paramount duty towards the country and acting as per the oath of his office by returning the bill that was calculated to defeat the sacrosanct intention of the framers of the Constitution.

Fernandes conveniently forgets that the same Constitution calls upon the President to sign on the dotted line when the returned bill is sent back to him in the same format. Is Parliament’s wisdom inferior to anyone else’s wisdom?

What is the intention of NDA and people like Fernandes? Do they want 56 MPs elected by the people to be thrown out at one go? It was true, the executive did not meticulously exempt the offices of profit held by certain MPs from time to time.

Please note these MPs have not been charged with corrupt practices when they held dual positions. Parliament had, from the very beginning, exempted a lot of MPs from holding simultaneous positions.

Was it the intention of political rivals to unseat 56 MPs so that pressure would be built on the UPA regime to quit? The natural corollary would be a mid-term election.
What if Sonia Gandhi does not heed to the unwanted advice?