POLITICS-INDIA: Court Unseats Popular Minister

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Sep 24 2001 (IPS) - Despite her conviction for corruption, Jayaraman Jayalalithaa still holds millions of impoverished people in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state spellbound.

But last week, Jayalalithaa got her comeuppance, and India a lesson in political morality, when the Supreme Court set aside her appointment as chief minister of Tamil Nadu on the grounds that as a convicted person she was ineligible to hold office.

“It is too clear for argument that constitutional law is not a matter of majority vote. The Constitution is the supreme document which should bind people of India as well as all other constitutional authorities including the governor,” the apex court observed dryly.

Emboldened by the thumping majority gained by her All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, which claims to forward the cause of ethnic Dravidians who dominate southern India, Jayalalithaa got the governor to appoint her chief minister.

The strong-willed, former actress who is being compared to former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos for her immense collection of footwear, ignored wiser counsel that reminded her that she had been barred by India’s election commission from contesting the May elections on the grounds of her conviction.

Once sworn in as chief minister, Jayalalithaa quickly set about settling scores with her political opponents, jailing many of them with the help of compliant police officers whom she rewarded with plum postings and protection from the wrath of the federal government.

But the vindictive arrest of her predecessor in office and veteran politician, the 77-year-old M. Karunanidhi, and two federal cabinet ministers in a midnight swoop in July, resulted in the sacking of her benefactor and state governor, Fathima Beevi.

Presumption of innocence until proven guilty in the final court of appeal is a basic principle of Indian jurisprudence but Jayalalithaa is one politician who has stretched it to its limits.

Not only has she managed to stay out of jail, she actually get herself appointed to high office at a time when there is growing public concern over corruption by members of India’s political class.

Jayalalitha is out of jail while her case in on appeal. For now, the court has deemed her swearing in unconstitutional and she has become the first chief minister of an Indian state to have ever been unseated by a court of law.

Earlier this year, political leader Bangaru Laxman had to resign as the president of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after being caught on camera accepting wads of currency in exchange for defence deals.

Last year, one of India’s most distinguished former prime ministers, Narasimha Rao was handed a three-year sentence and barred from contesting elections for the six years for bribing legislators to vote in his favour during a confidence motion.

Attempts to bring in legislation to stop those facing court trials from contesting elections have been thwarted by political parties which fear that their candidates could get disqualified because there is nothing to distinguish a conviction that comes from corruption and another resulting from leading an agitation.

“Corruption is deeply entrenched in the system but what we are seeing may just be political vendetta at work,” commented D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) which along with the Congress party supports the AIADMK.

“After all, the government is the final arbiter not only in the matter of inquiry and investigation but also in the case of prosecution and termination of trial in important cases,” Raja said.

A nexus between Indian politicians and criminals is seen to be behind the non-capture for decades of a sandalwood and ivory poacher, K. Veerappan, who is alleged to have murdered 114 people, many of them policemen or forest guards in a career spanning three decades.

Julio Ribeiro, dubbed supercop for his relentless pursuit of gangsters in Mumbai city where he served as police chief, says that politicians regularly use the money and muscle provided by criminals to further their own careers and fortunes.

Over the last decade, the courts have been inundated with cases of corruption which show a nexus among politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, says Arun Kumar, who teaches economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Jayalalithaa was convicted for undervaluing public land and then buying it for herself and an associate, resulting in losses to the state coffers of more than a million dollars. There are other cases pending against her from an earlier tenure as chief minister.

In her anxiety to get the central government to intervene on her behalf, she withdrew the AIADMK party’s critical support for an earlier coalition government led by Prime Minister Vajpayee, causing it to collapse in April 1999.

According to R. Thirunavukkarasu, a well-known political commentator, the success of the AIADMK has been its transformation from a party which supported the interests of ethnic Dravidians into a “channel for the circulation of money.”

“The charges of corruption levelled at Jayalalithaa by her political opponents failed as vote-catching slogans and people were attracted by the AIADMK’s proven ability to mobilise money while in power,” Thirunvukkarasu commented.