The Supreme Court agreed with the
UP High Court’s verdict that the petitioners who had alleged that Rahul Gandhi
kidnapped and raped a girl had done it for political reasons and had presented
lies in the court. The High Court had levied a penalty of Rs 50 lacs on the
petitioners. One of the petitioners had confessed that it was Akhilesh Yadav
himself who had plotted the plan. The SC has now agreed with this view and in
fact, repeated even more forcefully, how the reputation of a politician was
targeted by another one. In the meanwhile, whatever damage had to happen to
Rahul Gandhi’s image has already happened. That can never be undone. But maybe
we can all learn a lesson; to guard ourselves from such misinformation in the
future. Unfortunately, the same thing continues day after day on TV and we lap
it all up assuming every allegation to be the gospel truth.
Back then, TV news channels and newspapers
had declared Rahul Gandhi guilty and accorded the petitioners a hero-like
status. Because of a few rotten apples, there is a public perception that all
politicians are criminals. Any charge of wrongdoing hurled against them tends
to stick. So strong is the public perception that even good politicians, those
that do genuine public service, suffer. This starts a self-fulfiling prophesy
where the good guys start staying away from politics and the bad guys start to
dominate it. If we recognize the trap for what it is, then we would learn from
it and make sure we did not become victims all over again. But that’s the trap
that is laid out everyday by the Joker in the political pack (henceforth, just
Joker for brevity) Kejriwal. Everyday he makes an accusation against someone,
brandishing documents that no one has vetted, making charges and pronouncing
guilty verdicts like he’s the accuser-investigator-prosecutor-judge all rolled
into one, and undoing the good work of decades in just a few moments. Every
single day, this Joker lays the trap and we become victims. It is time we break
free from this.
The Joker steadfastly refuses to
go to the courts and present his documents there. Maybe he knows the pitfalls
of any sane judicial process. The first limitation the process would put on
Joker is that it would disallow him from becoming the judge himself. With that
power gone, Joker’s documents would be submitted to extensive scrutiny by the
courts, something that media does not do. My guess is that most of these docs
would just be thrown out. The court would also insist on the counter party
being heard and their views being taken into consideration. They may have their
own documents to present. The court’s scrutiny would reveal the truth – did
Gadkari get the 100 acres land for 99
years as Joker claims or just 11
years as Gadkari does? Further, the court proceedings would make the matter
disappear from TV studios; as subjudice matters cannot be discussed in public.
In a sanitized environment provided by courts, the truth comes out unlike what happens in the politicized kangaroo
courts run by TV channels – especially the one I call Scam TV (the one whose
content is only scams). But all this rigor is inconvenient to Joker. That’s why
he avoids the courts. That’s why he rushes to media. And look at how he makes a
fool of the people – by saying that the courts will take forever to decide. The
crores of people who wait for justice in the courts are all idiots, it would
appear. Maybe all of them should just approach media to find a solution. Maybe
Joker can start a judicial service of his own. This is exactly how totalitarian
regimes have started in the past – by the leader becoming the settler of
disputes. This is what is sought to be wreaked on India. When Dileep Padgaonkar
says that India’s democracy is under threat, don’t take it lightly.
The problem with Joker is that he
is interested in mere sensationalism. And he has understood the mad competitive
rush for TRPs in the TV business. So many accusations have been hurled at
politicians in the past. Does anyone remember what happened to the charges
against Praful Patel for some apparent favors granted by Air India to the IPL
organization? Or for that matter, to charges that he ordered 40 odd new planes
for Air India at “double quick” speeds (it’s a different matter it still took
17 months to place the orders!). Do we remember the heated debates in the
papers just a few months back when General VK Singh had made startling
accusations against the Government on the matter of his age? What did the SC
do? Threw the matter out. Or the matter raised by Subramaniam Swamy against
Chidambaram that he was involved in the 2G pricing decision? That too was
thrown out by the Supreme Court. Media had of course irresponsibly treated Scam
TV, General Singh and Subramaniam Swamy as though they were all Harishchandras.
There are thousands of such
examples, when the truth is the exact opposite of the charges levied. That is
why we need an independent judical process to investigate the charges.
Opposition leaders say that the judiciary is handicapped because the
investigating body, the CBI, is in the hands of the central government. But
they fail to explain why they themselves turn to the CBI whenever they are in
an inconvenient position. If the CBI were indeed the Congress Bureau of
Investigation (a good punchline, but a hollow one really), then why do they turn
to it for their own investigations (BJP in Shehla Masood case in MP,
Jayalalitha in TN)?
Joker claims the judiciary is too
slow. That it is indeed and the judiciary must do something to rid itself of
this charge. So what’s the solution – jump the queue and take decision making
in your own hands? The way Joker conducts inquiries, any defence by the charged
party is impossible. When Salman Khurshid sued him for defamation (a step that
should prove his confidence), Joker alleged this was a threat. He said that the
Akhilesh Yadav government would wipe out the evidence (yes, the same Akhilesh
Yadav who apparently plotted the rape charge against Rahul Gandhi; but logic
seldom matters to Joker). When the farmer who Joker alleged was hiding in fear
in Nagpur suddenly surfaced, Joker said that he had been “bought” over by
Gadkari. As far as Joker is concerned, no defence of the accused is permissible.
His original charge is final. And of course, anyone who challenges Joker is
either corrupt or anti-national or both. Isn’t it time we show joker his true
place?
The real truth is that
media needs to wake up. If it continues to be this irresponsible, and continues
to misinform the public, it will see its credibility being eroded. If it still
continues, it will see bodies like the Supreme Court (if not Parliament) put
restrictions on it. For a free press, this has to be avoided. But then with
freedom comes responsibility. Its time media realized this…..
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