Bull's Eye

Rajinder Puri May 12, 2003 00:00 IST Bull's Eye -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

Recently commerce minister Arun Jaitley blamed the media for being negative. "The media is ignoring positive trends in the country," he lamented. He is so right. The most positive thing is that we are a democracy. Democracy gives Indians a choice. We can, for instance, choose to be stabbed with tridents, pierced with swords or bashed with lathis.

Democracy also gives us freedom of information. Mulayam Singh used this freedom to inform the world through secret videotapes that Mayawati urged her partymen to divert government funds to party coffers. But Mulayam Singh forgot that democracy also gives us the rule of law. Mayawati used the rule of law to slap 137 cases against him. Because we have equality under law, Mulayam Singh pointed out that preceding CMs, including Mayawati, had also committed the crimes of which he was being accused.

Things were getting out of hand. Fortunately we have a Parliament. Some MPs contemplated a law to protect former CMs from being arrested by current incumbents. But we also have a legal system. Lawyers cautioned that such a law could...