| AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA |
V SUNDARAM
In these columns yesterday I had written about the fact of 205 MPs having sent a representation against the appointment of Navin Chawla as an Election Commissioner soon after his appointment to that post. I had also referred in detail to the Press Statement issued by L.K.Advani, Official Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, warning the nation against the avoidable public dangers of Navin Chawla's continuance as an Election Commissioner.
Postings and transfers of senior bureaucrats have a crucial impact on two sectors - law and order including security and the delivery systems in the country. On both these counts we have reached a critical stage in our national history and we will be in a deeper crisis if the government of India under the effete and de jure Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh and the de facto machinating, manoeuvring, mendacious Prime Ministership of Madame Mother Superior with her epicentre in Italy continues to be afflicted with the Mother Superior Disease Syndrome (MSDS) of apoplexy at the centre and anaemia at the extremities.
Two months before his appointment as Election Commissioner on 16 May 16 using his clout with Mother Superior, Navin Chawla was moving for his appointment as Union Home Secretary. At that time on 16 March 2005 I wrote in these columns in News Today under the headline 'Shame Without Honour':
'The most spectacular Congress Party enforced classical principle in Indian bureaucracy is that whilst all bureaucrats of similar seniority are equal on paper, yet some chosen few are more equal than others. Navin Chawla belongs to the latter category, with a tremendous clout in the UPA government, thanks to his unbroken record of 'loyalty' and 'service' to the Nehru family. He was very close to Sanjay Gandhi and wielded unprecedented power in his official capacity as Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Delhi Kishan Chand during the emergency in 1975-77. He functioned as the de facto Governor of Delhi and several bureaucrats who happened to interact with him during this period have confirmed the fact that he was known for his unabashed authoritarianism. His controversial role as secretary to the Lt. Governor of Delhi was noted by the Shah Commission which went into Emergency Excesses. Navin Chawla did not cover himself with glory when the Constitution of India was subverted with impunity during emergency. As one who occupied a vantage position during that period, he was charged with arbitrary exercise of authority. Any other officer with this kind of background would have been sidelined under the cliché-ridden 'Law will take its own course' umbrella. But there are spectacular exceptions to this general rule in our decadent and perverted democracy. Navin Chawla comes under the category of special exceptions and special exemptions under the law of the land'. For some unknown reasons, our poor nation was spared the ordeal of having a man of such exemplary character as Union Home Secretary!
As a free lance and unknown journalist, after penning the above helpless lines, I continued to remain a worm of the earth, earthy. But this exceptional man of spectacular pseudo-secular fire however soon rose by ascending spirals to dizzy heights. Navin Chawla was appointed as Election Commissioner in May, 2005. His track record of having subverted the Indian Constitution during emergency in 1975-77 and his several acts and deeds of misconduct during that period were buried under the sea and he was considered as suitable and fit for appointment as Election Commissioner of India. Justice Shah had commented on Navin Chawla in his report: 'Navin Chawla became the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and Kishan Chand the Lieutenant Governor became Navin Chawla's Lieutenant'. Thus this Chawla, the distinguished Daftri (perhaps 'Chaprasi') of the Nehru dynasty and Sanjay Gandhi's Man Friday was illegitimately rewarded by the government of India for his life-long loyalty not to the nation but to a family. Thus the ghosts of the Emergency were finally exorcised by the elevation of Navin Chawla to the post of Election Commissioner!
In his farewell remarks, the then outgoing Chief Election Commissioner T.S.Krishnamurthy rightly commented that he feared the politicization of the Election Commission. Anyone with a clear conscience can reasonably deduce that perhaps Chawla's 'very' 'distinguished' background was very much in his mind when he made this comment.
I too had commented as follows in these columns in News Today in February 2006: 'Chawla's appointment as Election Commissioner was against the public interest and all the more objectionable because, by sheer seniority, Chawla would be the Chief Election Commissioner in 2009 when the general election is due. It may not be out of place or out of context to reasonably imagine that Sonia Gandhi has cleverly planted him in this post keeping in view the interest of her son Rahul Gandhi whom she wants to elevate to the post of Prime Minister of India in 2009. In case Navin Chawla performs as per her expectations in 2009, he may as well land up to begin with as the Vice-President of India and later with Sonia willing, may even become the Indian President! Normally when we are helpless we say that 'God only knows!' But unfortunately for India and for all of us, even God does not know. Perhaps 'Sonia only knows' - all the way, now and for ever!!'
One more striking instance of gross misconduct of Navin Chawla that came to light was the fact that he was using his official influence in the Indian Administrative Service, with the full blessings of his Mother Superior, to collect large sums of money for a non-governmental agency being run by his wife Rupika Chawla under the contrived umbrella of 'Social Work and Social Service'. It has been reported that Ambika Soni contributed Rs 15 lakh, Karan Singh Rs 10 lakh, A R Kidwai Rs 45 lakh and God only knows how much money other Congressmen contributed to this great humanitarian effort without parallel in chequered human history! Are they all preparing themselves for 2009 elections? Are they all doing strategic perspective planning?
Soon after his notification as Election Commissioner on May 16, 2005 Navin Chawla declared with a magisterial aplomb, that no money had been collected after his assumption of office as Election Commissioner. His response was both irrelevant and irresponsible. The moot question is whether before his appointment as Election Commissioner, he was a private citizen or a member of the IAS. If he was a member of the IAS, then he was very much governed by the All India Services Conduct Rules and as per these rules, any collection of unauthorized money unconnected with one's official duty from any member of the public or any organisation is prohibited. But as I have written several times earlier, right from day one of his entry into the IAS, he was exempted from all rules under the All India Services, first by Indira Gandhi, then by Sanjay Gandhi, again by Indira Gandhi after 1980 and subsequently by Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I am saying all this only in the light of the fact that senior Congressmen have participated with gusto and enthusiasm with huge sums of money in the collection drive of the NGO controlled by his wife. The whole nation knows that their aim is not to wipe every tear from every eye! Their aim is only to wipe every tear from every eye in Mother Superior's family.
Against this irrefutable background, every law abiding citizen in India expects the Chief Election Commissioner of India to take note of this article and to initiate appropriate action against Navin Chawla as per the law. I would also appeal to the President of India to remove him forthwith from the post of Election Commissioner after following the prescribed procedure for functioning as an informal agent of the Congress party with the panoply of official authority for 30 years and more.
The Election Commission always talks with bravado about the need for a code of conduct amongst political parties and politicians. In this context I would like to make it clear that all the Election Commissioners themselves must have a code of conduct and they should all realize the fact that they too are not above the law of the land.
A legitimate question can be asked as to why I am choosing the words 'For God's sake, go! Navin Chawla!' My answer is this. In May 1940, when Neville Chamberlain was voted out of office as Britain's Prime Minister, one of his senior Cabinet Ministers called L.S.Amery played a key role in that exciting political drama. In a brilliant speech, he requested Neville Chamberlain to resign from his post immediately. On that momentous occasion, L.S.Amery produced an electrifying effect upon the House of Commons by recalling and quoting the historic words of Oliver Cromwell spoken to Long Parliament in 1653: 'You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go'.
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com