Barry Cardozo
Gazing at the various developments in the country after BJP and its allies came into power the definition of what is legal and illegal has taken a severe beating. It is an unwritten fact that what is legal and illegal should correspond to what is right or wrong or what is good and bad. However the problem with what is right or wrong or good and bad is that at times these become relative terms or at-least made to seem so according to one’s own culture, religion or beliefs. Some exclusivists, fundamentalists or narrow- minded individuals tend to consider only their own notion of right and wrong, good or bad as the truth and fail to consider the holistic aspect of the reality in arriving to the actual truth.
Unfortunately when such people are in power and if they try to meddle with the legal system there is a risk that their notion of good and bad or right and wrong may be imposed on others as what is legal and illegal. Unfortunately this seems to be happening in India. If not then how do we explain draconian laws like life term for those killing a cow being passed in India. Stringent laws on Tax, which some statesmen have termed as “Tax terrorism”, targeting not just the rich but the hard earning lower middle class too, where earning money and saving it becomes a crime, insensitive laws regarding alcohol in the garb of checking alcoholism, nationalisation of state resources thus moving the power from the state to the centre, redefining the terms “patriotism”, “National” and “anti-national” by what is seen as acceptable to the ideology of those in power, trying to change history by changing textbooks with lessons in line with the ideology of those in power, forceful use of ADHAR card where questions regarding security and privacy are still not answered, all these and other such policies in the making have set up a dangerous trend in our democratic and peace loving country.
It looks as if rules are made to be broken to give way to the rules that are acceptable to those in power. And when those in power are dictatorial or authoritarians who think that only their viewpoint is the right thing then we are in dangerous hands.
Is our constitution, our legal system strong enough to correct or check this malaise? If yes then well and good, if not, then its time we strengthen it. Let us not turn this country into a majoritarian, dictatorial or “ nationalist kind of communist state”.
