Much obliged, Mylords for saving democracy!

Known for their headline management, the Mo-Sha duo’s government notified the Citizenship Amendment Act on the day of the SC order to the SBI, apparently deviating attention from the bonds to another controversial issue

Morarji Desai used to say that he had a great faith in this country. That was the time when almost everyone thought that democracy in India was dead as Indira Gandhi had snatched away the fundamental rights from us by imposing the infamous Emergency. And that was also the time that she was perceived as invincible. But one Morarji Desai would say, nothing will happen to this country.

Decades later, his words still echo in my ears. I too have developed Morarji’s optimism: Nothing will happen to the country. Democracy shall prevail.

Despite doomsayers’ prophecy that democracy is dead and that nothing will change, the Supreme Court of India has been stepping in at the right time to uphold the Constitutional values. We shall not tolerate murder of democracy, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud thundered when he saw the bungling in Chandigarh mayoral election. The Supreme Court upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and set aside the rigged election.

Earlier, the CJI had stepped in when Manipur was burning and rekindled the people’s hope in democracy by cautioning the government that the court would be forced to act if the government did not. Good enough to shake the government out of its slumber and do something. But tragedy is that Manipur unrest continues for nearly a year now and it was shattering to see mixed martial arts fighter from Manipur - Chungreng Koren in tears, pleading with the Prime Minister to save the tiny State. "This is my humble request to PM Modi Ji. There is violence in Manipur and it has been almost a year. People are dying every day. So many are also in relief camps without proper food or water. Children are unable to study. We are worried about the future. Modi Ji, please visit Manipur once and restore peace in the State,” Koren said holding his championship belt.

One may have great faith in this country, but one would still like to ask the government as to when it will act decisively as too many innocent lives are still being lost in Manipur. It is also shocking to see the Prime Minister launching development projects for Manipur not in the State but some 550 km away in Itanagar. And the PM does not say a word to wipe the tears of victims of Manipur strife. Does the government want another PIL in the Supreme Court and then the CJI to say again that murder of democracy will not be tolerated?

It was not too funny when the PM made fun of PILs and brought in the Krishna-Sudama episode from Srimad Bhagavatam. If Sudama gave flattened rice to Lord Krishna in today’s world, a PIL would have been filed against the latter for accepting bribes and that the Supreme Court would have upheld the charge. That was Modi’s veiled reference to the SC scrapping the Electoral Bonds terming it a non-transparent idea.

People thought that the apex court has prevented yet another attempt to murder democracy at a time when the mainstream media has failed in its job. The court asked the SBI to furnish the list of those who purchased the bonds as political donations and the details of those who encashed them.

At the risk sounding repetitive, let me put the electoral bonds in the right perspective:

The Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Affairs on January 02, 2018 came out with a circular which stated: “Electoral Bond would be a bearer instrument in the nature of a Promissory Note and an interest free banking instrument. A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond.”

“Electoral bonds would be issued/purchased for any value, in multiples of Rs1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1,00,000, Rs10,00,000 and Rs1,00,00,000 from the specified branches of the State Bank of India (SBI).

“The purchaser would be allowed to buy electoral bond(s) only on due fulfilment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. It will not carry the name of the payee.”

The scheme provided for keeping the donors and receivers a top secret and away from the Right to Information Act. So much so, the government had argued in the court that the common people need not know the details of the bond buyers and the beneficiaries.

The Supreme Court, acting on a PIL, had struck down the bond scheme and, as we said earlier, asked the SBI to furnish the details by March 6 and these were to be made public by the Election Commission of India by March 15.

But the SBI tried to wriggle out by moving the Supreme Court that too just two days ahead of the Mach 6 deadline, stating that it would need time until June 30 to furnish the details.

“Democracy gaya,” screamed critics with the scepticism that the SBI might after all get away with blue murder of democracy. But no. The Supreme Court once again came to the rescue of democracy and asked the SBI to file the papers by March 12. The apex court, however, granted the concession to the SBI that the bank need not match the bond sale with their encashment. This was the time when the mainstream media failed again in its duty. It may not be totally out of context to point this out. Remember, Former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph has blasted the media for its failure to defend democracy, the Constitution and truth.

"We don't find any fearless, truthful version of the facts coming out. The greatest blow to democracy is that the fourth pillar has failed the country. Forget about the first three pillars. The fourth pillar is the media and they have failed to defend democracy. They have failed to defend the Constitution. They have failed to defend the truth," Justice Joseph said.

"Somehow they are also not able to blow, maybe post Covid lungs have been affected. The way the lungs are crushed in the country today so that nobody will blow the whistle is a very dangerous trend for the country," he said. Back to the bond case. Critics of the Electoral Bonds said it would now be difficult to establish the quid pro quo as to who donated how much and the benefits that he derived from the ruling party for the money paid through the non-transparent scheme. Had the matching process been done, it would have been easier for the opposition to nail down the government for supporting alleged crony capitalism.

To amplify this, suffice to read what Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in his social media post: “The man who once famously said ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga,’ has been insistent on ‘Na Bataunga, Na Dikhaunga’ when it comes to the source of his Chunavi Chanda. Ever since the Supreme Court verdict asking for the information regarding the donors and recipients of the Electoral Bonds to be published, the Modi Government has got the SBI to attempt postponing the disclosure until after the elections. Salute to the Supreme Court for seeing through the obvious dishonesty of the State Bank of India’s arguments. The Supreme Court’s verdict is halfway to the truth - we would have liked for there to be complete transparency in exactly who donated how much to which political party. Nevertheless, we welcome this verdict. In advance of the disclosures of the electoral bond donors tomorrow, here are some important facts: 1. Between 2017 and 2023, the BJP received 57 per cent of the total funds donated to all political parties through the Electoral Bond scheme. The BJP received a whopping Rs 6,565 crore via bonds. Therefore, it is likely that most donors identified tomorrow and the majority of the amount that they have contributed would have gone straight into the Prime Minister’s bottomless campaign coffers 2. The Electoral Bonds are part of the picture - they represent 58 per cent of the BJP’s declared funds. One can only imagine what proportion of the BJP’s finances is coming from these same donors through undisclosed means. 3. Previous investigations of direct corporate donations and electoral trust donations have revealed that there is a correspondence between corporates who are under ED-IT investigation, and who are donating to the BJP. What new scandals await us tomorrow when the names of the electoral bond donors come in is to be seen.

Without getting into Modi’s algebra of (a+b) squared = 2ab, it should not be difficult to decipher the beneficiaries if we get to know the bond buyers and those who were bonded with them since the promissory note type instruments had to be encashed within 15 days.

Known for their headline management, the Mo-Sha duo’s government notified the Citizenship Amendment Act on the day of the SC order to the SBI, apparently deviating attention from the bonds to another controversial issue. This came handy for the Godi media. But by then the social media on which the BJP depends a lot was already abuzz with the SC ruling. Moreover, the youtubers whose popularity exceeds the following of some of the shouting TV news channels too had a blast with the apex court’s diktat to the SBI.

In yet another upholding of the democratic rights, the Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba who has been jailed since 2014 in the Maoist links case. The court said "it is a hard-earned acquittal" and did not entertain the Maharashtra Government’s plea against the acquittal.

Let’s bow to the Supreme Court again and again for upholding the supremacy of democracy.

TAIL PIECE: In another development which may not be reported much, the Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation has demanded the resignation of SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara as the bank’s behaviour at the Supreme Court has resulted in damage to the image of the bank and has shaken the credibility of the bank on transparency and corporate governance. “SBI Chairman was granted extension by the government on completion of his term & thus everybody apprehends that this act on his part is reciprocal,” the union said. .

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)