We had, till recently, the tweeting Shashi Tharoor, the intellectual. Now we have Jairam Ramesh, self-styled intellectual. The two have one thing in common. They never think twice before they speak. And every time they fell, or continue to fall, in trouble. They both are part of the parliamentary system in Indian governance. (Let us assume that Shashi Tharoor is still, though he has been removed, in the Cabinet)
Shashi Tharoor once tweeted that Indian democracy lacks tolerance to free views and opinion. He forgot, or rather pretended to forget, that like the Great(?) Britain, India also has Parliamentary form of government where there happens to be a Cabinet. This Cabinet, in Constitutional parlance is a Unitary Executive, as against the Plural Executive of Switzerland.
This is not the place to discuss the differences between the two, but in nutshell, the Cabinet is one single UNIT, and acts as such. In effect, the decisions of a Cabinet are supposed to be taken by voice vote, and no minister is supposed to disagree with a Cabinet decision.
Tharoor grossly failed to appreciate this basic concept and it is unfathomable that he did not know this.
Ramesh did a Tharoor in China by casting aspersion on his colleague P. Chidambaram. That also on a foreign affair matter. Even in the US, where the executive committee is not exactly like a cabinet, this type of public differences is not seen in good light.
Long ago, even Arjun Singh had claimed disagreement with a cabinet's decision he was part of. And he was criticised even by his political opponents who could easily benefit by this disagreement.
Indian politicians should take a lesson or two on their form of government. One, particularly those of political ilk, must keep in mind that the democratic right to free expression is not available to members of the armed forces and those of the ruling elite. Ignorance on this front may be detrimental to the nation at large.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment