There’s nothing Holy about what we See

The Vatican, the seat of Roman Catholic Church, has throughout its history, found itself digging in on the wrong side of history — the latest scandals to shake the bedrock of a billion faithful have proved that not much has changed.
It was barely a week ago that the board of Vatican Bank (official name, Institute for Religious Works) was forced to sack its chief Ettore Gotti Tedeschi after an Italian police probe and a freeze on a £19-million account.
Tedeschi is lucky, at least so far. In 1982, Banco Ambrosiano (whose main shareholder is Vatican Bank) collapsed after close to $1.5 billion was siphoned off.
Its then chief Roberto Calvi, who was popularly known as ‘God’s Banker’ for his proximity with the Holy See, tried to change his appearance and flee the country. A few days later, his body was found hanging from a London bridge — an inquiry in 1983 found that he was murdered.
Witch-hunts are not new to the Church. It has a long history of ‘silencing’ its critics and using all means necessary to suppress dissemination of information that will hurt the credibility of its doctrines. Philosophers, litterateurs, artists, scientists, social reformers have all faced the brunt of these actions.
Tens of thousands were persecuted, detained, tortured and executed in attempts to enforce the ‘infallibility’ of the Catholic doctrine and the Pope’s unquestionable authority.
For all what Jesus might have had to say, the Church’s activities haven’t been towering examples of righteousness, honesty, transparency and tolerance.
The deafening silence on, if not tacit approval of, Hitler’s persecution of Jews is an excellent example. The Church requires celibacy from its priests (I thought the good book said something about God making woman for man — feminists, no offense intended).
Tens of thousands of children have been abused by priests and I have lost track of the millions, if not billions shelled out by the church of St Peter to keep matters hush-hush. Not only were reported cases of abuse hidden from police, many of the offenders were allowed to continue in key posts — and presumably continue their ‘activities’.
HIV/Aids has killed thousands and the number of cases are skyrocketing. A large chunk of the affected population is in Africa and the Church’s long-standing opposition to condoms have made its mark in a rather deadly way. It was only in 2010, after decades of criticism from human rights activists and medical fraternity, that the Pope decided to condone use of condoms.
The latest leak of highly confidential Vatican documents has revealed battles for supremacy and control raging within its walls have left the Church red in its face.
However, instead of coming clean on the matter, the Church has taken upon itself to target the whistleblowers — the arrest of Pope’s butler is just the tip of the iceberg if we take history into account.
In focus is the secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone, a powerful figure and confidant of Pope Benedict XI, who is the real authority behind Vatican Bank.
The leaked documents also say that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who had been trying to clean up the state’s finances, was abruptly removed — allegedly for cracking down on corruption. The world has come a long way since inquisitions and burnings at stake.
People, individualism and nation states are the order of the day. If someone’s under the assumption that they can live the unquestioned, opaque lives of medieval ages forever, they are living in a fool’s paradise.
The dark secrets, skeletons in the cupboard and blood under the carpet will be exposed — the Judgement Day is not far away.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 30, 2012)

Decisive action, not Acts, will help whistleblowers

While the Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, hailed as the ultimate shield that would protect those who expose corruption from harm, is listed for approval by Rajya Sabha in this session, the parched Earth is quenching its thirst with the blood of anti-corruption crusaders.
We have seen how the politicians, who otherwise clear laws left, right and centre, keep delaying key legislations that might hurt their ‘interests’.
The anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, pending for more than four decades, has been shuttled to yet another committee. We can only hope that this law will come into force before money swallowed by politicians and bureaucrats exceed the gross domestic product (GDP).
The Whistleblowers’ Bill also has not been a product of the desire of the political class to help the anti-graft efforts.
About a decade back, Satyendra Dubey, an NHAI official who exposed a massive scam in the NDA government’s Golden Quadrilateral project was murdered after his role in the expose was leaked from top government sources. It was the uproar over this incident that forcedsome movement on this legislation.
The latest to join the long list of martyrs who lost their lives to the cause of keeping the system clean was Karnataka Administrative Service officer SP Mahesh.
The upright officer was bludgeoned to death in the heart of Bangalore. He had exposed massive scams in co-operative societies. His wife told the police that he was attacked at least thrice earlier.
A few months back, a young IPS officer, NS Singh, was brutally murdered by the mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh.
If we take into account the number of social activists and NGO members who are butchered across the country, the list gets longer. Social activists, journalists, NGO members, honest government officials and RTI activists have been paying with their lives for upholding the right.
However, after the initial media hype and public outrage, the state of affairs returns to normal — and would return to limelight only at the next bloodshed. A recent article in the Outlook by Mathew Samuel, who conducted the Tehelka sting operation that exposed colossal corruption in defence deals, describes the unsavoury ordeal that lies in wait for those who expose corruption in high places.
Experience has taught us that an impressive array of laws is toothless as long as there is no effective implementation machinery; the legislation to protect whistleblowers is no exception to this.
What we need is an effective mechanism on the lines of witness protection programmes that are in place in developed countries. These countries are able to check corruption to a large extent due to the effectiveness of such programmes. Their governments allocate massive funds to ensure that whistleblowers are not exposed and provide them with adequate security.
In cases where the exposed corrupt are rich and well-connected, the whistleblowers are given new identities by the government itself so that they are beyond any harm.
We are a country where a footpath tout can get a driving licence in the name of the prime minister issued for a few thousand rupees. So it doesn’t require rocket science for the government to take a few lessons from their more vigilant Western counterparts to protect the people who risk everything in their lives to expose corruption.
We need to create a system of rewards and protection, backed by powerful laws that will enable more people to come out and expose those who eat into public money.
The scamsters should be made to realise that ‘eliminating’ informants is not going to be a cakewalk and that the system will take care of those who strive to keep it clean.
Satyameva Jayate.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 23, 2012)

BJP must survive the battle within

The second innings of UPA has been nothing short of tumultuous, marred by massive scams in every sector from rural job schemes to military purchases.
When allies themselves are eyeing the jugular of the Centre, relief comes from an unexpected quarters — a divided BJP that is struggling to keep its house in order.
The saffron party, which in the late ‘90s emerged as a credible alternative to the Congress that had ruled the country from Independence with the exception of a few years, is now forced to spend more attention in keeping the organisation intact than serving the role of an effective opposition.
The recent Assembly elections handed a couple of emphatic victories to the party. However, it was more the corruption and anti-incumbency factor that helped it in Goa, and in Punjab it was the bigger ally Shiromani Akali Dal that led the charge.
Though it managed to slightly better its performance in Uttar Pradesh, it still to an unenviable third position; inconsequential but definitely better than the Congress which was decimated.
Elsewhere in the country, nothing is working for the party. In Rajasthan, the party constantly faces revolt from senior leader and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. In the latest episode, the party had to despatch its fire fighters to prevent the royal from walking out of the party with a substantial number of followers and MLAs.
The party’s national leadership has been having sleepless nights ever since it forced BS Yeddyurappa, who led the party to its first government in the south, to quit as chief minister owing to graft cases against him. BSY agreed to quit on condition that his pick Sadanada Gowda was made the CM.
However, the Lingayat strongman changed his mind soon and wanted to be reinstated — a demand the party leadership couldn’t concede to as it required a moral high ground to battle the Congress government at the Centre.
Ever since, it has been a war of nerves and words in Karnataka. BSY keeps threatening to quit from the party and form his own organisation and the leadership keeps shuttling between Delhi and Bangalore with varying combinations of carrots and sticks as the situation demands.
The Reddy brothers and their associate Sriramulu, who fell foul with the party after their role in illegal mining scam put the party on the defensive, have made a powerful comeback. The brothers proved their name is bigger than the party in Bellary by defeating the official BJP candidate in the bypolls.
As the foursome threatened a split, a shocked leadership had to placate them. However, what is happening in Karnataka is nothing compared to the challenge that is to emerge from Gujarat — the showcase state for the party.
Ever since RSS nominee Nitin Gadkari took the helm, Gujarat Chief Minister and a top prime minister candidate Narendra Modi hasn’t been the most co-operative. The bachelor swayam sevak CM is not happy with the way Gadkari is leading the party and has attacked his strategies in his meetings with the leadership. Gadkari’s response has been to play down the importance of Modi in the bigger picture.
The most recent example of the duo’s spat spilling out into public view was during the Assembly elections when Modi refused to campaign for the party in UP — and Gadkari entrusted the job to Modi’s arch rival Sanjay Joshi. The chill has continued ever since.
With the party’s national executive meeting barely a month away, Modi has maintained a deafening silence on his attendance. A second term for Gadkari being the main agenda of the conclave, the former’s absence will be a thinly veiled banner of revolt.
No doubt the BJP generals are fully capable of leading the assault on Congress; the question is whether they can survive the civil strife within the party.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 16, 2012)

Exchequer needn’t foot bill for salvation

The ruling by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court that the Central government phase out the Haj subsidy (currently about Rs600 crore per annum) in 10 years has drawn bouquets and brickbats alike.
The Haj subsidy is being handed out since 1954 and around 1 lakh people avail it every year to travel to Mecca to fulfil the requirement laid out by Islam.
India is the only country to offer this subsidy.
The flights carrying the pilgrims to Jeddah are usually chartered ones because they return empty, and naturally the fare is two to three times higher than the usual flight charges in the same route.
The subsidy was introduced to allow the pilgrims some cushion in this regard. Some Islamic scholars are of the opinion that Sharia prohibits a pilgrim from availing aid in any form to travel to the Holy Land.
“A Haj is undertaken only if you have the money, are in good health, and have performed all your duties towards your family. Going on a Haj with money you borrowed from someone is absolutely prohibited,” says Shahi Imam of Delh’s Fatehpuri Masjid Mukarram Ahmed.
While some agree, others beg to differ. According to them, the withdrawal of the subsidy will take away from the poor faithful the only opportunity to undertake the pilgrimage.
The subsidies are not just confined to Haj alone, the Centre plays an active role in facilitating Amarnath and Kailas Manasarovar yatras. Hundreds of crores of rupees are spent indirectly in maintaining infrastructure and providing security to the pilgrims.
There are a few states that subsidise Christian pilgrimages to Israel and Palestine.
Subsidies for various communities and their religious activities are nothing more than a time-tested tactic of vote bank politics. The political leadership wants to be seen as the ‘providers’ who will cater to the spiritual and material interests of the masses.
When humanity was taking baby steps towards political organisations, the tribal chieftains and kings came up with their ‘divine origin’ theory where the ruler was the representative of god on earth and his authority was unquestionable.
Over the millennia, the spheres spiritual and temporal became separated (at least in the democracies) but the ability to swing public support through favouring religious affairs never lost its popularity among ruling classes.
The preamble of our Constitution clearly states the India is a secular state. The addition of ‘secularism was made 26 years after the Constitution came into effect, through the 42nd Amendment in 1976. The government must not favour or discriminate against any religion. So the government policy of subsidising religious activities is in contravention of the constitutional provisions.
Instead of following the pattern of separating religion and state, we have been following a policy of appeasement of communities. Governments of all hues have shied away from taking bold decisions on social reform for fear of backlash from one vote bank or the other.
The absence of a Uniform Civil Code allows each community to force their primitive justice system on their members.
Most of the times, it is the judiciary that has thrown the light of rational wisdom into the labyrinths where the stranglehold of religious leadership keep the faithful in medieval darkness.
Pressure from religious hawks kept the LGBT community under state-sponsored persecution under the draconian Section 377 of the IPC. Even under sharp criticism from courts, the government took several years to acknowledge that consensual sex between adults belonging to the same sex is not illegal.
The more the state dabbles in religious affairs, the more problems it will create. There will always be discontent and charges of bias.
We have plenty of material problems such as poverty, unemployment, social evils, illiteracy, inadequate housing and infrastructure, social justice and corruption that need all the attention and resources of the government.
Religion is each citizen’s personal matter and its pursuit should be left to them. It’s not fair to ask the people to foot bills of those in search of salvation.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 9, 2012)