With no Malice towards All Dynasty!

NewsBharati    10-Jul-2020 12:41:20 PM   
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Why some of the visual media are crying hoarse over the Rahul Gandhi’s latest outburst against Modi-led NDA?

How dare they question RG who belongs to the “Neo Dynasty” created by the “We the People” in the name of democracy? After all, RG is a princeling, a la PM in waiting.

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Ipso facto, Sonia Gandhi has the distinction of being known as the “Uncrowned Empress of India/Dowager Empress” – sobriquets given by late Ram Jethmalani.

No wonder, RG is laying claims to the inherited lineage of “King can do no wrong”. So, persisting with the concept of sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, as a legal doctrine whereby a sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune to civil suit or criminal prosecution.

With Dynast pedigree, no wonder RG has taken the high moral ground that “those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated” after the MHA ordered a probe into NGOs linked to Congress Party – Indira Gandhi Charitable Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

Don’t the critics of the “Dynasty” realize that “Entitlement” of the “King/Empress can do no wrong” is their birthright. Of course, they have been deprived of the “SPG” security category rights and the NSG commandos. They continue to enjoy the Z+ status (55 personnel that includes 10+ NSG Commando’s and CRPF) at the cost of their subjects. And, the “Uncrowned Empress” continues to stay in the 10 Janpath “Palace/Fortress” far more imposing than any others in the capital.

Better for “We the People”, more aptly, “We the Gullible Majority of People” to realize, admit and accept that the “Uncrowned Empress” – a remaining vestige of the monarchy – deserves to be treated with utmost reverence as subjects and not as citizens.

Not to be left behind, the followers of the Dynasty have invoked the usual terms used nowadays, that is, “political vendetta” and “blind witch-hunt” project by a “panicked Modi government” to cover up failures in countering recent border crisis on the border with China’s PLA.

In a monarchy, the King or Empress is synonymous with State and enjoys sovereign immunity and could not be liable for damages to mere citizens because no act of the crown could constitute a legal injury.

Of course, quite a few vociferously criticizing RG in the visual media debates claiming to be intellectuals have forgotten the inherited adage “the king can do no wrong.”

The doctrine of sovereign immunity has been carried forward to obtain government sanction to conduct probes against senior bureaucrats in corruption cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act until recently.

It was only in 2016, the Supreme Court held such a legal provision as invalid. A Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice R. M. Lodha and Justices A. K. Patnaik, S.J. Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and Ibrahim Kalifulla, while allowing the petitions filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, held that Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which granted protection to the joint secretary and above officers from facing even a preliminary inquiry by the CBI in corruption cases, was violative of Article 14.

Furthermore, in August 2017, Justice J B Pardiwala, Gujarat High Court, slammed and discarded the argument put forth by the state government that the act committed under the sovereign authority has immunity. The HC pulled up the state for claiming immunity from liability for the firing. “The old and archaic concept of sovereign immunity that the ‘King can do no wrong’ still haunts us, where the state claims immunity for its tortuous acts and denies compensation to the aggrieved party,” Justice Pardiwala said.

To sum up, there are two views prevailing in India’s democracy, more aptly, Kleptocracy. One, those, like RG and the Congress Party, are claiming sovereignty following the monarchial order prescription that “King can do no wrong”. Two, others oppose immunity from wrongdoings during their tenures.

How long in posterity such a practice will continue is best left to the wisdom of the “We the People” supposedly citizens in democracy Vis a Vis subjects! No use for critics for breast-beating on the visual media when their leaders continue to uphold the status of “Uncrowned Empress” and Princeling. It is their “ENTITLEMENT BY BIRTHRIGHT” as long as “We the People” endorse it.

Brig. G B Reddy (Retd)

G B Reddy, former Brigadier has seen frontline battles in India-China War in 1962, India-Pakistan War in 1965, and India-Pakistan War in 1971 (Liberation of Bangladesh). He has served in various insurgency areas to include Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and West Bengal at the height of Naxal problem; Punjab, J & K and IPKF in Sri Lanka.

Author of seven books and numerous articles covering national security strategy, international, national and local political and social developments, he participated in international and national seminars whilst serving as Consultant/Senior Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. He also served in Corporate Assignments of Vice-President, Kitply Industries and C.E.O, Hilton Tobacco Ltd.

He is a Graduate of National Defense College, New Delhi, Command and Staff College in Canada, Long and Senior Defense Management Programs at College of Defense Management in Hyderabad. He has served on the faculties of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, College of Combat, and Infantry School, Mhow.

He was awarded Ati Vishist Seva Medal for Distinguished Service of an Exceptional Order in Nagaland 1986. Menitoned-in-Despatches for gallantry in 1971 war. Chief of Army Staff Commendation Medal in 1977 for exceptional contribution for faculty development.

Seven books published: 1) Rising Dragon – China’s Holistic Security Strategic Perspective; 2) Nation in Crisis – Dimensions of National Security and Terrorism; 3) In Search of National Values - Withering Democracy, Secularism and Socialism; 4) India’s Nuclear Dilemmas; 5) Fight Against Corruption and Leadership Decay; 6) Democracy in Peril; and, 7) Cost Effective Rural Housing Technologies.