TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
With the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature session all set to get under way, the focus is once again on the Hon’ble members adorning the two houses and inquisitive observers keenly watching to see what all issues their elected representatives choose to raise besides ofcourse the regular past precedence of bringing in a bill seeking hike in their individual salaries and perks.
Around the same time, last year, on the eve of the Assembly session there was a newspaper story pointing out that an MLA or an MLC in Jammu & Kashmir receives a salary cum perks package which is much higher than that received by an MLA or MLC in any other state of the country and almost equal to that received by the Vice President of India. Infact, some have described an MLA’s or MLC’s annual package as equivalent to that of a senior executive in corporate sector. While this is something which the MLAs and MLCs of this State could feel flattered about, this also places on the Hon’ble Members an added responsibility to perform to justify each penny drawn by them.
One hates to believe but there is a general opinion that most of the times most of the legislators, irrespective of whatever party they belong, enter the House unprepared for the day’s business or agenda but they come fully prepared to invent unsavoury opportunities to make their presence felt before the television cameras… either by the use of lung power shouting at the top of their voice or by the use of leg power jumping into the well of the House. And a walk-out comes as an escapist alternative to the home-work that would otherwise be required to make a well-studied intervention on an issue of importance.
Incidentally, on the eve of autumn session of the State Legislature, there are disturbing reports in a section of press alleging a clandestine “MLA – Contractor” nexus executing Government works particularly in the Public Works Department without following the transparent procedure of bidding by tenders. One hopes this is not true and that our Hon’ble MLAs and MLCs will be able to disprove such allegations on the strength of their fair deeds, for as goes the age-old adage, “justice should not only be done, it should appear to have been done”. Interesting to recall that while the present Chief Minister has hiked the “Constituency Development Fund” (CDF) at the disposal of legislators, his predecessor Ghulam Nabi Azad had infact at one point of time suggested altogether abolition of CDF on the pattern of some other states like Bihar so as to eliminate the possibility, if any, of an alleged embezzlement of this fund.
Be that as it may, as Sir Winston Churchill once observed, a democratic or a parliamentary system may have its share of certain flaws but still it is the best of all the systems tried so far. Hence an MLA is a vital nucleus component of a democratic legislative system and it would not be entirely fair to label “Aaj Ka MLA” as a necessary evil as believed by some. As the legislative session takes off and the Hon’ble MLA gears up for it, the hapless common man looks up to his elected representative with a great expectation. Umapathy poetically implores “Yeh Jo Pamal -e-Zaman Hain, Dekh To Kaisi Hasrat Se Tujh Ko Dekhte Hain!”
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