A need to rededicate Magna Carta

It is redeeming to note that the world spent a few precious moments to salute the philosophy of the Magna Carta. 800 and more years ago the world woke up to a theory that has stood it in good stead.

“First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.

Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled” is how you would be introduced to this great charter by the most popular Wikipedia available for general use. The Magna Carta thus became the guiding factor for civilised societies that were willing to stand by a set of laws. It was a universal appeal to law that saluted some things as fundamental and some negotiable.

History is replete with examples, in fact flooded with tales of its violation. Regime after regime has seen it as a needless bottleneck for the demands of the day and how social orders and political regimes have violated the principles of human civilisation. The initial parameters were ideally related to illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on power.

The nation recently remembered the troubled period of emergency. Leaders like LK Advani who suffered imprisonment wend down memory lane to arguably the darkest days of free India. It is not a tad paradoxical that the emergency was the doing of Indira Gandhi who failed to inherit the passion of her father for a liber democratic polity. Today politics is about branding and those with lotus bias are willing to all in one basket.

It is contextually redeeming that the Prime Minister in the midst of his challenging schedule chose to address the phenomenon of the emergency. He rightly cautioned the nation. LK Advani read some writing on the wall and cautioned that it was possible that we could repeat the nasty experience. Did he read the warning signals of the day? Did he predict the propensity of men to take liberties with the law? Never mind why.

It is redeeming that the Prime Minster has taken a public stance against what the emergency has come to mean. This clearly shows a leadership which has voiced disapproval of a form of governance which believes in personalities and not the law. This is thus a clear signal by the new ‘rulers’ of their commitment to a democratic form of government.

The return to the Magna Carta, the principles enshrined somewhere seem to be losing their punch. It is not as if mankind has hit poon a much better working alternative. On the other hand it has displayed a marked tendency to choose convenience over what is right. Societal anarchy has reached dizzying heights and men in power have gone theatric with virtues and hypocritical with practice.

People who can argue (however illogically) or flex muscle seem to believe that the Magna Carta has outlived its utility or that they are too smart to the limitations of the Rule of Law. The illusions will continue till we suffer the delusion that we are indispensable and powerful or till we eat the dust.

There is tremendous wisdom in a statement that political analyst and novelist Karri Sriram where he says, “You were the ones who were given a free India, a value you perhaps did not deserve, from a generation that was noble, fierce and picture worthy.

You were the ones who chose to pass on to us a devalued rot because you have looted for decades, a mother you chose to bring down to the level of a whore.” Strong language but the truth can be acidic. Let us guard. This could well be the final chance.

By L Ravichander