It is clear from all that has been said and written by those who demand and support Mrs. Gandhi’s prosecution that even they have been compelled to recognise that under the existing laws of the land, it is just not possible to try Mrs. Indira Gandhi on the gravest charge which stands against her — the charge of twisting the Constitution to proclaim the emergency and impose a two-person rule on the country. The silence of most of them on the CPM leader Mr.
Jyotirmoy Basu’s proposal for amending the Representation of the People Act to disfranchise men and women indicted by a commission of inquiry also indicates that they have become aware of the dangerous pitfall in it. Indeed, the Organiser, mouthpiece of the RSS, has editorially turned down the suggestion on the plea that the proposed amendment can enable an unscrupulous government in future to disfranchise its main opponents. Thus Mrs. Gandhi can at best be tried on relatively minor charges of abuse of authority in certain specific cases — the harassment of four STC officials who were looking into the affairs of the Maruti, for instance. What can that yield on a most optimistic calculation? A prolonged trial, which would inevitably arouse strong passions and divide the nation on the single issue of Mrs. Gandhi, a conviction which would be challenged in the High Court and, if necessary, in the Supreme Court? And what happens if the enterprise blows up in the government’s face as one witness after another turns hostile as has happened in some other cases?
Despite all the talk of the majesty of law, or of the law being allowed to take its own course, and despite the Prime Minister’s decision to set up a cell of legal experts to examine the available evidence against Mrs. Gandhi, the point cannot be over-emphasised that the issue is political and cannot and must not be decided except on the basis of a careful calculation of political gains and losses. Such a calculation must, in our view, lead to the conclusion that it is dangerous to put Mrs. Gandhi on trial before a court of law, ordinary or special. It can enable her to appear to be the victim of a vendetta which cannot but increase her appeal and make her far more formidable than she is already. It can unite her followers behind her as they are not united now. It can strengthen the position of the more loud mouthed in the Congress (I) and greatly embarrass the position of those in office in Karnataka, Andhra and Maharashtra, that is precisely men who cannot be interested in a repetition of the old story of Mrs. Gandhi and, during the emergency, her son, being sole sources of authority in the party. It can further complicate Mr. Y.B. Chavan’s task in holding his party together. It can provide a new pretext and occasion for desperate men and women among her followers to take to the politics of the street. The list can be easily expanded. It is difficult to cite a single item on the other side of the ledger.