SC ban on neta photos in govt ads flops as Jaya shows how to get around it

Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court grandly decided that our political parties should not use public resources to promote parties or their leaders, here comes evidence that that verdict was not only a case of judicial over-reach , but also foolish and unimplementable in practice. A Supreme Court bench headed by Ranjan Gogoi decided earlier this month that henceforth only the pictures of the president, the prime minister and the chief justice of India can be used in official ads. Well, after protesting weakly, politicians have found way out. The ban is effectively pointless. Front page newspaper advertisements released by the Tamil Nadu government today to celebrate the return of J Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister (26 May) have stayed within the letter of the law as laid down by the Supreme Court even while riding a coach-and-four over its underlying spirit. [caption id=“attachment_2263498” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Source: Firstpost[/caption] There is no picture of Jaya in the ad, but can anyone be in any doubt who the ads really celebrate? The ads hail the “dynamic leadership” of “Puratchi Talaivi” (Revolutionary Leader) “Selvi J Jayalalithaa, hoping that her “four glorious years” in power will ensure that the electorate extends “Amma’s rule forever.” How is the non-use of Jaya’s picture going to end the cult of personality that the Supreme Court wanted to end? But it isn’t only the Tamil Nadu government sneaking past a court stricture. The court does not ban publicity using the PM’s picture, but there are several ads commemorating 365 days of Narendra Modi. The ads show the Prime Minister penning a letter to “dear fellow citizens” explaining the government’s philosophy and schemes. If Modi can write letters to “fellow citizens” at official expense, why not Chief Ministers or lesser netas? The apparent unfairness in the court’s order will surely not stand the test of another judicial challenge. There’s more. In another ad, the Maharashtra Chief Minister has sneaked in his name in an ad extolling Modi’s “Digital India”, the Jan Dhan Yojana, and Swachh Bharat Mission, among other NDA initiatives. There is a Modi picture, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s name is in a framed box at the bottom without a picture. He is in full compliance with the Supreme Court judgment – and he has managed to do it at taxpayer expense. And there’s even more, for businessmen are also in the game. “Assocham congratulates the Union government on its Outstanding Performance”, says an ad that occupies two-thirds of a page in a Mumbai newspaper. Assocham is an industry body like CII and Ficci. So here we have a business body laying it on thick with the PM. Assocham has effectively shown the way to governments on how to beat the Supreme Court ban even if a future order makes the guidelines more stringent by banning even the PM’s picture of the CM’s name in taxpayer-funded ads. Politicians will ask private bodies to take out ads extolling their virtues, since no court can tell citizens what to do. This will open the way to covert corruption, for business will be eager to oblige parties in power in order to receive favours. As noted earlier, the Supreme Court’s judgment may be right in principle, but deciding how an elected government should spend taxpayer resources is none of its business. That is something the electorate should decide, when it gets its chance once every five years. It is also an issue on which civil society bodies can take a stand and force politicians to change course. But what today’s ads by Jayalalithaa and others prove is that the ban is clearly unenforceable. Judicial activism should be informed by commonsense and restraint. If it isn’t, the judiciary will end up debasing its own authority by imposing laws and guidelines that will be observed only in the breach. Score at the end of two weeks: Supreme Court 0; Politicians 1.