On both occasions, the ruling Congress was in power at both the centre and in the state of Madhya Pradesh where the gas plant was located. And on both occasions the Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi, became a law unto themselves and inflicted deep wounds on the country's democratic structure, which is still recovering from the staggering blows it received.

Rajiv Gandhi is said to have told state chief minister Arjun Singh to let off Anderson, after what a top Congress functionary characterized as 'US pressure'. If Rajiv Gandhi consulted the cabinet, it was only subsequently. Mrs Gandhi too imposed the Emergency on her own, consulting the cabinet only after the event. By the time she did she had already detained without trial thousands of people. She went even further: she gagged the press. The media has done more than its duty on Bhopal. But for its campaign, the Congress party headed by Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's wife, would not have been as defensive as it is today.

Both equally tragic events show that the army does not have to walk in to make the judiciary, the executive and the bureaucracy toe the line. Those Prime Ministers who concentrate power in themselves can flout with impunity all the norms and rules which necessitate accountability.

Mrs Gandhi had the Supreme Court uphold by 5 to 1 her authoritarian rule in the Emergency, just like Pakistan's former Chief Justice Munir, who justified the takeover by General Ayub through the 'the doctrine of necessity'. Such instances indicate that the judges are as much dictated by 'other considerations' as are civil servants. They are just afraid to stand up to the government's aggrandizement. India's Chief Justice A H Ahmadi diluted the section under which the perpetrators of the Bhopal gas tragedy were booked, from section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, which laid out a punishment of 10 years, to section 304-A, where the maximum sentence given was two years.

As far as the bureaucracy, including officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is concerned, it has become too hapless and too obliging, ready to 'serve' any party that comes to power. Over the years, it has overcome any qualms of conscience and high ideals of service without fear or favour. Mrs Gandhi issued illegal orders and they were obeyed without demur by all civil servants. This is the reason why Gandhian hero Jayaprakash Narayan, who led the movement for morality in politics, asked the bureaucracy, police and the army not to obey illegal orders.

It was comical to find the same deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police, who put Anderson under arrest on arrival for the gas tragedy, later escorting him to the airport to fly out in the state plane. The chief minister's orders had made all the difference. Neither of the two stood up to the oath they had taken to uphold the constitution and the country's integrity.

I have seen similar things happening in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The ruler counts, not the rules. The ethical considerations inherent in public servants have become generally dim and in many cases beyond their mental grasp. Anxiety to survive at any cost forms the keynote of approach to the problems that come before them. Fear generated by the mere threat and without its actual use is so pervasive that the general run of public servants in the entire subcontinent acts as willing tools of tyranny.

Accountability is the only way to ensure that those who violate the norms followed in a democratic system do not go scot-free. I have never seen an erring judge, a tainted minister or a delinquent civil servant getting punishment. They are all chips off the same block, using all methods to avoid being held responsible if and when they are arraigned even before any tribunal.

Indira Gandhi was never punished for all the excesses and atrocities she committed during the two-year-long rule of the Emergency (1975-77). Rajiv Gandhi was not even asked questions about Anderson's escape. Now his secretary P C Alexander says that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi must have been informed. Why was Alexander silent for all these years? And it is not surprising that the old leaking US plant was installed in Bhopal during the Emergency when no questions could be asked. All objections at the time were rejected by Sanjay Gandhi.

In fact, the Congress has put all the blame on the then chief minister, also a Congressman. However even if the party is able to deflect the blame — as it did when it came to saving Mrs Gandhi — there is something called the value system. True, political parties have substituted it with power. But then they must be prepared for the consequences, resulting in the emergence of violent, desperate forces like that of the Maoists or the Taliban.

What hurts me is to see how India's central cabinet today includes ministers who were part of the Emergency. Pranab Mukherjee, Kamal Nath and Ambika Soni, senior ministers of the Manmohan Singh cabinet, were among those who were instruments in the hands of Sanjay Gandhi, Mrs Gandhi's son, an unconstitutional authority during the dark days of the Emergency.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, appointed by the Prime Minister to preside over the Group of Ministers looking into the Bhopal gas tragedy, was trying, as finance minister, to push through a decision that would absolve Dow Chemicals, which had bought Union Carbide, of responsibility.  By shouting down every critic, the ruling Congress underlines its arrogance of power. It needs to own up its responsibility and offer apologies to the nation. At the very least, it can take immediate steps to rehabilitate thousands of Bhopal victims still out in the cold. The Congress must learn humility.

Furthermore, if the Indian nation is to preserve the fundamental values of a democratic society, every person — whether a public functionary or a private citizen — must display a degree of vigilance and a willingness to sacrifice. Without the awareness of what is right, there may be no realization of what is wrong.

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