I do not know the two wrestling mammoths of the CBI personally, nor even
through the reports of peers and professionals. But their fight has
led to not only a lot of grass being trampled in the organisation, it has also sent shock waves throughout the
country, much beyond the confines of the designated turf . Having served for
close to 40 years in the IPS I have long since stopped believing in reputations
created through media. One of the fighters, for instance was sometime a darling
of the local and national media and during the AH scam his image was carved in
pure awe. How much of it was due to the fact that Laloo Jee was media’s
favourite bête noir?)Therefore, I will refrain from offering my comments on the
current crisis, but I will permit myself a few general observations.
Governments have perfected failsafe mechanisms to separate the chaff
from the grain in bureaucracy, more particularly in the IAS and the IPS, and
then they invariably opt for the chaff. Regardless
of political persuasion, they show a remarkable congruence in their choice of
incumbents for sensitive assignments: they carefully assess the risk of
emergence of character in the incumbent after he gets the coveted tenure post.
Governments are now ruthless in their approach when it
comes to dealing with those who do not have a talent to please. The perils of independence
are unacceptable just as the rewards of collaboration are unimaginable.
In general the idea of the neutrality of civil service and police has long since been
abandoned and the police officers, civil servant and political masters often
show the internal cohesion of predatory gangs. Governments are increasingly
being run like private companies. The media is the latest entrant to the
elite club and their affiliation to one gang or the other would be evident from
the news reporting of the squabbling senior officers.
How do the achievers and ‘succeeders’-if I may say- adapt to the changed
priorities and preferences of governments with mutually hostile agenda? They
cultivate a palimpsest identity, consisting of layers after layers of alternating
political affiliations, the one suitable for the particular occasion is revealed.
This is what gives them a foothold through three decades or more of their
career, in the fragile ecology of power.
The hierarchy is well established, especially in uniformed services, but
if the contenders draw sustenance form the political ecosystem, the laws of the
harem come into operation: both are favourites but one is more of a favourite
than the other? I know it at first hand; the Bihar Police suffered incalculable
harm in terms of morale, organisational cohesiveness, efficiency and its image
in the public eye, (such as it was) in the early years of Sushahsan.
PS 1 No reflection on the present contender but as a rule he who beats everyone
else to become the Police Commissioner of Delhi and then beats the other two contenders
with matching credentials, escapes the Supreme Court criterion for mandatory
experience in the CBI, is acceptable to the leader of the government in office
and the leader of the government in exile to bag the post of Director CBI is
hardly likely to be a Cr PC, police manual wielding fanatic. But yes, Beckets
and Black Swans do turn up!
PS 2 Thinking about the crisis I was reminded
of the famous remark of H N Brailsford, “If a Power coerces once, it may dictate for some years afterwards
without requiring to repeat
the lesson. (A Great Illusion or a War of Steel
and Gold? Norman Angel and H N Brailsford on The Causes of International
Conflict.)
Officers reared in sweet docility are rarely known to stand up suddenly
and beard the lion.
PS 3 I have known at least five CBI directors fairly well in the last
decade or so, some of them very closely. One kept hearing on the grapevine how
they bagged the post but one of them who had lost the race and then come back
from the dead, like Lazarus, to clinch the job told me his own story. He did not turn out to
be a great investigator, in fact, he added a chapter to the rich history of
infamy of the CBI, but I could not but marvel at his brilliant understanding of
the capillaries that feed the power system.
PS 4 An NGO moves Supreme Court against the removal of CBI Director. Is
not this is the same organisation that had opposed the appointment of this
Director last year?
PS 5 Layers after layers of the much vaunted capability of the CBI is
being peeled off and every now and then
the Supreme Court steps in to put a stitch or two. But now the frayed vestment
looks a patchwork of sorts, a caricature , a scarecrow for bird like the fabled
meat exporter to do the dirt upon.
