Indian ruling class: Self Certification & Wrong Diagnosis

Image credit: A black anarchy graffity on a white house wall.

ADVISORY: Article contains strong language.

I came across this article written by a former Indian Supreme Court Judge. The thrust of his argument is Government (Executive branch) of Indian State is attempting to undermine Judges (Judicial branch) by publicly making adverse comments against Judiciary & author says this is wrong.

This made me think about an irritating & infectious disease aka “culture” I see pervasive throughout Indian society, especially amongst our ruling class — one of self-certification. This irritating disease of giving self-certificates or getting certificates from ones buddies (buddy-certificates) or getting certificates from one’s subordinates (subordinate-certificates)¹, has become more or less a second nature to our ruling class (from now on, I will use self-certification to mean all 3 mechanisms I just described). Once someone treads this path of self-certification , one will skip over foundational issues, arrives at a wrong diagnosis & ultimately proposes solutions that drive them to incorrect destination.

Pick any section of ruling class — Executive/Government (Police, Army, …), Legislature, Judiciary, Election Commission, Capitalists & Executives, “Journalists” (or) any section of ruling class–adjacent aka “Professional” class — Managers, Entertainers, Bankers, Accountants, Lawyers, Engineers, Professors, Artists, … (or) any group that can exercise authority in any manner; many of them give self-certificates. Incase of Executive & Judiciary, if any critic commits the “crime” of having heterodox opinion about these BS certificates, expresses their contempt openly in a concrete & visible manner — thanks to World’s Best Constitution™² we have in India — they can [& often will] be “legally” terrorised with a credible threat to critic’s liberty/property/person. In case of other groupings who cant impose their will as recklessly as Executive & Judiciary, they will do their best to “legally” harass (or) try hurting them in some manner such as shunning them by denying access, hurt their finances/employment, harass critic/critic’s family/friends, …; ultimately to isolate the critic & make them an outcast.

Legitimacy

Let’s take a look at the legitimacy of Judicial Bureaucrats & Executive/Legislature in India.

What legitimacy does a Judicial bureaucratic wing has, which none of us ever agreed is a neutral arbitrator — let alone a fair one, in adjudicating all our disputes, imposing its will over ~1.4 billion people?

How about Executive/Legislative wings?

Does forcing people to press a button [in voting machine] once every 5yrs amounts to people giving informed consent? Aren’t these “elections” in our so-called “Democracy” nothing but sham exercises in which most/all of us are coerced to certify the transfer of power from one faction of ruling class to another faction of ruling class — even if we dont want to give up power — with our role curtailed to mere button pressing [in voting machine]/checking a box [in ballot paper] & STFU?

Since the legitimacy of these institutions is built upon Indian Constitution, lets take a look at the Constitution & the circumstances under which it was impose upon people.

Indian Constitution mockingly called World’s Best Constitution™ has copied a good chunk of its provisions from an ordinary law — Government of India Act, 1935 — British Colonial regime (Autocracy) wrote to control us — its subjects. This ordinary law was written by British at a time when British colonizers had no intention of leaving India. But many provisions of this ordinary colonial law were incorporated into World’s Best Constitution™ & our so-called “freedom fighters” found it appropriate to keep most colonial repressive laws as is — even after alleged “independence” & for a good measure added even more repressive laws later (not one or two, but a suite of them). Thanks to this well calculated deceptions called “independence” & alleged “Democracy”, most colonial repressive laws retained are considered valid & fall well within what’s permitted by World’s Best Constitution™.

Here is an excerpt from the analysis of Indian Constitution by Ivor Jennings

… The [Indian] Constitution derives directly from the Government of India Act, 1935, from which in fact many of its provisions were copied almost textually. That Act was the largest ever passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and its main purpose was to transfer power, subject to numerous so-called safeguards, from British officials to Indian politicians. It had therefore to create a new federal Legislature and at the same time to reform provincial government and to establish new relations with what were then called the States. The Government of India had been an autocracy whose powers were at first limited in the interest of British politicians and subsequently in the interest of Indian politicians. The problem in 1935 was to redistribute the powers of government along the lines approved by the Round Table Conference and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. No distinction was drawn between matters of a constitutional order and matters of a merely administrative or judicial character. The Act of 1935 was an ordinary Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, designed to amend that part of the law of England which applied to British India. It could be amended, like a Dogs Act, by a subsequent Act of the same Parliament. It was fundamental law for British India, but it was also a part of the ordinary law of Britain, that part of it which regulated the government of Britain’s Indian dependency.³

Its echoed by the High Commissioner to India (Ottawa, Canada) in 1957.

The British also bequeathed to India parliamentary institutions and a federal constitution. (The Indian constitution is essentially the India Act of 1935) … ⁴

High Commissioner had very high opinion of Nehru because Nehru converted Indian politics into an oligarchy by wielding the power of State & rest of unaccountable power he granted himself thanks to World’s Best Constitution™.

… How different the picture would have been if almost all the legislatures had not been dominated by one national party with an oligarchical structure and, at the top of the pyramid, an all-India High Command dominated by Nehru.⁵

Constituent Assembly — the body that wrote Indian Constitution — was largely composed of ruling class members of Indian society. This body was not directly elected & barely had 13% of people’s mandate. Most of Indian population had no say as to who should represent them, nor they had a say — let along a meaningful say — in what should & should not be part of the Constitution. Indian Communists called it a farce & this is how they perceived it:

The communists disapproved the Congress’ acceptance of the plan for the Constituent Assembly because they regarded the Assembly a creation of the British meant to lead India into a new partnership with the British imperialism. Hence, they expected no freedom of action within the Assembly because it drew its powers from the British. They abhorred Congress decision as a big compromise with the imperialists and characterized the Assembly as unfettered but not free. Nor did they accept it as a sovereign body since the plan did not recognize the Indian Independence. … They [communists] refuted the Congress’ claim that the Assembly represented all interests and maintained that it represented the Congress, zamindars, industrialists, traditional liberals and communal Hindus. The communists also characterized the Assembly as undemocratic because the members were elected on the basis of indirect elections, by provincial assembles, which represented only 13% of the people.⁶

In essence, our ruling class (Nehru & co.) copied good chunks of the ordinary colonial law British imposed upon us, told us we now have alleged “rights” (with enough loopholes to render them unenforceable for all practical purposes) i.e they created a legal tyranny & called it “Constitution” — the foundational law of India. Thanks to this legal tyranny & the lawfare that’s conducted relentlessly using World’s Best Constitution™ by State & rest of ruling class against people, we can be assured that everyone that’s forced to live under this tyrannical political regime will stay a subject permanently, with the benefit of being blessed to be ruled by a rotating 5yr “legal”-dictators i.e “leaders”.

Does a system in which we barely had any say when it was imposed upon us & we barely have any say now (in reality almost none) in how its actually run have any legitimacy?

With that background, lets now take a look at the framing of argument from the article.

Anarchy

The Judge writes

The citizens of this country have great faith in the judiciary. Such strident attacks may erode that faith. If this happens, our country would cease to be governed by the rule of law and only anarchy and tyranny will reign. …

I cant tell if these statements are borne out of ignorance (or) delusion (or) class solidarity with his [ruling] class (or) its a claptrap.

This man is an insider, recently retired as a Judge from Supreme Court of India. Why is he trying to appropriate the agency of avg person, cloak himself as a member of “citizens” grouping & make claims on behalf of this mythical “citizen” he has invented in his head? Shall we also allow all other members of ruling class of this country (Modi, Adani, Ambani, Tata, Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, …) to make claims in similar manner “having great faith” in the illegitimate power their class usurped, on behalf of this mythical “citizen”? Is he doing this to artificially boost credibility for members of his own class — buddy Judges in Supreme Court? He is not a poor man, not even an average person on the street, definitely not a powerless person (Clue: Powerless people won’t be allowed to write their opinion in Indian mainstream media owned by Capitalists). Despite retiring, he is still a member of the ruling class of India as he can still peddle influence through his connections.

There is a saying that goes something like: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Given what we know about the history of Indian Supreme Court & its appointments (self-dealing & collusion with all forces of hegemony — State, Capitalism, Fascism, Caste, Patriarchy, …), then who are these people that have “great faith” in our so-called “Supreme” & “Justices”⁷? On what basis? Why are Indians gaslit by their ruling class & its agents that they have an irrational & religious faith in these institutions that lords over them without their consent with no accountability? Is it because victims of Indian ruling class⁸ don’t have a choice in the matter except accepting proclamations from them — however anti-factual & irrational these proclamations might be?

Apparently, “rule of law” i.e. imposition of laws [that none of us consented to voluntarily] is somehow good — even if the laws are bad & actively harmful (which many Indian laws are, including the mother of all bad laws — World’s Best Constitution™ — the foundational law of India i.e Indian Constitution). Why?

Anarchy is the absence of Tyranny.

Is the author using a different definition of Anarchy i.e. chaos, which is what all other political structures (including current one we are coerced to live under in India) that are built around domination/tyranny create? Anarchism does have order, but it’s not the kind of order that’s enforced through domination/tyranny — which is what State is all about, rather Anarchy achieves order through non-dominating means i.e. voluntary cooperation backed by autonomy & self-defence. Anarchy is the only system that conducive to peace — the real & substantive peace; not the fraudulent order that’s imposed through violence, threat of violence & hegemony that State perpetuates & calls it “peace” & “order”. State wants “peace” & “order” so that it & its buddies can “peacefully” & in an “orderly” manner loot, bully & tyrannise society i.e uphold all existing dominations, exploitation & “legal” thievery. I am not sure why would any rational person would want to be part of a system that State imposes, which does all these awful things to them (if & when they question the looting enabled by State & its tyranny), shuts people up with an ever present threat of harm, calls this bullying & terror as “peace” and “order”.

Let’s look at a definitions of Anarchism & Anarchy

Anarchism

1. A political and philosophical belief that all forms of involuntary rule or government are undesirable, unnecessary, or unethical, and as such that society would function without a state.
2. A belief that proposes the abolition of hierarchy and authority in most forms.⁹

Anarchy

1. The state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.
2. Anarchism; the political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.
3. A chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.
4. Confusion in general; disorder.¹⁰

State is the negation of Anarchy. State is an agent of chaos, injustice & violence. Its enforces its injustice primarily through violence, threat of violence, indoctrination, deception, lies & weaponizing all tools it has at its disposal to keep its victims in their place. It does all of this by centralising most power through a rigid hierarchy & wields this power to serve the interests of ruling class (those who have access to this power) — while terrorising the people it imposes itself over (those who don’t have access to this power — i.e most of the population).

Above definition 4 of Anarchy (of chaos) is more applicable to State than to actual Anarchy. When someone violently imposes themselves over others unfairly (which is what State’s primary role is), sooner or later this primary violence of State only begets more secondary violence & chaos in the form of self-defence from State’s victims. This definition of “chaos” i.e chaos induced by State’s violent reaction to any form of self-defence by its victims, is the one ruling class (members of Monarchy, Colonialism, Fascism, Theocracy, Aristocracy, Capitalism, so-called “Communism”, Representative so-called “Democracy” & all other forms of domination — most important actor enabling all these modes of exploitation being State) historically used to denigrate Anarchy as “chaos”, when in reality, Anarchy is all about autonomy & informed consent that always comes with voluntary cooperation, mutual aid, right of self-defence as few of its founding tenets.

People (victims in current system) thinking independently & acquire self-confidence in themselves to act independently will expose existing Political (includes Judicial), Economical, Religious & Social managerial classes not just useless but actively harmful. Since people becoming self-aware of their own power is a threat to the ruling classes that sit at the top of hierarchy, they have denigrated the system of self-rule (which is what Anarchism at its core is) — the real self-rule/autonomy (not the fake & fraudulent Constitutional so-called “self-rule” aka scam of Representative “Democracy” that’s currently impose upon us without our informed & voluntary consent) to be bad & hence they tied above definition 4 to Anarchy.

Since some Anarchists of the past assassinated & fought back many tyrants who exercised various tools of domination — Kings, Capitalists, Politicians, “Representatives”, Ministers, Commissars, Military Junta, Colonialists, Fascists, … & agents of them — in various parts of the world, fought to free themselves from the tyranny that was imposed upon them, those assassinations & self-defence definitely creates chaos amongst the parasitic ruling class, as the system they use to lord over everyone is built on violence & if people fight back in self-defence, they would need to swiftly unleash more violence on their subjects to keep them in their place, so the people won’t get any new ideas about autonomy & liberty. But when compared to the limited self-defence of Anarchists (that’s engaged in to teach a lesson to exploiting oppressors [of ruling class], tell them there is a limit to their degeneracy, their greed & cruelty), ruling class’s whole existence is reliant on parasitism, violence & repression, just so the ruling class can exploit, bully & loot from everyone below them.

So, the important question to ask is: With repression being the foundation of State, what would be the natural result of the existence of State other than deception, secrecy, lies, indoctrination, threat of violence & violence? Isn’t it chaos? Isn’t State the primary cause & agent of chaos?

Anarchy — the philosophy behind Anarchism — is the ultimate goal of a mature society, where everyone will be able to fulfill one’s potential, to live life how one wishes to live through voluntary cooperation without being dominated by another individual/group i.e autonomy all the way from individual → family → work place → all other associations with decisions made in bottom-up manner, with only few levels of advisory/coordination layers. These advisory/coordination layers will have no powers of imposition. They cant make any decisions (so-called “laws”, “Constitution”, contracts, …) on behalf of anyone without the explicit consent of people who are affected by it (to the degree they are affected). And decisions are local first & spread from there, not the other way around like the tyrannical system thats currently imposed upon us where decisions are made by parasites in Delhi & State Capitals, then imposed upon everyone else.

Anarchy also requires everyone recognising inalienable right of everyone else having same rights as them & no one having the right to push others into an arrangement where they are exploited (or) vulnerable to exploitation & make good faith effort to reasonably minimise exploitation of others. Unlike the fraudulent Representative so-called “Democracy” that speaks of equality & liberty that only exists on paper (in Laws & Constitution, not in actual decisions & actions on ground) that’s imposed upon us enabled by deceiving &/ ignorant liberals, Anarchy is all about equality & liberty in practice, not in mere words. That requires actual enforcement of equality & liberty on the ground by people themselves, not by ruling class magistrates, state goons (or) dictators (or) wanna be saviour types who want to be “heros” &/ “leaders”. Anarchy requires ensuring no one accumulates disproportionate power (political/economical/social/weaponry/…) to threaten the well-being of anyone else & that requires eliminating all centers of domination by people themselves. This enforcement must be done by people themselves through self-defence, not imposed from above by 5yr rotating-dictatorship run from Delhi/HQ of States using their goons (Police, Para-Military, Military & Fascists). Since State is the ultimate tyrant in every society, of course, it does have interest in keeping the existing looting & tyranny going without being disturbed by its victims using Anarchy.

In essence, the Judge is using the definition of State (a tyrant & source of all unjust chaos) to blame Anarchy. In his confusion about words, he is threatening people with a better society, one of Anarchy — a society without a Government aka a society without domination. When existing system is giving the exact results it’s designed for — of tyranny & chaos, he goes on to blame something other than the system itself, which he personally benefited as a member of ruling class till recently — and still benefits from. Most likely, he might not even know various political ideologies (understandable since the qualifications for getting promoted to Indian Supreme Court requires more of lobbying talent than wider understanding of Society & Power), which explains why he used those words. Since Indian Mainstream Media including TV, Newspapers, Magazines, … are essentially propaganda agents for rich & powerful, this explains why they publish these narratives that makes no sense anti-sense.

Self-certification

Let’s take look at another statement of him.

I agree that the collegium system must be more transparent. In the recent past, the proceedings of the collegium have been put in the public domain. There is a greater transparency now. …

We still have no idea why any decision is made the way its made in collegium system¹¹, but still Judiciary gives itself self-certificates about “greater transparency”. Everyone knows the essential element needed to move higher in the food chain within Indian Judiciary is lobbying of Politicians & Judges i.e influence peddling. Beyond influence peddling, I personally heard stories (from trusted lawyers) that there is a pay-for-appointment scheme (for some Judge positions, not for all Judge positions), atleast in one High Court I am aware of i.e open corruption. Despite the merits/demerits of the rumours of open corruption in Judicial appointments, there is determinately undeniable evidence that influence peddling is an essential element of promotions & transfers of judges, which is a codeword for corruption.

Since Indian Judiciary has weaponized Contempt of Court power to attack whistleblowers, silence critics & shield itself from accountability, what’s the basis for these claims about alleged transparency (self-certification) from Indian Judiciary — let alone “greater transparency”?

Concern trolling

Then he concern trolls like this.

India has one of the lowest judge-to-population ratios. In most countries, the ratio is about 50 judges per million population. We have a sanctioned strength ratio of nearly 20 per million, but the actual ratio is about 15 per million. Appointing judges is not enough. The infrastructure of the district judiciary is abysmal, to say the least. The judiciary has no control over funds and if the government does not provide funds, infrastructure cannot be improved. … Judges also work before and after their regular court hours and on weekends, reading files, preparing and dictating judgments, besides performing administrative duties. These working days are not taken into consideration.

This is the same nonsense as Modi claiming (bullshitting) he is working 18hrs/day — evidently in his case — to sell society to his rich buddies, collect his commission/bribes, change a dozen set of clothes for photo shoots & PR events, conduct state sponsored pogroms & destroy whatever is left of society.

Who asked these Judges to work over weekends (or) long hours?

When it served Indian Judiciary interests, it invented brand-new powers of self-appointment (collegium system) by “interpreting” Constitution, invented Public Interest Litigation (PIL) jurisdiction out of whole cloth. PIL is the most illegitimate jurisdiction Indian Judiciary has invented using which it can pick up any issue & non-issue as it removed basic legal requirement of standing (locus standi), pass any judgment on issues not before it by pulling any new issue that’s not even mentioned in the petition, adjudicate on matters without petitioners, adjudicate on matters without giving notice to affected parties, refused to allow affected parties to join the dispute as an interested party, deliver orders & judgments that doesn’t pass smell test, accountable to nobody however grave the harm they cause — all done at the whims of judges with no constraints.¹² In other words — Indian Judiciary is a bureaucratic legal tyrant.

None of these powers are mentioned/implied in “Constitution”. They “interpreted” the word “consultation” in Constitution to mean “concurrence” to usurp illegitimate power.¹³ Judges invented & gave themselves these powers even after these self-appointment powers were deliberately denied in Constitutional debates & Constitution.

Indian Judiciary goes far beyond Constitution when it comes to feathering its own nest, but for some reason it cant pass a simple judgment that says — all reasonable funds needed for fulfilling all judicial functions (infrastructure, salaries, …) considering 50 judges/million population, must be automatically added to budget. Why cant Judiciary declare that deprival of required funding amounts to violation of right to fair trial, which is a straightforward violation of Constitution? What’s the difficulty in passing such a rational judgment? Indian Supreme Court has a long & proud track record of passing quite a lot of awful Judgments that served its interests & interests of its powerful buddies. But when it comes to things that minimise harm to people, it not just pretends to be powerless, rather gaslights its victims by turning the tables & saying it’s the real victim. Are Judges not passing such Judgments because they don’t know the legality of such a common sense judgment? Ofcourse, they know. They didn’t pass — likely wont pass — such Judgment because Judiciary as a class (along with its powerful bed-fellows — State, Capital, …) benefit from existing system.

Status-quo i.e the man-made artificial scarcity of lack of Judicial infrastructure in India, always keeps the system underfunded & ensures anyone who is thrown/pulled into the system suffers thoroughly & totally. By being unaccountable & unresponsive, this Judicial system gives “incentives” to its victims by giving them an opportunity to find someone to help them jump the queue i.e peddle influence by hiring highest paid lawyers (that have backdoor understanding with “Justices”)/”big people”, who can help move victim’s petition quicker in the system for a price/consideration i.e. enable large scale systemic corruption — moral & money — through influence peddling. If you are not lucky to be rich/powerful who can pay (or) have connections (knows “big people”/knows someone who knows “big people”/have friends who know insiders, …), you suffer its malicious callousness & cruelty.

It’s the system — both Judiciary & Executive/Legislature currently benefit from — is the root of the problem & they don’t want any structural changes to it. What both sides (Judiciary & Executive/Legislature) want is exercise unaccountable & illegitimate power they currently enjoy in existing system — in peace.

Conclusion

End of the day, Judiciary at its core is a political actor wearing legal clothes as it ultimately decides what political, economic, social & other rights we all have, without ever proving to us its judgements are inline with our interests — ofcourse, by “interpreting” so-called Constitution & Laws. If we go by history of Indian Judiciary, it mostly “interprets” Constitution (aka tea-leaf reading) to serve its own interests & interests of it allies i.e forces of hegemony — State/Executive, Capital, Fascists, Majoritarianism, … by undermining liberty, autonomy, equity, … of its victims (people), while simultaneously — with a forked tongue — publicly singing praises about liberty, autonomy, equity, ….

Executive/Legislature is very similar. Indian State (far far worse than avg) — just like most other States — has monopolised all coercive tools & most tools of manipulation (media, indoctrination through education, …) in order to hold us hostage. Holding us hostage helps it sell access to all of us to the highest bidder without our informed consent. It strips us of our resources (natural/intellectual/markets — labour, financial, retail, …/otherwise) i.e steals our resources, sells access to these resources to its buddies (brands this looting as so-called “investment”, “divestment”, “development”, “liberalisation” & recently even more brazenly calls it “monetization pipeline”), claims our resources are its own (calls it State/Government property), hides information from us & terrorises us for “our own safety”. By selling access to markets & controlling the rules of collective bargaining i.e tilting rules in favor of its buddies aka “regulating”, it leaves all its powerless victims at the mercy of their buddies. In otherwords, it systematically undermines its victims when it comes to their autonomy & economic well-being. Best part: It makes us (its victims) fund its tyranny over us.

The sooner we understand the game at play, the sooner we start thinking about solutions to the problems we face.

Footnotes