21 April 2018

Legislature, Executive, Judiciary

The universe has 3 phases: beginning, existence and end. Accordingly, the Supreme Being has 3 functions: creation, preservation and destruction. In Hinduism, these 3 functions are assigned to the 3 Gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

A society needs rules to run properly. And rules also have 3 phases/functions: making them, enforcing them and interpreting them. So society created a system called 'government' to make, enforce and interpret rules. But if all these 3 powers are with one body, it will lead to concentration of power. And concentration of power leads to corruption. Because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

So the government is divided into 3 bodies - with each body doing one of the 3 functions. Legislature makes the rules, executive enforces the rules and judiciary interprets the rules. This is called separation of powers. It is a fundamental feature of a democracy. So a healthy democracy requires:
1. The 3 bodies must be independent.
2. The 3 bodies must respect one another.
This is the Dharma of democracy. It enables a democracy to give freedom, equality and justice to its people. Without it, a democracy cannot even exist - let alone function properly.

By trying to impeach the Chief Justice of India on completely baseless legal grounds and for purely partisan political reasons, the Congress Party has declared war on the judiciary - one of the 3 pillars of our democracy. And in doing so, it has directly violated the sacred Dharma of our democracy. Dharmo rakshati rakshitah, Dharmo vinaashati vinaashitah.

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