SHANTI  BHUSHAN


My Second Innings  by Shanti Bhushan;  Published by Rupa ; Pages 208 ; PrIce Rs. 595/-                                                   *************************************************************************
Shanti Bhushan the author of the book under review is a leading advocate in our Supreme Court and was Minister of Law and Justice in the Morarji Desai   government. We had reviewed his earlier book  "Courting Destiny".  Bhushan  has come up with his second book ‘My Second Innings’, talking about the events which happened after his first memoir was published.

In this book,  the author discusses his political views, country’s law and order, personal experiences, and his life in general. It was satisfying to read his prospect towards the cases mentioned in the book and how he put forth his strong views against corruption in the Judiciary and in public notwithstanding his growing age. Bhushan's new book  is a robust mix of some earlier memories from his  family’s ancestral home  in Allahabad - next in size only to Motilal Nehru’s ‘Anand Bhavan’ - to incisive, ringside view of the judiciary itself.   Bhushan has shown how a simple, effective and clear use of language, backed by cogent, sturdy arguments brings out the underlying drama and pathos of law, justice and life at large, which in effect makes this memoir also a document for students of Law and Humanities.
According to Bhushan "Of the last sixteen Chief Justices of India, half were corrupt and two of them had told that while they were in office their immediate predecessor and immediate successor were corrupt judges".Harsh indictment,indeed.

Shanti Bhushan writes on the supersession of three judges in the appointment as Chief Justice of India of Justice A.N.Ray following the Allahabad High Court judgement.He calls for the appointment of a full time National Judicial Commission which will search for the keenest legal minds all over the country

Here  are some  big cases he has been involved with as a lawyer, for example the  Lalu Yadav corruption case. He deals with some crucial issues within the higher judiciary itself including appointment of judges;  as also  his full involvement in both phases of the ‘Anna Andolan’ , his role in formulating the first draft of  the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’ taking shape at the India International Centre in Delhi, emergence of the former Army man and Gandhian Anna Hazare as an anti-corruption crusader  and the dramatic developments  from Jantar Mantar  to Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi, leading to the final passage of the ‘Lokpal’ Bill by the Manmohan Singh government.

The author’s “inside story” also takes pot-shots at some of the top guns then in the UPA government when the government’s Lokpal Bill was drafted.  Scams are covered at considerable length.

The ‘Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’, as the political wing of the ‘Anna Andolan’, gave rise to new hopes, but subsequent attitudinal changes in  Kejriwal came as a big blow to AAP. This development disillusioned Shanti Bhushan as he has been “fighting all my life” for clean and transparent governance at all levels. Bhushan who had a bitter fallout with Kejriwal, resulting in his exit from the party, says he made a grievous mistake in judging the character of the AAP convenor. According to him, Kejriwal is intelligent and sharp, and most importantly, understands the public mind, and he had in the beginning felt that he was a selfless person devoted to good causes.

"I must admit that I made a grievous mistake in judging the true charaacter of Kejriwal in the years 2011  to early 2015.It has now become clear that although he has some qualities,he lacks integrity.It is also now clear that neither did he believe in the founding principles of AAP  nor in the  transformational aims it envisaged.In plain English--Kejriwal betrayed all the core principles of AAP" .

An important chapter is of the  “Undelivered Letter " which resulted  in the declaration of Emergency in India in June 1975. Bhushan, who had argued against Gandhi in the Allahabad High Court in the case for the setting aside of her election in 1975, writes that a wrong advice given to the former PM by her counsel S.C. Khare led to the Emergency.

The wrong counsel given by lawyer Khare, according to Bhushan, was that Gandhi should stand in the witness box. Khare had felt that if such a powerful prime minister decided to appear before a junior judge of the high court, he would be so overwhelmed by her presence that he would not have had the courage to decide the case against her. However, it was a case of misjudging Justice Sinha, who stood up to the pressure and set aside Gandhi's election, which ultimately led to the imposition of Emergency. Bhushan reveals that Gandhi's previous lawyer, the eminent advocate Kanhaiya Lal Misra, who had to step back because of failing health, had upon learning that she planned to appear in the witness box, written a letter to her asking her not to do so. He had sent the letter, on the morning of her court appearance, through his youngest son, but he was not allowed to meet her and the letter remained undelivered. “He had written to her not to make the mistake of appearing in the witness box and that even at this eleventh hour she should make some excuse for not appearing,”

Shanti Bhushan’s interactions with prominent leaders including J Jayalalithaa - he appeared for her to win the AIADMK office property case in Supreme Court though he later declined to appear in the corruption case against her - are pure delight.

Shanti Bhushan devotes one full chapter to the iconic Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer,which is truly touching. "He almost single-handedly transformed the Indian Jurisprudence and interpreted the Constitution to advance the case of the poor and deprived sections of the Society.He was a great thinker, an eminent scholar,a very hard-working person and more importantly a person whose heart kept beating for the cause of the downtrodden".
No better tribute can be paid to Justice Krishna Iyer.

 This is an impressive book which captures the flavour of court-room,the drama, the evolution of Indian judiciary.

P.P.Ramachandran
10/03/2019.