Trump set free 1,600 protesters guilty of insurrection. Joe Biden didn’t fare any better either. He pardoned more than 1,500 persons.
K. Asif’s magnum opus: Mughal-e-Azam, which took 14 years in making, narrated arguably, the most powerful love story, at least fictionally, of the mediaeval times not only of India but perhaps the whole world. What could be more powerful than the fact that the crown prince of the Mughal Empire rebelled against the emperor, his father, for his lady love, Anarkali? When Akbar quelled the rebellion and Prince Salim was brought before him in court as an accused who rose against the emperor, Akbar listened to the arguments and pronounced death sentence to the prince, his own son, as he had revolted against the state symbolised by the emperor of the day. That he rescinded his decision bowing to the appeals of his courtiers is a different matter.
Fast forward to 6 January 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters not only protested outside the Capitol in Washington but assaulted policemen on duty, gate-crashed in the premises, ransacked the place, rushed to the main hall looking for the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi; Congressmen and Senators took shelter in the basement. This was the first time in American history that the citadel of its democracy had been so brazenly attacked in broad daylight. The unprecedented insurrection was aimed at stalling the established procedure of the certification of the result of the election and peaceful transfer of power. This was, in a way, an act against the state; many protesters were prosecuted and sentenced to different prison terms.
Come 6 January 2025, the newly elected President, Donald Trump, within hours of swearing in as the 47th President of the US, pardons and sets free1,600 protesters guilty of insurrection. Emperor Akbar might be squirming in his grave.
His predecessor, Joe Biden didn’t fare any better either. He pardoned more than 1,500 persons including his own son and five other family members. He also granted pre-emptive pardon to the members of the Congressional Committee that investigated Jan 6th Insurrection and his former Chief Medical Adviser, Dr Fauci who led the national response to Covid-19; pardon will protect them against any prosecution by Trump administration. Other US Presidents too had pardoned many of their supporters and fund raisers, some with criminal record but never in such large numbers.
The Presidential power is absolute, i.e., it can’t be challenged in any court of law; the beneficiary is protected against prosecution. While many executive orders of the President can be challenged as is happening regarding Trump’s EO which took away the birth right of US citizenship of a baby born to an illegal immigrant in USA. Doesn’t this power remind us of monarchs of the medieval ages? Mercifully, the US President enjoys the power to pardon but not to pronounce death sentence.
Though Dr Ambedkar studied at the Columbia University and the provisions of the fundamental rights in India’s Constitution bear some influence of the US Bill of Rights, he scrupulously avoided bestowing absolute power of pardon, like the US President, upon India’s President or Governors. As a last resort, a mercy petition can be made to the President or the Governor but its acceptance depends on the recommendation of the government of the day and involves a lengthy process and the decision can be challenged. Evidently, on this count, India, the largest democracy scores higher than the oldest democracy, USA.
It’s an open secret that the USA still remains the largest economy, the strongest military power and mecca of the most game changing and pioneering innovations. IT giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, each with an annual turnover of over US$1 trillion are American companies but with footprints all over the world.
There isn’t adequate realisation how American innovations have transformed the way we work, communicate, manufacture, travel, entertain and address our health care needs and fight our wars. Undeniably, since we wake up till we go back to sleep at night, the tools, devices and equipment we use were all invented and introduced by USA. The little hand-held communication device called smart phone dominates our lives as never before as it makes it possible to communicate with others through numerous social networks such as FaceTime, WhatsApp, Instagram, Linkedin, X, etc., and take pictures, record events we like, order our supplies from online suppliers like Amazon and the Big Basket, order what we wish to eat from pizzas and momos to full meals, book our travel plans and tickets for sports events, theatre, concerts, cinema and theatre, call taxi and ambulance and play games: tennis, bridge, chess online and what not.
Hundreds of diseases which affect millions of people world over can be detected, scanned and cured thanks to the American innovations in the health care sphere. Can universities, institutions of higher learning, medical and engineering colleges, business schools and the industry, banks and financial institutions and governments at large function without access to Internet and search engines like Google? And they all came from USA. In other words, whether we acknowledge or not, whether we hate it or love it, American technological wonders are so deeply entrenched in our lives that we can’t do without them.
When Covid-19 devastated the world, millions of people lost their lives, fear gripped us, all activities came to a standstill we remained connected virtually thanks to communication channels most of which were initiated in USA.
With such global influence on the lives of billions of peoples what Donald Trump does will shape the world in the next four years. But let no world leader emulate Trump and Biden in granting pardons, with no judicial intervention as it goes against the principle of natural justice and democracy.
* Surendra Kumar is a former Indian ambassador.