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It is a matter of considerable satisfaction that the Chief Justice of India has clarified that he had been misunderstood and misquoted and that his ‘cockroaches’ remarks were directed only against those who are suspected of having fake law degrees. As the presiding deity of the judicial fraternity, the CJI is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. What, however, remains problematic is his Lordship’s invocation of the idea of ‘the system’ that needs to be protected from attacks by ‘parasites’ or other similar undesirable entities. 

It should be stated bluntly that in India there is no ‘system.’ We only have the Constitution of India. This distinction is too fundamental to be allowed to be so glibly blurred by their Lordships.  

We can speak of many systems. The underworld is a system. Mafia is a system. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is a system. The Congress party was long ago diagnosed by Rajni Kothari as a ‘system.’ We have a caste system. We can talk of an examination system, informally manipulated by Kota-based entrepreneurs. Hawala is an example of a very efficient system for underhand financial transactions. And so on. 

The idea of a ‘system’ carries with it a suggestion of something formal and organised yet operated informally. Not an open arrangement; a kind of networked, personalised relationship of obligations and privileges. A system’s rules and regulations are malleable, and are subject to the whims and fancies of the........

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