Decency is one of our defining national qualities, but it won't be for much longer if we continue to erode the living standards of people already doing it tough.
More than ever now Indian politics and debate
needs standards close to those of advertising. It may be hard for Indian
politicians to make statements whose intent is not to malign, but it will
certainly generate greater interest in actual politics and governance if the
public mention of an opponent or opposing party were to be made illegal. The
act of continual accusation has made debate redundant in India. Every minister,
MP, or party spokesman who stands in front of the television screen puts up a
defense of policy that is an offence against the opposing MP seated in the same
debate.
We’ve often heard the phrase ‘physician heal
thyself’ meaning that doctors may have the ability to heal sickness in others
but may sometimes not be willing to heal themselves. Being proud of his own
knowledge and wellbeing, a doctor may ignore sound medical advice and allow his
own personal disease to grow. This principle applies to leaders at all
levels, especially to modern day politicians in a democratic set up. Some
politicians could be nice and gentle but are they effective as National leaders
is a million dollar question. They need to take some leadership lessons
themselves as they lead a billion plus citizens. Without improving their own
inner sense of worth, the leadership of the political class wouldn’t inspire
others. As H.L. Mencken, one of the most influential American writers quipped,
“looking for an honest politician is like looking for an ethical burglar.”
India, the world’s largest democracy suffers
an overdose of populist measures, launched by leaders at the drop of their
Gandhian hat. Besides, politicians are often seen to be corrupt, reckless and
wash dirty linen in public. At such times, the politics of Manmohan Singh, the
Indian Premier was lauded as ‘politics of decency’. His persistent refusal to
indulge in war mongering or hurl ill names at his political adversaries has
earned him respect and credibility. However BBC correspondent SoutikBiswas
reveals this is history; in his recent article on Asia analysis, he reveals Mr.
Singh’s government is now charged with graft and inaction. The Economist
magazine has also declared, “Mr Singh has plainly run out of steam”. It’s
clear to many that Manmohan Singh’s personal decency is blended with his
timidity; his nicety is now unacceptable as a substitute for inaction.
Knowing him to be a puppet in the hands of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, his decency lacks
moral integrity and spiritual strength. Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words
ring in my ears, “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea
of liberty”.
Like advertising, a code of ethics for public
life needs to be duly stated and politicians similarly told to refrain from
disparaging comparisons, making no references to political parties other than
their own. The American code of political ethics states: "No
political representatives can malign the integrity of another on the basis of
his or her position by using hostile or demeaning words. A political
representative must withdraw him or herself from a position in which competence
is lacking. A political representative shall not make any public statement
which may be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity."
In retaliation Mani Shankar Aiyar makes a
caustic, deliberately insensitive remark about Modi's humble origins, asking
how a country like India can ever be ruled by a tea vendor.
In return, the BJP says: "It's better to
sell tea, than sell the country."BJP spokesmen also refer to Rahul Gandhi
as Rahul Baba, a reference to his age and inexperience. No mother would want to
sacrifice her son on the national altar. Modi launches a scathing attack on
Sonia Gandhi's Italian origins; there are countless references to the
Congress's foreign connections, Bofors, Quattrocchi, Swiss accounts, notions of
dynasty.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram and other
netas have Modi phobia and they need psychoanalysis, said party spokesperson
Meenakshi Lekhi. Congress Minister Manish Tewari and Leader of Opposition in
Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, too, had a unsavoury exchange on Twitter. The nastiness
does not surprise in the atmosphere of lack of mutual respect, and even
self-respect. It has become par for the course in our political discourse.
While the West of India is progressing the
rest of India is regressing. Modi fills the air waves with innuendo about
Congress incompetence. People of India want track record, not tape
record. The ugliness of Indian politics is in great part the outcome of
negative campaigns, personal barbs and malicious vendettas that have little
relevance to governance, but are consistently used to send subversive messages
against an opposing individual or party. In a parliamentary system that
encourages such destructive exchange, the real ideas of politics get submerged
in the muck of words and personal sentiments. Not willing to be left
behind, the Aam Aadmi Party too has gotten into the act.
Leaders are expected to be decisive; a leader
needs to have his own independent thinking. His being a team player is not
proved by his silent confirmation to the’ big boss ’ but rather by his ability
to openly share his views with others. He is willing to confront his own team
members and challenge the proposals, yet remains loyal and commits to the
team’s decision.
A leader’s maturity is seen by his or her
willingness to confront when credibility is at stake. Most timid leaders
reconcile and compromise on principles just to remain popular or to please some
others who may be fulfilling their material needs. The net result of such
sycophancy leadership is you land up pleasing none; your friends eventually
turn to be your detractors and you cut a sorry figure. Mr Singh’s former media
advisor, Harish Khare openly declared, “Manmohan Singh may not be corrupt, but
he’s definitely guilty of pursuing a politics of decency and elevating
reconciliation to a matter of state policy”.Besides, feeble and vacillating leadership
also brings suffering upon the very lives of those you are seeking to serve.
That’s what is happening to Manmohan Singh and the Indian people.
“Politics has no relation to morals,” said
Machiavelli. While we are endlessly swamped by reports of corruption of our
netas, we must place their crooked shenanigans in perspective. Corruption was
an integral part of politics in Machiavelli’s age many centuries ago. Our own
Chanakya’s Arthashastra noted this fact millennia ago. When leaders and
officials are left to manage public money, it is inevitable that they will
pocket some of it, just like fish swimming in the sea imbibe some of the water.
Meanwhile, only days ago in Uttar Pradesh, minister Shivpal Yadav claims he was
mis-quoted telling officials, “If you work hard, you can steal a little.”
Freedom fighter N V Krishnamachari voiced the
concerns of many of us in a recent interview. “We might term the British
firangis or ‘white men’, but they ruled us based on laws... But what principles
do today’s politicians have? Hardly any. We fought to get a nation to be ruled
by Indians based on truth, ahimsa, human values... (But) the British did not
trouble the public as much as our elected politicians do now.” The proof of his
rueful words lies all around us.
It's often said that freedom and responsibility
are two sides of the same coin that if you want freedom, you must first accept
the responsibility that goes with it.The truth is simpler. Freedom and
responsibility aren't interconnected things. They are the same thing. Freedom
is responsibility. Responsibility is experiencing the consequences of your own
acts not the consequences of others acts or making others pay for what you do.
And that's what freedom is. Without
government to force others to pay for your pleasures or mistakes, and without
forcing you to pay for what others do, you are a free, responsible human being.
We have to decide whether we want a nation of self-reliant individuals who
improve their own lives by offering needed services to others or a nation in
which everyone is responsible for everyone else and so the government must
control every aspect of our lives. We don't need a moral revival, we don't need
politicians making moral decisions for us, and we don't need more controls. If
we want people to act more responsibly.There are plenty of people who won't act
responsibly. There are people who have no regard for the consequences of their
own acts. There are people who seem incapable of behaving wisely or nicely.
Meaningless shouting, sloganeering and
protesting are futile efforts to express dissent. Today's youth is a beautiful
concoction of good, creative minds with great insights. So why not choose
creative means of expression as the key mantra?
Very often, the youth is misled and provided
a wrong perspective. The confusion that leads them in a state of aggression
must be addressed. Nobody is born corrupt, they learn it from their elders.
Meaningless shouting, sloganeering and protesting is not the right way. The
youth consists of good,creative people with marvellous brains, which is going
to waste. The effort should be to provide them creative means of expression.
One must take an individual stand and never indulge oneself into mindless
protest. There are better options also.
Indians may call itself a
"democracy" but it is only in name. And we are forgetting the key
element to any functioning democracy, a free press that properly informs its
citizenry. We have had neither for a long, long time.
Do we really want a society where we erode
the living standards of people already doing it tough? Where we make it harder
for people on a basic wage to put money away for their retirement? Are we
really content to be fed a diet of misrepresentations, lies and half-truths
about these matters, whether from politicians or a compliant press? I suspect
most Indians would answer these questions in the negative. That being the case,
we need to be vocal about the kind of decent society we aspire to, rather than
sleepwalking into a society we don't recognise as ours.
Siddhartha shankar Mishra,
Sambalpur, Odisha
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