Outlook
Mar 26, 2007
In defence
The Ayes Have
It, The Ayes Have It
It is not
fair to only single out politicians. There are rotten apples in all
spheres-- business, bureaucracy, police.
SMITA GUPTA
For
the chattering classes in upscale drawing rooms, corporate boardrooms
or television studios, politicians are the lowest of the
low—corrupt
and venal. But is that a fair description?
Not
really, if one has actually seen politicians up close and real.
Corrupt? Yes, of course (barring honourable exceptions like V.P. Singh,
Jaswant Singh, A.K. Antony, etc) but no more than any other powerful
group in society. Don't some top corporate houses "manipulate" the
system? Do all lawyers and doctors pay their real taxes? If the civil
service is squeaky-clean, why is the delivery system so poor, 60 years
after independence? Are policemen who take bribes—for
everything from
traffic offences to hushing up murders—not a fact of life? Are
journalists who do trade-offs for a consideration unknown? As for the
judiciary, its conduct goes without any scrutiny, so as not to invite
contempt of court. Why should politicians alone be singled out?
A
vast majority of politicians lead very uncertain existences: even those
who are elected, hold posts and have a regular income cannot count on
permanence like a judge, a civil servant, a corporate executive or a
journalist can.
Anyone who has ever
contested
an election,
whether for the corporation, state assembly or Lok Sabha, knows how
fraught with difficulties it is. One, nurse an area in the hope of a
ticket, which may or may not be forthcoming. Two, if one gets a ticket,
one has to mobilise money, since there is still no state funding of
elections. Three, move to the mind-boggling task of planning an
election strategy—figuring out the right campaign line,
assessing the
strengths and weaknesses of one's competitors, working out the caste
permutations. Four, get down to the back-breaking task of campaigning.
Money does play its role, but anyone who seriously believes that it's
just a matter of distributing saris, cycles and liquor has never seen
an election closely. As for the losers, they are out in the cold, far,
far worse than being passed over for a promotion.
For the
winners, it is only a five-year respite before they return to the
people. This makes them accountable in the real sense of the word,
unlike members of the other opinion-making/decision-making groups who,
once having secured a job, are in it, generally, for life.
Most
significantly, most of our opinion-builders and
decision-makers ”the
media, judiciary, bureaucracy and the corporate sector” form a
homogeneous group. Barring a few exceptions, such as the current chief
justice of the Supreme Court, a majority are upper caste/middle class
Hindus, the tax-paying three per cent at the top of the social pyramid,
intent on creaming off all the advantages for their own class. India's
politicians alone can be said to be truly representative of the
country, representing all classes, castes, communities and regions,
bringing to the decision-making table the problems of the entire
population. Fighting elections—where the votes of all
communities and
castes, rich and poor, matter equally—means a politician can't
afford
to lose touch with the ground realities.
It is this that makes
India's politicians the only real force for change and for a
more
inclusive society. It is this difference that makes the other powerful
groups unite against politicians, as the latter threaten their
continued prosperity by trying to allow "outsiders" inside their
charmed circle.
Indeed, our legislatures are the only really
democratic forums in the country, where MPs and MLAs from different
sections meet each other.In which other influential club in the country
would you see industrialist and page-three regular Saleem Sherwani
chatting amicably with fellow Samajwadi Party MP and retired dacoit
queen Phoolan Devi? Talk to public school-educated MPs like Milind
Deora, Jitin Prasada or Manvendra Singh and they will tell you what a
difference attending Parliament and meeting MPs from diverse social
backgrounds has made to their understanding of India.
In fact,
if India is still a democracy, it is because we have a political
class—it is they who provoke the real debates of our times. The
rest of
the decision-making classes would prefer a secession of the successful,
leaving the vast sections left out scrambling among the leftovers.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20070326&fname=Cover+Story+%28F%29&sid=2
Outlook Publishing
(India)
Private Limited
Critical Concerns
