A Dussehra like
no other
| by B.Raman
( October 24,
2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) This has been a Dussehra like no other since
we became independent in 1947.
A negative
atmosphere and negative forebodings everywhere.
Our dreams of
emerging as an Asian power on par with China have received a set-back.
Everything about
us seems to be in a bad shape---- the state of politics, the economy, the
administration, the style of governance.
There is talk of
corruption everywhere, in everything.
The people’s
faith in the political leadership has been badly shaken.
The success of a
democracy depends on its people and its political leadership.
If the political
leaders come to be viewed by growing numbers of citizens as a pack of
self-serving, unprincipled and opportunistic money-makers, democracy suffers.
The nation
suffers even more.
India presently
has the most uninspiring leadership it has ever had.
Leaders with no
pride in the country.
Leaders with no
principles.
Leaders with no
qualms of conscience.
Leaders with no
sense of political morality.
It is so in the
Congress which is now headed by a set of leaders who will make our greats of
the past like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajaji, Vallabhbhai Patel etc shed
tears in heaven.
It is so in the
BJP which has become a party of opportunism and cynicism.
It is so in
other political formations.
It is so in the
civil society.
When Anna Hazare
made his appearance in New Delhi last year and took over the moral leadership
of not only India Against Corruption, but also India of The Common Man, we all
thought we are going to be born again Indians full of pride and hope for the
future.
Anna’s moral
crusade has lost its momentum and its moral fervour.
The virus of cynicism
and political opportunism has infected his followers too.
As we wake up
every morning, what we see on the horizon is not messages of hope and good
cheer, but forebodings of more bad things to come.
More
allegations, more scams, a further weakening of the moral fibre of our society.
Anything goes.
That is our driving force.
People like Shri
Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Mrs.Sonia Gandhi of Italian origin, and Shri Nitin
Gadkari, son of the soil who heads the BJP, are not exceptions to the rule. They
are the rule of wheeling and dealing.
Look at the way
they have been unabashedly stonewalling demands for the truth, for their
explanations on the allegations against them. .
By failing to
insist that Shri Vadra account for his huge wealth and remove the suspicions of
the people, Mrs.Sonia Gandhi has let herself be suspected as a possible
accomplice through silence and inaction.
She has made the
Congress that won our independence look no different from unscrupulous
political parties of Italy in which anything goes.
By failing to
enforce standards of rectitude on his Ministers and officials, the Prime
Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh has made himself be suspected as an equal
accomplice.
By failing to
insist that Shri Gadkari quit the leadership of the BJP and satisfactorily
reply to the allegations of wheeling and dealing of the worst kind indulged in
by a political leader, the BJP and the RSS have forfeited their claims to be
seen as parties with a difference.
By surrounding
himself with aides of dubious credentials, Shri Arvind Kejriwal of IAC has lost
his moral authority to lead a new
self-rejuvenating movement with a difference.
It is darkness
everywhere.
Only people’s
anger can dissipate this darkness.
Where is that
anger?
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For
China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com
Twitter @SORBONNE75)
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