Political Diary

New Delhi, 27 April 2012

Political Twilight Zone

WHAT’S PRIVATE ABOUT PUBLIC MAN?

By Poonam I Kaushish

Making a mountain out of a molehill? Or a molehill out of a mountain? Two questions which exercised-excited political Delhi over a scandalous CD. A potent cocktail of sex and power which has all the ingredients of sleaze, honey! A blow-by-blow account of the choli ke peeche nok-jhok of a neta which would make a rose blush!

It all started with a hush-hush peek-a-boo of an alleged delicious rendezvous of Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi having sex with a senior female lawyer taped by his driver. A much harried MP first got the Delhi High Court to bar publishing, telecasting and broadcasting the CD, then claimed the tape was morphed and fabricated only to quit his  Chairmanship of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice and Congress spokesman. His Party washed its hands by declaring it was Singhvi’s personal matter.

Questionably, the moot point: What is the line between a politician’s public and personal life? Can he be ethical in public if he is unethical in private? Is his private life any concern of the people? Has politics become too personal or should politicians expect intense media scrutiny of their affairs? Do we have unrealistic expectations of our leaders?

More. The CD has also raised issues of moral turpitude as Singhvi reportedly promised the lawyer a judge-ship. As Chairman of Parliament’s Law Committee this seriously reflects on Singhvi’s conduct and calls for a probe by Rajya Sabha’s Ethics Committee. Obversely, if the tape is morphed it impinges on an MP’s privilege and needs to be examined by the House’s Privileges Committee. Either way, Singhvi’s is in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation.

Undeniably, the issue is not Singhvi’s indiscretion, but it once again underscores our politicians are expected to be a notch above ordinary mortals. To be respected and held in high esteem who don’t easily succumb to human weaknesses and foibles. Moreover, a man’s public life can never be clean if his private life is not. The two are indivisible as a person’s public demeanour  is influenced by his character, integrity and values.

Towards that end, a leader has to pay the price of privacy once he enters public life which demands accountable to the people. The aam aadmi has a right to know everything about his netas as their salaries are paid for by the people who need to make informed judgments about the kind of leaders they want.  For example, how can a Minister or MP busy in jan seva, afford a Swiss bank account, Ferrari, a yacht and a villa in Monaco on his salary?  That too, without working honestly for even one day.

On the flip side, our netagan assert that as India has traditionally been an open society, the question of privacy has never arisen. That reason why the Constitution does not have any provision for privacy, unlike in several other countries. Also, ‘public interest’ is not the same thing as what the public is interested in. After all, private morality has no automatic relationship to someone’s ability to do a job well. Adding, many great political leaders have had messy personal lives, while others, with blameless private lives, have been judged failures in office.

Sadly, the tragedy of the Singhvi saga is that it has not made any iota of difference or guilt among our teflon-coated politicians who continue to be fair game and ply whatever you want: Lay down any law, bend any rule, change any order, transfer any person and fudge figures. All for a song and the sexiest of two-legged sizzlers. Today, entertainment and all the goodies (!) are viewed as perks of the job they handle. Various CDgates have shown that politicians are nothing but a bunch who promote their own self-interest at the public's expense.

Welcome to a spanking new ongoing Kamasutra of our rulers caught with their pyjamas, dhotis and lungis down. Literally. That promises to take one to even greater heights of ecstasy and glory. Aren’t we familiar with our politicians’ utterly butterly indiscretions?  Who can deny that the political casting couch is worse or better (depending on how one looks at it) than Bollywood’s casting couch. A spicy tale dripping sex to the panting of politicians asking for more,

The sexy-tell-all-tales of our new Carpetbaggers enjoying their ‘pegs and legs’. Haven’t we all enjoyed the defence‘less’ Tehelka, judicial Vrindavan, political Jalgaon and Alwar video-tapes, deliciously educating about affairs of the heart? What to speak of three Union Cabinet Ministers relishing their latest “hot night” dish. Recall, the delicious indiscretions of a honey gone sour in Ahmadabad when two Punjab Ministers and a Delhi MLA sought to brew a heady cocktail of business and pleasure. Or the poetic justice meted out by a UP Minister to his Madhumita.

What to say of a former PM and his “foster” family, a gay Chief Minister, Union Ministers who are chronic womanisers, a ex-Dy CM bigamous marriage and another’s involvement in an ice-cream parlour sex scandal in Kerala. Who doesn’t remember the “hot tandoori night,” which spotlighted for the first time the antics of our lower polity via Naina Sahni and Sushil Sharma? Or the seventies torrid Suresh Ram sleaze.

What is frightening is that it has encompassed all levels of governance --- bureaucrats, policeman and judiciary. Women are now crucial comrades-in-arms for scaling the heights of various political Everests'. We too can boast of our Christine Keelers and our desi Marilyn Monroes. Besides aren’t the netas today pastmasters in top-pling. We are secular socialists – willing to share and vow with one and all.

India is no exception, world-wide countries have been rocked by sordid sagas. In the US, former President Clinton barely escaped impeachment for converting the Presidential Oval office into the oral (sex) office, courtesy Monica Lewinsky. In Britain, skeletons keep tumbling out of Ministerial closets to be given the ‘gay’ boot. The latest to be hit is China where a top Communist leader Bo Xilai’s wife is involved in the murder of a British businessman. But in France, Germany and Denmark access to privacy is an offence.

Undoubtedly, constant scrutiny is the price of fame. If our leaders want to enjoy the privileges of power and all the status that goes with it then they should willingly pay the price of absolute integrity and honesty. If a person lies in small things how can one trust him on bigger things? One is either honest or not. Think. A politician who betrays his wife is capable of breaking his promises and lying to his country. The nation demands, its polity to be whiter than white otherwise they are not fit to do the job

Importantly, India today is at the moral crossroads. We are in an era where our powers-that-be are pulverizing society. Absence of an effective vetting process of the real chaal, charitra & chehra of our leaders has made things worse.  It is high time to cry a halt to increasing degradation by conducing our own due diligence, else we lay the foundation for a weak and pliable polity. Our leaders must stop using ‘pegs and legs’ to fight their political battles. Or else be prepared to face public sting! ------INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)