Bow to the Left

It was all there for the world to see. At the Congress plenary session at Hyderabad, politicians 8212; both young and elderly 8212; clamou...

It was all there for the world to see. At the Congress plenary session at Hyderabad, politicians 8212; both young and elderly 8212; clamoured obsequiously for Rahul Gandhi, prostrating themselves metaphorically and, given a chance, they would have done it physically too 8212; at his feet. Posters of Priyanka Gandhi far outnumbered those of the prime minister, even though she was not even present. Congress leaders and Cabinet ministers were in competition on how much praise could be showered on the Gandhis before they puked. I am assuming that this collective Uriah Heeping induces some nausea in the bellies of the Gandhis. I sincerely hope it does.

We saw the same cravenness two years ago when, after the UPA won the elections, hundreds of Congress politicians queued up to implore Sonia Gandhi to be prime minister. This disgusting spectacle of grown men and women 8212; and many of them quite well-educated 8212; debasing themselves shamelessly would have made any decent man8217;s skin crawl. I remember wondering, as I watched MP after MP jumping through hoops to prove their devotion to Mrs Gandhi, what Manmohan Singh, sitting next to her, was thinking. Because with every ringing eulogy to Mrs Gandhi, every promise that they would slit their wrists right then if she did not agree to be prime minister, they were also insulting and rejecting Dr Singh. Mrs Gandhi was, as usual, inscrutable, but the primary emotion any person with any sensitivity at all would have felt in her situation is contempt for these toadies.

Of course, sycophancy is hardly limited to the Congress body politic. MGR, NTR, Jayalalitha, Bal Thackeray have been treated by their followers like divine beings, and no one has ever heard them complaining. The breast-beating of the acolyte and the screams of adulation have been met with enigmatic half-smiles and a half-raised hand in the abhay mudra. In a magazine I worked for once, we had printed a photo of a Tamil Nadu minister kissing Jayalalithaa8217;s feet. The man was so happy with it, he had us enlarge and frame the photo, so that he could hang it up in his office. And it8217;s not even a phenomenon that has appeared after the high ideals of newly-independent India8217;s politics degenerated into self-serving cynicism. Exactly 56 years ago, on January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly met for the last time. In this meeting, the members elected Dr Rajendra Prasad as the first president of the Indian Republic. Here are some edited excerpts from the transcripts of that meeting, with members speaking just after the election:

B. Das Orissa: Two thousand five hundred years ago, your province gave birth to Gautam Buddha who carried the message of peace all over Asia. I sincerely hope that you will carry that message and uphold the doctrines of Mahatma Gandhi not only in your rule over us in India but throughout the universe.

Dr H.C. Mookerjee West Bengal: You have won on account of your sterling honesty, on account of your past record of unselfish service, and the country has given you the highest possible position it can give anybody. It is only in deference to your wishes that I shall not make any long speech.

Hussain Imam Bihar: Mr President, it is a day of happiness for all, especially for us Biharis, as it is after centuries that a Bihari has been able to give its services to India in the manner and in the personality of your good self. We, Sir, in this House, have known your goodness and known all your qualities of head and heart, and we could not but be happy at the choice which has been made.

Mr President: For once after three years, I hope the House will permit me to stop further discussion.

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Shri V.I. Muniswamy Pillay Madras: Sir, coming as I do from the southern-most province of India, the Tamil Nad, I take this opportunity, Sir, of extending our wholehearted congratulation to you, Sir, for being unanimously elected to the greatest office of India, under whose destiny is going to be the future of India. I pray, Sir, that the Almighty may give you long life, so that you may continue that noble work and elevate the downtrodden,the oppressed, the untouchable and all those people who have been removed away from the statute as no longer untouchables.

Mr President: I would beg honourable Members now to stop further discussion and not embarrass me more.

It was always there in our politicians8217; blood 8212; this propensity for over-the-top hand-wringing kowtowing. It8217;s just gotten worse over the decades, and today sycophancy has become a general principle of Indian political life. It is now the normative 8212; sycophancy the etiquette, obsequiousness the oxygen of politics. And, unlike Rajendra Prasad, the one being kowtowed to no longer feels embarrassed, no longer asks the false apostle to desist and go and do some productive work.

Perhaps the only exception to this rule is the Left. One may have grave differences with the Left on many issues, but on many other matters the leftists have a culture that has been obliterated from nearly all our other political parties. Many years ago, I saw then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu inaugurating a seminar at my business school. He got down from the car, shook the hand of the director of our institute, walked briskly the dais, and took his seat. The proceedings started. A Tamil friend sitting next to me was shell-shocked. 8220;How8230;how8230;how?8221; he kept blubbering, till I feared he was going to have a fit. But no, it was just a culture shock. 8220;If this was MGR,8221; he told me, 8220;there would have been a screaming mob, many women would have bared their breasts and shown him their MGR tattoos, at least a few would have fainted at having seen him from so close. Then dozens of minor politicians and student leaders would have lined up to garland him and prostrate themselves at his feet. MGR wouldn8217;t have been able to reach the dais before half an hour. And this man just walks in, no nonsense, and no one even garlands him!8221;

One more reason why we need the Left.