Loathsome but unavoidable

Nehru, influenced by the western ethos, insisted that he wasconcerned only with a person8217;s public doings and not with his private life. The Mahatma, however, maintained: 8220;A man8217;s public life cannot be clean, if his private life is not clean. You cannot separate the two.8221;

Almost all the leaders and many others are today loudly lamenting what they call a decline in the standard of poll campaigning and aver that the battle should be fought only on issues and not on personalities. This is an absurd proposition which must be summarily rejected. May I ask: Should we as voters not take a good close look at the candidates who seek our support and are eager to be elected to the Lok Sabha? The character, commitment and credibility of persons making poll promises are of crucial importance. In fact, we need to recall what Baba Sahib Ambedkar emphasised about the importance of the individual during the concluding session of the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949.

Ambedkar said the Assembly had laboured hard to give India a good Constitution. But much in regard to itsmerit would depend upon the people who worked the Constitution, adding: 8220;However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it happen to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it happen to be a good lot.8221; In short, the man operating the system was no less important than the system itself.

Every party today offers us the moon in the course of glossy manifestos. But who will give us what our people have been demanding for the past five decades: a good, clean government. Clearly, we need leaders who can truly be trusted to put the country before all else 8212; self, family, caste, community and party 8212; and implement their solemn promises. This may have happened had Nehru and those who followed him shunned sycophancy and enforced selfless Gandhian standards. Sadly however, Nehru, though Bapu8217;s political heir, had his own ideas 8211; and agenda.

Corruption and political harlotry may not haveflourished as brazenly as they do in India today if only we had focussed as much on the character of our rulers as on the issues. Especially, when issues have largely become irrelevant with politics increasingly becoming an exercise in unabashed hypocrisy, double talk and deception. We have adopted the Westminster form of democracy, but not applied its standards of probity. We have allowed politicians and many others to get away not only with lies and damn lies but even with murder at high noon. We have spoken loudly but done little to punish the crooks and the corrupt among our rulers as also those who have made a mockery of the Constitution. We have often lambasted those who have shown the courage to expose unprincipled doings, instead of praising them.

Even Sonia Gandhi loyalists privately concede that the issue of her foreign origin is of crucial importance to India8217;s national security, integrity and self-respect. At the time of the Chinese aggression, Nehru warned:8220;Freedom is in peril. De-fend it withall your might.8221; This warning is as relevant today as in 1962, now that the Congress has no qualms of conscience in projecting a person of foreign origin for the office of the country8217;s Prime Minister. Remember, Nehru barred officers of India8217;s Foreign Service from marrying foreigners on considerations of national security. This ban virtually applies even today to the officers of India8217;s Armed Forces.

Remember also, that the US, by the same token, has amended its Constitution to bar persons of foreign origin from becoming the country8217;s President.

Many more pointed questions need to be asked from various leaders. Our people have a right to seek some basic information from Sonia Gandhi: Her family background, education, political philosophy and links, if any, with Italy. Why did she not take up Indian citizenship on her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, since she now claims to love India? Why did she wait for 16 years before doing so? For her to dismiss the query as 8220;technical8221; is as ridiculous as IndiraGandhi8217;s absurd assertion in 1975 that Justice Sinha8217;s decision to unseat her from the Lok Sabha and disqualify her for six years was based on 8220;technical8221; grounds. This historic judgment eventually led to the diabolic Emergency.

Likewise, our people have every right to get adequate answers to the questions raised about Prime Minister Vajpayee by Co-ngressmen Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rajesh Khanna, both of whom have been understandably denounced by angry BJP leaders. Ghulam Nabi asked: 8220;How does the PM have a son-in-law without being married? Whose son-in-law? Who is married to whom?8221; Rajesh Khanna queried more pithily: 8220;Aulad nahin, damaad hai.8221; Vajpayee, as we have all known for years, has an honourable answer. His life is an open look, leaving no scope for any canard, including one regarding his role in the 1942 freedom movement.

In the final analysis, India faces many crises today because our voters have tragically failed to demand the highest probity, integrity and commitment from ourpublicmen. We have recklessly compromised with minimum standards whenever our friends, relations, partymen and benefactors were involved, greatly encouraging all-round decline in standards and institutions and even criminalisation of politics. Our people, therefore, need to take a good close look at every candidate and apply the Gandhian yardstick sternly.

Crooks, criminals and the corrupt among our leaders and aspirants for Parliament must be exposed ruthlessly together with their carefully hidden personal frailties. No quarter must ever be given to them under the misplaced plea of good taste and decency.

The writer is a former member of the Lok Sabha and Editor of India News and Feature Alliances