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Journalism of Courage
So what if celebrities turn into political candidates? The issue has hotted up, what with cricketers and film stars making a beeline outside the offices of political parties.
Of course, there are mutual interests at work here: parties need crowd-pullers; stars need platforms. Nothing wrong with that. If illiterate farmers or scientists or bureaucrats or professionals can contest elections, why can’t cricketers and other celebrities? Let everybody interested join the party and get tickets, too. This is party time, folks!
In any case, good people need not necessarily make good politicians. In fact, good people usually shun or shirk such exposure. There is this interesting story about Albert Einstein. He was once offered the presidentship of a strife-stricken country. His pert but pertinent reply tells its own tale: If there are ten qualities required to be a gentlemen and ten to be a politician, none tally.
Examples of this abound: Ralph Nader and Arnold Schwarzenegger are just two instances. Nearer home, there are cases of upright government servants like T.N. Seshan contesting elections and failing to win them. And the “good” guys who actually made it to mainstream politics have made little impact, either as parliamentarians or politicians. A few have even regretted joining politics and have apologised for being non-performers — but only after they had completed their tenures, unfortunately!
The general election held after Jayaprakash Narayan’s call for total revolution in protest against the Emergency is said to have attracted a large number of “good” men and women to politics. But what became of them? Many have disappeared without a trace.
In other words, in a parliamentary system it is not enough for “good persons” to contest. Indian politics need effective persons.
