Pols and hols

Closer home,somehow,the Indian ruleratti has been coy about taking a break or at least saying it is taking one. Historically,desh sewa or the call of duty towards the nation never factored in terrible things like taking time off; it was never seen as work,therefore,there was no need for a vacation. One just has to look at the black-and-white photographs of how Jawaharlal Nehru held his press conferences after becoming the Prime Minister. There was never even a table between the questioners and those supplying answers a copy of the beautifully framed photograph is in the current media advisers room too. So,in that context,where was the opportunity,context or time for privacy or time-out?

A young man in his early thirties,the son of a very respected socialist leader,laughingly recalls what summer vacations meant as his father went off to attend Janata Dal National Executives in the dead heat of June,sometimes to Bangalore,sometimes to Hyderabad and once to Ballia in 1985. He was a wide-eyed child eager to find time with his parents through whatever constituted a holiday then. Hot,eventful and long train journeys in sleeper class,pandals and small-town hotels brought to life by political hangers-on and chatter these are what turned it into a Ballia Hilton experience,he recalls.

Now,of course,things have changed. Says Sachin Pilot,a Congress MP and Union Minister of State for Communications and IT: Of course its legitimate to take a break,not just for politicians but CEOs and others. For me,leisure is not having the days engagements typed up,time with my family and children,the cell switched off. The location is not an issue,with my wife,and two young children,even two days off in Delhi without work can mean a lot.

Senior journalist Devdutt,too,thinks things have changed a lot since the pre-Independence days but in very complex ways. Holidays are a part of that change. Holidaying itself is a concept of the new middle class in India,which is sending a lot of people into politics, he says. The older way of politicians coming up through the party and the political process has changed. People are in politics because it is a vocation,business or through families. They do have the idea of holidaying as other professional groups do.

The OBC and other new leadership have also bought into this culture. Hamare neta itni jagah ghoom chuke hain is a plus point with voters as alliances are forged with leaders across countries in a rapidly changing world of status and contact-building, he says.
Many feel that in all the hypocrisies that shrouded the concept of who is taking a holiday where,Rajiv Gandhis Prime Ministership was a watershed. In the mid-1980s,he took a break from work to Lakshadweep,with several friends and families. It was no Marthas Vineyard or Camp David,but even today,the Bangaram Island Guest House in Lakshadweep is pointed out to visitors,where the young PM took time off without any qualms or secrecy.

Prime Minister VP Singh was no doubt a creature of different circumstances and a different political culture. As his former aide Wasim Ahmed says,There was no holiday for him. He used to meet people and think of politics all day,there was no chhutti for him. The days of the Raja of Manda have changed and Ahmed is not one to critcise. In these days of transparency and accountability,if it is a break from routine,on your own money,what is the harm? It shouldnt be a holiday masquerading as work, he says.

Even with Atal Behari Vajpayee and the NDA,it was a time when the Kumarakom musings 2001 institutionalised the break. Vajpayee preferred Manali,closer home in later years,and journalists would camp out there each evening to hear him,as the PM held forth in cooler surroundings,a sort of throwback to the Rajs concept of the summer capital. Sonia Gandhi too is said to favour Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh as a holiday destination. In Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and even Kerala,that has a more pious approach to what constitutes appropriate public behaviour,leaders are often away to the US or Dubai with the ostensible reason of visiting children who are studying or married abroad or like the late YSR Reddy,who undertook a family expedition to Bethlehem after his phenomenal victory last year.

And unlike the West,the paparazzi dont follow the leadership about on two-wheelers with zoom lenses. But though a holiday is not a secret,it is a quiet getaway,not spoken of loudly. Unless,of course,Indian politicians are forced into a confession once they bang into each other on Oxford Street,Fifth Avenue,Orchard Road or just on the plane out in summer.

Politicians across parties admit that there are still double standards about admitting to taking a break a total holiday,without a seminar,meeting or tour attached to it. More so now,in the RTI age perhaps,as there is scrutiny about politicians real assets and what they submit on affidavits. Close scrutiny follows choice of holiday destinations with what politicians tell the tax man or the voting public about access to resources,or questions about who funds politicians,especially those with zero assets.

Supriya Sule is an MP from Baramati,who made it a point to rush back to her constituents straight after Parliament got over. She candidly refers to borderline guilt she and other colleagues experience about holidays. The family needs our time,but yes,there would be hesitation in admitting to taking a break when so much remains to be done in ones constituency. If they have just told you about how even water is a problem,to come to terms with saying we are off on a break just after does involve a little guilt, she says.

Sule recalls how as a youngster holidays involved the entire Pawar family undertaking a trip to Mahabaleshwar,or with Farooq Abdullah Uncle to Srinagar. Breaks and leisure are meant to recharge people in public life and keep them connected to people they encounter, she says.
Several leaders believe that the mind-broadening stuff of travel or even seeing a play,hearing Sufi music,any leisure is important. YB Chavan,the Maratha stalwart believed in reading two or three books at the same time,to absorb and learn. Travel and breaks are a part of that, says Sule.

But BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy is still circumspect about political leaders openly driving off or flying off to distant lands saying its in the pursuit of high-thinking. Its not an idea which has fully come to be accepted in India even today. There is a reservation about political leaders admitting to taking a holiday, he says.
Public attitudes to vacationing netas are still not very favourable,and politics in India is still all about perceptions. I personally,too,would reluctantly admit to taking breaks, he says.

But CPM leader Subhasini Ali has a different take. Globalisation and the consequent consumerism and greed now mean holidays are about where you go and where you stay. Its not just about spending time with your family. Nothing wrong in taking holidays,but most in my party cant afford it,unless they have a relative abroad or something. But things are changing here people wear khadi,but its coupled with a Mont Blanc pen,Gucci eyewear and expensive shoes. Earlier,there was this Gandhian austerity that naturally coloured all kinds of politics in India,because we are a poor country. Thats changing now.

But globalisation as a word spins differently for different folks. Congress MP and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia says the question of politicians taking holidays cannot be disconnected from what is happening in other professions in India and the world. Why single out politicians? Its wrong to say that before people in public life did not take breaks,they did. And they do so now too. Globalisation has changed the way people think and live and that impacts on Indian politicians too. Imagine telling someone in the US a few decades ago if they were planning to take a break to India or China,they would think you were crazy,but now they do.
Similarly,now,travel within and outside India has become much more do-able,there should be no hypocrisy or guilt involved my children,for example,are much more globalised than us,and can accept it, he says.