Who killed our conscience?

There must be something wrong with us. It is not the question of just being a soft state,' as described by Gunnar Myrdal in his book, Asi...

There must be something wrong with us. It is not the question of just being a soft state,8217; as described by Gunnar Myrdal in his book, Asian Drama. There is also the factor of fatigue in our spiritual endeavour. In our efforts to ensure material prosperity, we seem to have not paid attention to the moral element in human nature. More and more people are visiting temples, mosques, churches or gurdwaras. But they appear to be too soaked in rituals to appreciate the message the religious places concretise.

We have landed ourselves in a situation where even ethical considerations, inherent in the human behaviour, have become dim. There is a paralysis of the will to do the right thing. Did we start slipping when rulers began usinggovernment machinery for political purposes? Or was it during the Emergency when the institutions were destroyed? Whatever the reasons, the country is practically ungovernable. Nothing seems to horrify us, not even the administration8217;s lack of fairness and objectivity. We have come to accept that the guardians of law and order are a party to the incidents of crime. We do not speak out any more. We are either afraid of the system or indifferent to it. There is not even a tug of conscience left.

I have observed politicians in Japan, Italy and France. They have felt uneasy over their misdeeds or the accumulation of disproportionate wealth andoften spoken out so that their example may initiate a process to cleanse the public life. But I know of no Indian leader who has ever said openly that he has accepted money. There is, in fact, a sense of bravado. The hawala case, which involved several leading politicians and civil servants, came a cropperwhen the CBI failed to corroborate the allegations of graft. Till today, none of the charged 8212; more than 70 of them still occupying high positions 8212; has thrown any light on the entries in the Jain diary, their names and the amount against them. We lack courage to own responsibility, to tell the truth or to say sorry.

Take our cricketers. Former South African captain Hansie Cronje faced his moment of truth and admitted to taking money for providing information on matches. His two colleagues, Herchelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, have pleadedguilty of accepting cash to underperform in one-day international matches. But no Indian player, who was a party to it or such other deals, has said anything even to the CBI. Some players have hired high-profile lawyers to defend themselves, without ever realising that they owe an explanation to the public which had placed them on a high pedestal. Their stock would still go up if they, or anyone of them, were to make a clean breast of what they did. Equally disgusting has been the spectacle in the Satyamangalam forests, where Veerappan8217;s writ runs. The role of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the case was foolish, to begin with. Later it became dangerous. Chief ministers of the two states have bent over backwards to propitiate an outlaw. What message are they conveying to the public? Veerappan is a criminal, who has killed many innocent people. By kidnapping Kannada film-star Rajkumar, he has not become a lesser criminal.

Are the states so clueless that they can think of no other way except to placate a murderer? It is not difficult to guess the reasons. Many high-ups in politics and the administration have benefited from him. Some may still be on his payroll. Why else has he not been arrested in the last 10 years, the period during which his operations have been visible and violent?

There is something in the criticism that media glamourises criminals like Veerappan. Must the media lionise criminals? There is something called social responsibility. The media is not just a mirror. It is also the custodian of society8217;s morals. How does it perform its duty by publishing even Veerappan twitching his bushy moustaches? Let us admit it, the media highlights crime because it sells.

The media has been reduced to a commercial venture. Print media is sufferingfrom this malady which has played havoc with our newspapers. A newspaper is not a dustbin for dumping drivel, film gossip and other trivia. It must have news. It must have information. It must educate the public on events with background information and editorial comments. The reason why the Press is respected less today is because the people, who run newspapers in our country, now think that it is just like any other commodity. It should be nicely packaged. And their idea of nice packaging8217; is to fill pages with semi-nude colour pictures of models and actresses and trash. This shallow, unthinking attitude gets reflected even in the news stories they carry.

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But why blame newspapers alone? Merit has little consideration even in our parliamentary activity. Dr Raja Ramanna, the nuclear scientist, who has done a tremendous job for the country lost 16-116 in the Rajya Sabha election for a seat on the governing body of a scientific institution in Kerala. He had nopolitical party to back him but had all the qualifications. When I asked the BJP and the Congress leaders to comment on his defeat, they brushed it aside by saying that Parliament meant parties and their representatives. quot;I wanted to prove a point,quot; said Ramanna. quot;An independent candidate, however deserving, can never get himself elected!quot;

If we were to introspect, we would realise that we are losing our moorings. There is a general erosion of values 8212; criminals whose claim to authority is based on their proximity to the seats of power. Criminals have sprouted at all levels. Highhanded and arbitrary actions are carried out with impunity. Crime and politics have become synonymous. President K. R. Narayanan said so without mincing words: quot;Crime and violence of all kinds at every social and political level have developed an unholy alliancequot;. There is a sense of frustration and depression. The old buoyancy of spirit is not to be found at a time when enthusiasm and hard work are needed. I think we have lost sight of ethical and spiritual aspects of life which are basic to culture and civilisation. The basic thing, I believe, is that we have no second thoughts on the methods we use to gain what we desire. Mahatma Gandhi, who led us during the national movement, told us that if means were vitiated, the ends were bound to be vitiated. That belief isno more there.

Democracy is a means to an end, not the end itself. We talk of the good of society. Is this something apart from the good of the individuals composing it? If the individual is ignored and sacrificed for what is considered the good of society, is that the right objective to have? The touchstone should be how far any political or social theory enables the individual to rise above his petty self and think in terms of the good of all.

Unlike Cronje and his cronies, none of our cricketers has told the truth and, unlike politicians abroad, none of the hawala accused has spoken out