Opinion ‘Scavengers’ needed

Leaders of political parties have the responsibility to lead and guide the public. Hence,in a sense,they naturally get to occupy a higher position vis-à-vis the people. But truly good political leaders or activists are those who have both the intrinsic humility as well as practical-theoretical understanding that they have chosen politics as their life’s calling in order to serve the nation and its people,and not to exploit it to serve themselves and their kin. Promoting one’s own and one’s relatives’ business interests through politics,and disregarding people’s interests in the process,defiles the essential purpose of politics and business,both of which are essential for the society’s wellbeing and progress. It also demeans the practitioners themselves,howsoever large their ill-gotten riches may be,and howsoever fearsome their power may be.

Corrupt political practice is,therefore,poison that destroys the practitioners from within,whether they realise it or not. Honest and service-oriented politics,on the other hand,morally elevates the practitioners and gives them deep personal satisfaction,howsoever agonising the challenges may be along the chosen path. Of course,such politics benefits society,too,in an enduring way,unlike the benefits of corruption-ridden politics that are ephemeral and often counter-productive.

Precisely because politics serves the society and keeps the wheels of democracy moving,it is the responsibility of the people to sustain political organisations by meeting their basic requirements. Undoubtedly,money is a basic requirement of politics. Our political parties need money in significantly large quantities to run their establishments,financially support their workers and leaders,and,of course,to contest elections. Sadly,it’s a grave shortcoming of our democratic polity that there is no institutionalised and transparent way of funding political parties. On their part,political parties too have not institutionalised a mechanism of regularly and transparently collecting small amounts of funding from a large number of their supporters. As a result,their dependence on business establishments for funding has progressively grown to an alarming level.

This systemic malady is being exploited by corrupt political functionaries and unethical business establishments to their mutual advantage. It’s of course true that even honest and ethically conscious businesses are often forced to pay bribes in this system,in which the recipients of sleaze money include unscrupulous bureaucrats,judges,law-enforcement personnel and even media moghuls.

What India is witnessing today is the working of this system at its worst. This is damaging India’s development,for which the need is urgent and the opportunities are immense. This is also debilitating our democratic governance,severely restricting its ability to evolve sound policies and to implement them in a result-oriented manner for the benefit of the people,especially the poorest and the most neglected. This twin assault on development and democracy is producing widespread cynicism and a sense of helplessness. Not surprisingly,divisive,extremist and violence-preaching forces are taking advantage of the situation. How to arrest and reverse this situation? There is only one answer: We must put clean politics in command.

Several questions arise. How can this be done? Can this be done at all? Who can,or who will,do it?

We must,first of all,believe that it can be done. This is not an empty belief. India has witnessed the practice of lofty politics for a prolonged period during the freedom movement. Though in a weakened way,this continued even in the post-Independence era. If we look back,we can see many inspiring footprints of the arduous march of idealism-driven and service-oriented politics. These footprints belong to the devoted and determined politicians of different political-ideological affiliations. This partially answers the question: Who will put clean politics in command? I do not believe that any single political party can do so,even though my own party,the BJP,bears a greater responsibility for the simple reason that it talks about clean politics much more than others do. It also has a relatively better record of having practiced it. Nevertheless,writing this column as I am from Bangalore,I am deeply pained to hear from scores of my own party’s committed colleagues shameful stories of corruption during the BJP rule in Karnataka. Therefore,at a time when degeneration in politics is taking place at a grim pace in many parts of India,it is the duty of conscientious and idealistic political activists in all political parties to follow,with even greater determination,the footprints of their forebears. We must courageously speak the truth about corruption and wrongdoings in our own respective parties,and be ready to accept the consequences of our actions. Never in history has politics cleansed itself. It has always needed scavengers,who are ready to face humiliation and hardships. Their reward,however,is greater. Those who take the lead are sure to get people’s appreciation and support.

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com