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Have you been less impolite, Mr Lyngdoh

Have you been less impolite, Mr Lyngdoh

Author: S. Gurumurthy
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: January 1, 2004
URL: http://gurumurthy.net/display.asp?id=159

Shall I recall, Mr Lyngdoh, what you told the BBC the other day? Not just about Indian politicians. Also about Indian democracy. Indian states. This is what you said: Indian "politicians are a cancer that kills the system'. 'They are like Zamindars exploiting the resources of the state'. Did you not stop at that? No. You said more. Actually abused more. Like, "not a single living politician is committed to democracy"; "they do not respect individual freedom" which alone means democracy; "they do not even now how to talk politely, do not understand basic courtesies"; their "nose is either stuck in the air" or "they prostrate at somebody's feet"; that you called the collector of Baroda a 'joker', was "no slip of tongue", you just "completely forgot there was a mike to catch every word I spoke". "Yes, politicians are common cheats. They keep cheating all the time". It is impolite to recall all of what you said.

In your shocking trivialisation of Indian democracy, almost saying that it is no democracy at all, you have eaten what he said in the context of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir three years back. In this very column I had praised you, Mr Lyngdoh, for having told the white men to mind their business when they snidely questioned the electoral process in J& K. Between then and now what happened for you to change your views so drastically that before the very white audience you almost destroyed the image of India as a proud democracy. Gujarat election results? In the Gujarat poll you were the main opposition to Narendra Modi. His victory meant your defeat, not so much that of the Congress. Did that defeat make you lose faith in Indian democracy? That is why you changed your convictions about Indian democracy?

Mr Lungdoh, you are not just an individual. You are the presiding deity of the electoral system in India. You had no business to say that the very electoral system which you are heading is spurious and the democracy which it yields is no democracy. Do you realise that a Musharraf can quote you tomorrow and say this is what the chief election commissioner of India talks about the democracy in India. He can easily dismiss the elections in J&K as a eye wash based on your testimony. He can claim say that Pakistan runs a better democracy than we do. You will be his witness. Why, you are his approver, confessing that what you said about J&K elections earlier is wrong.

I am too critical of politicians. With empathy but. My experience of politicians is a little different. Among those who interface with the people it is the politician who is most people- friendly. Not the bureaucrat. Not the courts or the judges. Not the professionals or the businessmen. The politician cannot ignore or turn away the people. Well past midnight I have seen people calling the politician and complaining about power failure. The politician cannot sleep till he does something to restore power. He can fail the voter only at his cost. The people cannot approach the bureaucrat or judges. Their telephones will be off the hook. But a politician cannot do it, save at his cost. A mass political leader has to meet a hundred people a day. Receive a hundred applications for jobs, transfers, police harassments and the like. He cannot refuse any, even from the opposition. In India particularly it is not easy to be a politician, even a selfish one. And there are many honourable ones in politics even today. The other day I had recalled Kushabhau Thakre, a selfless politician who died hearing your abuse.

If you hear your interview again, Mr Lyngdoh, you will realise that no one could have been more discourteous, more impolite. In your vitriol, Mr Lyngdoh you ended up abusing not just Indian politician or political parties, but India. You trivialised the Indian democracy which the foremost brand of India, particularly in the western world. In any other country you would have been impeached. Here you cannot be. Imagine the government had an impeachable majority in parliament. Would you have talked the way you did? Never.
 


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