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.