DOCKING MINISTERIAL PERKS
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I am glad we are having this debate on austerity and political office, spurred by the eviction of two ministers living in 5 star comfort at their own expense by a party whip that accused them of insensitivity to people’s woes and negligence to party policy.
The aye sayers are with the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee by validating his stand as appropriate and apparently advocating an austere socialist lifestyle for leaders. Whether this is mooted by a party wanting to look good and caring of the electorate’s sensibilities in times of recession, drought and swine flu; or whether it is the party using to advantage the current misfortunes of ?their opposition ?and pushing the knife deeper by displaying good conduct in contrast, we do not know for sure. In politics there is always an agenda because as lay spectators we are bound to wonder why this did not spring up before in the honourable party’s mind.
Actions can be legal and they can be moral. ?Ministers in jobs should be able to spend their own savings on their luxuries - the right to spend is an unalienable right given to them by the Indian constitution as free people in a free country. This ?right of course, is questioned by our inherent, deep and historic mistrust of the politician, sources of his income, his wheeling and dealings in office ?and his well-known unwillingness to spend on himself.
?Even if one were to?cast aside these doubts, the fact that these ministers are elected by the poor masses who are dying of various ills cannot be ignored. Such conspicuous consumption hits between the brows and smacks of Neroesque insensitivity. ?After all a rich man would not eat a feast in front of his starving servants even if his wealth were all legit and tax paid. It sends signals of the kind of men we have elected. Not necessarily corrupt but certainly indifferent in a moral sense. We naturally tend to extrapolate their tendency for this kind of attitude, to more grave public concerns where they are likely to manifest the same self gratification in the future. It is a question of perception and image if not the truth, and that is exactly what their party is trying to salvage, even if we believe, their hearts are truly not in what they say.
One argument is about how we Indians, unfairly expect our politicians to be frugal and how we have cast them in roles of social workers rather than of managers of this country. This is poverty thinking. This is the legacy of Gandhi the naked fakir and his ilk who we see as the ?ideal’ of the politician. Although austerity is fronted and symbolized by the ubiquitous Gandhi cap and institutionalized khadi, under all that is insatiable greed that typifies our perception and judgement of our politicians.?Corruption under the gandhi cap has been one of the most ironic paradoxes of our desitiny.
The austere drive?for the political asetic?is challenged by the more liberal amongst us, as retrograde and impractical. They see the politican as a CEO in high office and therefore deserving of the best in terms of remuneration and perks, to commensurate with his responsibilities that are far reaching in impact and influence. Fair enough, but there is one small rider to this problem - accountability. We would perhaps also look on these expenses as necessary if the ministers were accountable, transparent and delivered as promised. Most often they don’t. Their report cards are generally in the red, so why would anyone want to reward them with a playstation?
There is definitely a natural leaning in our Indian psyche for free- lunches and the easy money. I am sure that is a human trait. However, the absence of checks and balances often make this trait possible in our country as opposed to other countries where the impossibility of grabbing undeserved spoils is deterred by laws and imprisonments, irrespective of favours and contacts. When we come across such instances this free- lunch syndrome kicks in and we are instantly suspicious.
On the flip side of the free-lunch aspirant is the free-lunch guard whose antenna is ?up to nab the former. Hence such reports will often be weighted more on the side of those who decry public spending however legit, given the history of ill gained wealth and unbridled greed of the political community. This is further validated by the desk thumping unanimity with which our Parliament votes for its own benefits every time, without an iota of self consciousness about the onlooking helpless masses and their besmirched reputations.
Accounts of public expenditure are always shocking. The free trips, plane rides, hangers on, police protection, telephone calls, and renovation budgets are so huge that one wonders if the five star rates were actually cheaper. Why the Congress is not putting their money where their mouths are and getting out of their various bungalows, slashing their unnecessary wasteful expenditure, extended perks for families, ??police time on their safety and so on and so forth, is anyone’s guess.
All this brings us to the debate over the role, responsibility, attitude, moral commitment, social conscience and focus that we want our politicians to have. It is the will of the people. If we want frugality and austerity and simplicity then we cannot elect the rich because we do not want to support their luxuries, even if they can afford it. That is the paradox. Keep the rich out as ineligible for the post. Just as qualifications of a cerebral kind are important to get admissions, even if the person were rich as Croesus, so also in Political rigour we need to keep the pampered and spoilt out. Ofcourse to that the argument would be what if the rich guy were really efficient and honest? Wouldn’t the more populist stance of choosing the poor man be tantamount to hara kiri especially if we had a snake hiding under the tatters?
It is not an easy matter. As always, the complexity of our polity and society dumbfounds us. Nothing is straight forward. Every issue has so many layers and one can get lost in them. The politician is a past master in getting people lost, managing perception and focusing on the peripheral. The media of lotus eaters is busy caressing our id.
Yet if the slothful media were to wake up and take note, it is one well worth deliberating over since this eviction has stirred a hornet’s nest. This might well bring up thoughts on accountability too, and on disclosure of income and criminal records once again to bring in better reforms in our beleaguered system. Pranab has set the ball rolling. But will they really bell this fat cat all the way, or just flirt with the rope and meow seductively to it from afar? The beginning of change or just a flash in the media pan?
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What to say I am speechless! your analysis of Indian politics is amazing and the way you wrote it very candidly and the terminology you have used is great! Lissome Lady Love you for a great Piece of eye opener for Indian politicean.
Lissome Lady…try to visit my blogs where I have clarified in a few blogs rong use of my name with yours by the Google search page. …..search google with \”Raghu iyer rediffiland\” and you will find these words under Raghu Iyer Home Page Rediff iland \”When I joined rediff iland, I thought it was just another good blogging site. I took up the name of Lissome Lady and started using it here. …\”…….. I fail to understand what has me to do with Lissome Lady or similars….check and give me your reply soon…….. You know very well I dont have to take or use your name or any name for my blogging… I am Independent and INdividual Existing… See that this is sorted out soon… or check if someone played the prank / mistakes…. God bless you
Nicely written… in short-term … i believe media has created enough buzz around it n each political parties using it to own advantages…. but if motives are good… i believe it requires fundamental changes in the system… people like me will not mind the lavishness\perks enjoyed by our leaders…but more on the results that takes our society a better place to live-in with time….
“neroesque insensitivity” quite aptly says it. And now Tharoor goes a step further on twitter and proclaims that he would indeed travel “cattle class” in solidarity with the holy cows!!!. Understandably, his party is not exactly happy with his smart aleckiness. It may be just an image building exercise ; at least they are attempting to project a desirable one unlike the dame who is going about all over UP who is doing image building of another kind.
one might scoff at the notion that u can become ultra rich only with wrong means …no,, it is not so exactly but it goes as far as ur conscious allows u to go ,,, further than that u have to stop thinking about ur conscioius .. it will always bite u,,and then u end up twisting ur conscioius according to the situations and opportunity …
if i had that kind of money ,, i am sure many people would be comfortable in their living …as such with whatever i earn , i keep a part of it in my mandir at home and then it goes to the poor and the needy ones… wish i had that kind of money but i will never have due to simple reason that to earn that kind of money u need to adopt to various means which are not always in accordance to ur conscious …so probably it will always remain a paradox …unless someone inherits a huge wealth and then chose to live with principals and ethics,,, i am sure there are many good samaritians in the society but probably not enough…
Vivek we cannot get into a place of absolutes when we speak of India which is about variety and plurality and diversity. That is the nature of our composition as a country. But within that one can aspire to have equality of opportunity for all people, a social conscience when we allot funds, confidence in our right to demand transparency and probity in our politicians, a sense of balance in our expectation of basic amenity vs luxury, a margin in our differences for the poor to aspire to be rich, an education that will allow the rich to see both their responsibility to create wealth for the poor and to be the voice of the downtrodden. And those are not difficult to achieve. Everyone does not want to be filthy rich. Everyone needs to be comfortable. Lifestyles differ. Even if you had as much money as Mallya would you live like him? No. If you did you would go for some kind of psychosis soon, wouldn”t you?
Inderji, it is true that we have not shed our colonial mindsets. Angrez ko bhaga diya par ghulami ko nahi. We revere our leaders like we did the British and the maharajas before them. So in our minds we believe that these politicians whom we have elected and put in that place and made “king” actually deserve all the perks and riches that they appropriate. We are neither shocked or dismayed. We distance ourselves from their lives completely, as we do from Queen Elizabeth. This is our mistake. Have you seen anchors interviewing these politicians. They are so timid and obsequious in their questions. That does not mean you need to bark and not allow them to talk at all like Arnab does from time to time in his interpretation of what bold reporting should be, but to ask them cutting questions, without worrying about how embarassed they would be. Ek bhay sa laga rehta hai, coming ofcourse from what they can arbitarily do to you and get away.
and yes we should not make the use of 5star hotels as some …forbidden and criminal act,,, rather we should understand for all practical purposes that the use of such places are sometimes necessary for the buisness and political sense,,, but at the same time if someone is using the hotels as home ,, on public money they should be asked to shift or be penalised with thier own money…
yes this is a nation of confused people …maybe because of the diversity in economics, social and religious groups,, poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich…. why go far, mumbai is the best example of such paradoxes…not even half km from a seven star hotel, u would find people surviving in slums..but the whole point is ..there is a start, may be late and may be with some motive behind, but still it is a start, it is an example …and we should be hopeful for the better..
nothing more then an eye wash it is,,bewakoof bana rahey hein janta ko yeh subh leader,, soo kay uthey hein kya? like crocodile tears these are..u said it right..if they are really serious then let them shed away all the wealth they have collected and start living in an asharam like gandhi and serve the country instead of ruling the country…..there should not be a ruling pary there should be only and only a serving party, or a watching party..let them stop thinking as rulers first.
Diwakar, anyone can set a ball rolling, even inadvertently, even accidentally or unintentionally. The nature of the ball is to roll. So we are not giving Pranab Mukherjee any kudos for initiating the eviction and doing what no one could have done. We are not even calling him straight or good or any such positives. In fact, I am wondering what the agenda is of the party really is in this whole charade. *chuckle* However, the ball having rolled out of his hands, one hopes that it will be for the better. As there is neither political will nor the tacit intention in this country to initiate planned reforms for our betterment, or even look at such obvious ills around us of common knowledge, we can only hope that any good comes from happenstance or moves of destiny that these men and women in power will not be able to stem, even if they had been unwitting instruments who mooted it.
“Pranab has set the ball rolling”. No, Pranab has not set the ball rolling. It is beyond the capacity of F.M. I do remember it is the same Finance Minister who was once named as “Only Vimal Mukherjee” based on his “hand -in-gloves” relationship with a Industrial House.And Ministry was altering various laws as per instructions of Industrial House.How any body take utterences of such person seriously.
hahahaha hariji… see what I mean.. all that talk from the pulpit being held in the much maligned 5 star!!!! So much lip service, so much image building and no real intention. So much talk about the superficial because to engage with the real problems would be so painful and tiresome. If they made honest laws, it would affect their friends or relatives and then they would never be able to save them. It amazes me how we are all caught up in this web of conspiracy to make believe that we are going somewhere from time to time while all the while standing in the same place and taking one step forward and two steps back. The entire system is built on the twin existences of the rich and the poor, and like black money that forms our parallel economy there is no way we can extricate one from the other to repair it without tearing at the very fabric of our polity. Our unity in diversity is a very sentimental and noble romance that we need to believe we are one Inida.
LoseWeight: There is a place for 5 stars as there are for slums. Being part of the natural order of life, inequality is not an undesirable, exploitation is. What one aspires for is equal opportunities for all to reach whatever heights one can reach. // The problem with us is that we argue in extremes. Five star or slum? as if there is nothing in between. Politicians are not ”blessed by nature to be kings.” They dont even need a qualification, in fact they can have the negative qualification of being criminals in jail, or even the accidential qualification of being the son of a deceased minister in order to be elected to the post. So the politician is not naturally deserving of the privilege. His only qualification should be his work and we all know that is pretty dismal. Hence this argument. Telling, dreaming, encouraging etc are just words, we need political will and legal empowerment. So let us not faff about with feel good phrases.
You have beautifully brought out two Indias, Lissomeji ….one with all its profligacy, wasting crores of rupees (whther belonging to public or their own, gathered by whatever means) and the other on the verge of collapse due to hunger and poverty. Even UNO’’s reports consider our disparities at alarming level ….world’’s richest and the poorest live in our country. Wealth of the wealthiest cannot sustain if 80% of the people have no purchasing power. A great effort, a great commitment is required from those in power as well from media people to bring about sanity in spending levels. If the little austerity measures suggested by Pranab Da are not properly followed up logically, as suggested by you, they just won”t make any difference. BTW, these instructions to ministers to leave the posh hotels and shift to guest house were given by our FM in a meeting held in a 5-star hotel !!
actually we are a confused nation. why do we have 5 star hotels, for whom? why should a person be a minister and stay in a slum? nation moves forward when we take care of the ones who are blessed by nature to be on top in any field of life, be it business, services or politics. not that we should not care for lower classes in terms of money but rather than going down to their levels we should encourage them to move up. let them also dream big and grow. let us all grow and not pull eachother down.
Austerity perhaps does not began from poltical homes.Move to Lutynes zone Delhi and see how neo Maharaja lives with kith and kins and horses,cows.When Madam can spend 4000 cr on her images and statues only a Nero can save India.Great work as usual,pl keep writing often,sis.