Shiban Khaibri
The enterprise of politics in India is attaining newer and interesting properties. Many politicians, day in day out, are progressively putting forth discoveries in and experiences with the “business” of politics which fascinate us and set in a chain of thought process in both positive as well as negative perspectives.
The process of definitions of politics and interpretations in varied forms thereof continue to emanate from the very vast spectrum of political horizon and structure of politics in our country. Is politics the best business in India? Is securing a niche or a space in politics becoming increasingly the costliest but the most enviable investment with a promise of harvesting the richest dividends? Let the same be analyzed.
Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, Birender Singh who, many consider, as a bete noire of Haryana Chief Minister , Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has said that politics is the best business in India. He was addressing a public meeting organized by Haryana chapter of All India Balmiki Samaj at Ambala on 7th instant. His quotes are worth noting and could form a part of the current political philosophy and the ways of politics in our country. Says he,” If one can see nothing worthwhile around, then the best of all business is politics; you may prove a failure in business, you may fail as a government employee, you may not come up as a good practicing doctor, equally not a good engineer, nor a good lawyer – you must then join politics.” Motivating people to join the “dandha” of politics, he further says,” Some are so lucky that not in crores but in billions of rupees, they play the game and business of politics and then suppress those who are upright.” Such a new find, all about politics in our country, was made public by the Honb’le member of the Rajya Sabha in the public meeting where a Union Minister also hailing from Haryana was present. Known as a “fearless leader” and a critic of the functioning of the state government and his Congress party, he on July 29 had set a ball of controversy rolling by saying,” Once someone told me that he had a budget of Rs.100 crore to become a member of the Rajya Sabha, but when he totaled up the expenditure later, he found that it was Rs.80 crore and thereby he saved Rs.20 crore. Choudhry Brinder Singh further says that it was how money power was becoming more important in Parliamentary democracy. However, many in the political circles wished if he could have named such “lucky politicians” as it was otherwise referring to every body in politics. They say there are many who are considered to be honest and sincere in politics. Those in the trade, many others infer, know better about the traits and tricks of the business and whether the statement was a pointer towards the increasing graph of the ills of corruption, nepotism and the plummeting standards of ethics and morality in politics witnessed in our country. His views have been buttressed by the statement, very recently given by the ex- President of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari by saying that honest people in politics do not win elections. In other words, honesty and basic principles of morality and ethics do not entitle a person to be fit in politics.
Reflecting on the empowerment of the downtrodden akin to the phenomenon of “escape velocity”, the Congress vice President Rahul Gandhi in a recent speech referred to the term from the subject of astrophysics and wanted to create history of sorts by detaching from the earth to join the Jupiter. To decipher the term and put it in simpler words, he wanted the audience to aspire for Jupiter’s “escape velocity” of 60 km per second as against that of 11.2 km per second of the mother earth. This very interesting foray to many, looked being one more flag ship scheme authored by the Congress party to “help the poor” after the Food Security law or the Land Acquisition law etc just only and only to get votes; while many others evoked interest in the analogy given by Rahul Gandhi in different directions while many others, taking it as a philosophical piece put forth as a hypothetical cure of the problems of different hues faced by the people of the country. A few more, simply termed the velocity theory as beating about the bush and remembered the famous Urdu poet Mirza Galib’s line of a couplet;-” Khuda karey kuchh na samje koi” or as per attempted translation , let God ensure that none understands nothing of the subject.
Most of us, on the other hand, are still awaiting the fulfillment of one of the most effective and a famous promise of the “turnaround of the economy in just 100 days” after the UPA2 was returned to power. The people ask as to why has the small period of 100 days got so long stretched to fructify in showing some results on the ground. The speed of the “escape velocity” did not gain any momentum during the 54 years of the Congress rule and it would continue even now to be at less than the snail’s speed only to provide the “escape route” to the propounders of such theories and analogies like the 100 days treatment of the economy by saying, “there is no magic wand in the hands of the government.” The Aam Aadmi is only aghast on seeing what our politicians are saying – how much relevant and how so much irrelevant but still such politicians manage to be elected again and again to become the lawmakers of this country. Who is to be blamed?
Take another case of how newer ways, howsoever decrying in nature, are employed by politicians to get votes. Karnatka Congress chief G. Parmeshwaram certified that it is all right for minorities to cheat. He advised them not to repay loans to the extent of indulging in cheating. He was “training” minorities in a congress workshop conducted recently and openly advocated appeasement to the extent of cheating and suggested that the upper limit of loans (to be cheated and not repaid) should be raised to Rs.50 lac saying “Topi hakidre parvagilla” which means, “no issues if they cheat”. He said these nobler words in presence of Union minority affairs minister K. Rahman Khan, Congress leader Jaffar Sharief, Minister Qamarul Islam and other minority ministers. Such remarks from the Congress leader came on close heels of the letters to all the Chief Ministers by Sushil Kumar Shindey, the Home Minister urging them not to harass any Muslim youth in the name of fighting terror by the law enforcing agencies. No TV discussions and long debates were seen on any of the channels for totally advocating cheating by the Congress leader for only a particular community. Was for the same reason, floating of a new political party, mooted by the son of accused Asharam known as Narayan Sai? Did he want to reap the numerous cozy comforts of being in politics, with exceptions of course there? Are notions gaining strong foothold that political parties are averse to being subjected to corrigibility in our country? Have basics of politics to serve the people become subservient to corruption, nepotism, personal and dynastic gains that even spurious faith preachers and rape accused are feeling the pinch of redeeming themselves and their deeds through formations of political parties?
The travesty is that most of the political parties have at times been conveniently ignoring their national duty , as we have recently seen in the Pakistan sponsored and directed incursions in Keran sector where our valiant brave hearts from the army were engaged for as many as 15 days to fully take on the terrorists and members of BAT from across the LOC and not only the PM did not speak a word but none of the parties even not condemned the dual and double speak of Pakistan full of chicanery employed by it against this country and while shaking hands with the “most gentle and soft spoken” Indian PM by the Pakistani PM recently at New York, the Kargil type of situation was attempted by Pakistan in Keran sector of the Jammu and Kashmir state. While one regional party was celebrating the closure of a criminal case, the other along with three or four, were trying to revive the corpse of the third front and “unanimously deciding” to do it after how each one of them fairs in the test of 2014. In all fairness, we the people of India, the vibrant voters, are responsible to a larger extent not to break the inertia by electing the right, the honest, the sincere, the truly secular and the deserving candidate as lawmaker and ruler of this country. Till we do it effectively, the accountability and responsibility of the elected ones shall be slipping through the gapes of “escape” exits to run away with all the “velocity” till the next elections. The vicious circle has to be broken.
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