Clean Politics On Gandhi Jayanti : "Politics is not the resort of criminals"

Seram Neken *

Rahul Gandhi at Hapta Kangjeibung, Imphal on December 10 2012 :: Pix - David M Mayum

A few days ahead of the National Cleanliness Day this year, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi took up the cudgel to sweep the criminals off the political sphere. As the Prime Minister Prospect of Indian National Congress, the young Gandhi tried to save the nation from the clutches of the criminals by rejecting the cabinet ordinance negating the Supreme Court's verdict on convicted lawmakers. The nation owes its allegiance to the Gandhi-Nehru Scion for his honest veto. The fate of the ordinance will be decided by the Cabinet on 2nd October, National Cleanliness Day tomorrow. Will the UPA government celebrate Gandhi Jayanti by dismissing its ordinance on convicted lawmakers and upholding the Supreme Court verdict wiping out criminals from politics ?"

On two counts, I appreciate Rahul Gandhi. One for his honest expression against the unpopular decisions of the political leadership in the name of 'Political Compulsions', and another for his commanding attitude in the party organisation. For national good, the young second-in-command of the Congress party is bold enough to express from the heart.

On two other counts, I scorn the young Gandhi. One is for his disrepute to his own government and to his own party. Another is that his expression is belated. As the vice-president of the ruling party, Rahul Gandhi could have influenced the party and the government on the issue in time. As a leader of the Congress Party, he should not have ridiculed the government and his party in public. As a dynamic and intelligent politician, he should have rejected the decision earlier in-camera.

Nevertheless, the eleventh hour intervention of Rahul Gandhi will do some good to Indian politics. I am not too optimistic to believe that political parties in forthcoming elections will be able to field quality candidates in various constituencies. His actions are indeed the true celebration of Gandhi Jayanti, which signifies cleansing of the dirty mindsets of political bosses.

Electoral Justice becomes apparent as the Supreme Court of India has recently given birth to two landmark judgments regarding electoral reforms in India. One is for disqualification of convicted legislators and another is granting veto power to the electorates. Moreover, people's faith in the Judiciary has suddenly increased in recent times with the apex court unfolding the fake encounter cases, announcing death penalty to the four gang-rapists, disallowing the convicts to contest elections, and the granting right to reject the candidates.

Generally, powerful people want to distance themselves from the public. The phrase 'Political Compulsion' often creates a wide gulf between the people and politics. The closer the people with politics, the healthier will be our democracy. When criminals rule the nation, people will be the worse victims. Hence, cleansing the political platform first is the prerequisite for onset of a civilized nation.

Rahul Gandhi desires a clean politics, free from criminalization when he says "If we want to fight corruption in the country, we can not continue with such small compromises. If we make these small compromises, then we compromise everywhere." Such political leaders are very rare in India nowadays. Rahul has been in recent times known to be nearer to the people, unlike the other politicians of his genre. He probably has the tendency to subscribe to the principles of Gandhism in terms of simplicity to some extent.

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation was a true leader who always wanted to be at par with his people. He said, "I wish to be in tune with the poorest of the poor among Indians. How can these poor people afford a long shirt with a collar? Who will give him a cap ? If we wear so many garments, we can not clothe the poor, but it is our duty to dress them first and then ourselves, to feed them first and then ourselves"

One day, a boy asked Gandhiji at his Ashram why he did not wear a shirt. Assuming that Gandhiji was very poor, the boy told Gandhiji that his mother sewed very well and she would happily stitch a new kurta for him. Gandhiji thought for a while and asked the boy if his mother would stitch clothes for all his poor brothers and sisters as well. The boy unhesitatingly said yes. When he persisted, Gandhiji said he had 40 crore brothers and sisters. That was India's population at that time. Gandhiji dressed himself as simple as the common man because he was fighting for feeding and clothing them.

Just cleansing the drains and streets for a day in a year does not amount to celebrating the birthday of a Mahatma. To those who can not follow plain lifestyle and think high for the cause of common people, such an observance is a farce. The ideal of Gandhiji is to free our mindset from all the vices. In his ideal politics, Gandhiji gave no place for the criminals. The Supreme Court judgment and the outright rejection of the ordinance by Rahul Gandhi may be construed as meaningful celebrations of Gandhi Jayanti.

VOICE OF THE WEEK

Elected Leaders of Manipur have the usual tendency to gradually distance themselves from the common people by following complex lifestyles, in total contrast to Gandhian principles. By discarding government-allotted vehicles, majority of elected leaders switch on to luxurious private vehicles.

One can easily count the number of MLA/Minister who use government allotted cars. One can easily guess the cost of luxury vehicles owned by our very leaders. There is apparently a stiff competition among the public leaders in terms of vehicles, attires, electronic gadgets like mobile handsets. Not surprisingly, there are public leaders who habituate themselves in spraying cash notes on the face of singers and dancers.

There are leaders who take pride in befriending celebrity film stars and musicians to amuse themselves. As a public leader who is going to feed, clothe, shelter and educate his people, you need to come down to the level of common people and befriend the common lifestyles. This will be the true celebration of Gandhi Jayanti.