A news item from a wire service says it all: "After intensive research, scientists have concluded that politicians lie. Glen Newey, a political scientist at the University of Strathclyde, concluded that lying was an important part of politics in a modern democracy."

Our gut feeling was confirmed.

The only consolation is that it is a global phenomenon; no society is immune from it. Bill Clinton lied about his smoking habit (he puffed marijuana but "didn't inhale it"!!!); Laloo Prasad Yadav still nonchalantly says he is clean on fodder scandal; George Fernandes will swear as ever he has nothing to do with the murky arms deals that was brought to light by Tehelka.com, despite all the videotapes that caught him with his pants down.

Female politicians are no exception when it comes to telling us lies, big and small. Jaya Jaitley of Samata Party and the southern bombshell Jayalalitha have clearly stolen a march over their male counterparts in the art of deception. The former is seen on the Tehelka videotape accepting swads of cash from an undercover journalist masquerading as arms middleman and the latter is a political heavyweight (literally too) who has a penchant for collecting truckloads of designer shoes by embezzling public funds. Both lie profusely and incessantly about their wrongdoings while their opponents wilt under their malicious counterattack. (Tehelka is almost out of business and political career of Karunanidhi-rival of Jayalalitha- lies in tatters).

Our own homegrown politicians cannot be far behind; if anything they are even smarter in the business of lying. How many times have we heard the monotonous rhetoric before the elections-"Kangla will be evacuated if I am elected", "Vote for me to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act", "Employment for all", "No power load shedding if you support me"…the list goes on.

Their promises are crafted so imaginatively that they would never fail to strike a chord with our most fervent wishes. The only catch is that these promises will never be acted upon.

However, lies have a way of catching up with people later in a tragic manner. In June 2001, we saw how the Indian government and NSCN (IM) quietly reached an agreement to bifurcate Manipur while our politicians were busy making a great show of protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur. Their shenanigans were finally exposed in the subsequent series of spontaneous events.

L.K Advani said at that time in the wake of public uprising that Manipur government had known what was coming. Our politicians who were in power contested this and issued a series of lies to stave off angry public reaction. But this time the public was unusually much wiser-given the gravity of the issue involved- and decided to punish the dishonest politicians from the ruling coalition. What followed was surreal and unprecedented: the government fell and career of many erstwhile prominent politicians ended on an unceremonious note. It was one of the rare episodes in our history when clever political sophistry and spin doctors did not have much effect on the public perception of the politicians as crooks.

To be fair, criticising the politicians is easy and fun. There is never a dearth of scandals and instances of graft in the world of modern politics buried deep in mire. While politicians must be primarily held responsible for their escapades, we, the voters who elect them are not above blame. We get the leaders we deserve.

Glen Newey says in his study report that it is the voters that make politicians lie.

"Politicians need to be more honest about lying," he said, and voters expected to be lied to in certain circumstances, and sometimes even required it.

"Politics should be regarded as less like an exercise in producing truthful statements and more like a poker game," Mr Newey said." And there is an expectation by a poker player that you try to deceive them as part of the game."

Just think over it. Most people tend to vote for a candidate who sounds more optimistic even if his manifesto is a blatant giveaway containing full of lies and unachievable promises than for, say, a doomsayer candidate, however truthful he may be. Will we vote for a candidate who realistically says he can't solve the electricity and water problem in a fortnight over the one who brags that he will solve it in a single day? Will we support a candidate who tells us truthfully that the Manipur government is a stooge/puppet of Center? Will you give your valuable vote to a Chief Ministerial candidate who sincerely pleads helpless in solving the unemployment problem of the state? I don't think so.

The voters want to hear what they want to hear. And politicians know this.

So, politicians will deluge us with grandiose dreams and sell these with typical politician-speak, even to the extent that they border on fantasy. The reasons why politicians lie is that public don't want to hear the bitter truth. When two candidates are running and one of them tells the truth and the other says what the public wants to hear, the one who says what the public wants to hear wins the election-at least most of the time.

The only way of stopping this trend is by punishing the liars and rewarding the rare crop of politicians who possessed the gumption to tell the truth-however unpalatable it is. We need to cultivate the culture of calling a spade a spade and shun taking refuge behind half-truths and lies to escape from the hard realities of life. The self-serving politicians play on the people's hunger for rosy news and larger-than-life visions. If we won't believe their lies, there won't be any more incentive for the politicians to hoodwink us. It is imperative that we stopped being credulous. Let no one promise us moon and take us for a ride.

POST SCRIPT: A busload of politicians was driving down a country road when, all of a sudden, the bus ran off the road, and crashed into a tree in an old farmer's field.

The old farmer, after seeing what had happened, went over to investigate.

He then proceeded to dig a hole to bury the politicians.

A few days later the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus, and asked the old farmer where all the politicians had gone.

The old farmer said he had buried them.

The sheriff asked the old farmer,
"Were they all dead?"

The old farmer replied, "Well, some of them said they weren't, but you know them how politicians lie."