Losing confidence in institutions

Ira Pande

WHAT perverse times we live in. It is as if no one believes in good intentions any longer and that every action taken by any leader or organisation is only to dupe, cheat and lie to the public. I am not speaking only of India, although we more than any other country have become suspicious of every action or step taken by any government — Central or state. I am also talking of the reports submitted by respected UN agencies, such as the Human Rights Commission. Donald Trump declared that the US would no longer be a part of the Commission and a huge storm erupted. However, to be fair to him, I could see no wrong in his saying that there are biases that can no longer be explained. How, for instance, can the Commission accept nations that are gross violators of human rights and deny membership to certain other nations? Our own experience is a case in point: the recently released report on Kashmir is silent about human rights violations of our security personnel and speaks of only one community as the victim of state action. What about Baltistan and Gilgit? Are they not victims of even greater inhumanity? They are not even recognised as bona fide political entities.

As soon as the collapse of the elected government of J&K was announced, our media and politicians started speculating on why the coalition had broken up and who would gain the most at the 2019 General Elections. Interestingly, no other political outfit is willing to come forward because they all know that the situation needs drastic action and this can cost them dearly next year. It seems as if no one cares for the innocent lives that are lost in this senseless battle and of the living conditions or the youth that are traumatised and radicalised into becoming jihadis.

In Delhi itself, we saw another drama of victimhood being enacted in the waiting room of the LG’s official residence. The ugly sight of the Chief Minister and his senior Cabinet members sleeping on sofas while the city reeled under an exceptional heat wave and many areas had no water or steady electricity only increased the level of disgust at their dharna. Is there anything more ludicrous that staging a sit-in against your own staff? Yet, Kejriwal wanted nothing less than the IAS officers to return to work (they were already working in their offices) while he twiddled his toes in air-conditioned comfort. If he really cared for the plight of the public, he should have done something to alleviate their distress. Our media found this great for their prime time debates and we had the pleasure of learned commentators hold forth on what was happening to our great democracy and federal structure. I wanted to hurl a shoe at the TV screen.

The only consolation is that we are not alone in being led by the most self-absorbed political outfits. Even the greatest democracy of all — the US — is feeling the heat as their President makes them confront some uncomfortable facts. The most vocal critics in both cases are precisely those who have the most to lose. For years, they have upheld the moral compass and decided how we should proceed forward. Today, there is a good chance that the right to sermonise may pass on to those who have studied at different schools and colleges and speak a rougher language. It is no longer fashionable to mock their accents and clothes because they have come up the hard way and learnt to fight this club of gangster intellectuals. They have changed the rules of political engagement and are not frightened by the bullies who have passed the keys of power to their own cronies, generation after generation. 

Let us face this fundamental truth: Mehbooba is not her father, nor is Omar the next Sheikh Abdullah. Rahul Gandhi is not Nehru, nor is Uddhav Thackeray another Balasaheb. I could go on, but what must now be evident is that a new class of political leaders can no longer be ignored or denied entry into the well of politics. Those who dream of recreating a VP Singh-type Janata Party coalition forget that his mentor was a JP. Kejriwal took his lessons from a simpleton called Anna Hazare, who may have been sincere but had no idea of how to handle popular movements. 

They say that history repeats itself as a farce and we are now witnessing that farce. Kejriwal, who moaned on and on about being isolated and made helpless because his officers were acting at the behest of the Home Ministry, chooses to go off for an expensive spa treatment in Bengaluru rather than deal with the delays that this long strike has brought. If he is so proud of the healthcare system set up by his party in Delhi, why does he not avail of it? The same questions can be asked of several politicians who fly off abroad rather than trust the great medical institutions we have here. I can think only of Sushma Swaraj and Jaitley who chose the AIIMS for their kidney transplants, while every other politician, including some great supporters of reservation in medical institutions, go abroad because they have no faith in our own doctors.

A pox on all of them.