Reclaim Clean Politics on Republic Day 2020
By Vijaya Pushkarna
Republic Day 2020 Parade Rehearsals. Photo by Pramod Pushkarna |
Our
71st Republic Day is the perfect time to set a new goal that may be even tougher than
fighting to defend our Constitution and all that it offers us. To reclaim clean politics. And start with conduct towards rivals.
Indian
politics has so degenerated over the last few decades that the major challenge
has been to restore credibility in politics as well as politicians. Corruption
ate into the system like termite. And as scam after scam came to light, there
was a time when most young people preferred not only to stay away from it, but
also stay away from voting. It was not just about the resources that were
pocketed by politicians. It is also on account of the gutter level to which politicial
discourse had fallen, complete with the language they used particularly when
discussing their rivals . Political rivals or opponents are projected more like
enemies to be shot down. But the Indian voters have always stood their ground, and
showed that they, and not politicians of any particular party, call the shots.
A couple of examples of good politics come to mind.
After
former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed in an explosion, BJP's tallest leader and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
revealed that Rajiv Gandhi was the reason he was alive. This even as the Congress and the BJP were engaged in
fierce campaign for Lok Sabha elections .
"When Rajiv Gandhi was the
Prime Minister, he somehow found out I had a kidney problem and needed
treatment abroad. One day he called me to his office and said he was going to
include me in India's delegation to the UN and hoped I would use the
opportunity to get the treatment I needed. I went to New York and that is one
reason I am alive today,” Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was then a member of the
Rajya Sabha, has been quoted in a book.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23, 2016, declassified
the ‘Netaji Files’ that were gathering dust in the vaults of the PMO and the
Ministry of External affairs.
There
was heightened anxiety to read the files with the general expectation that they
would adduce evidence that Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi had got Bose killed.
In fact there was also widespread suspicion that this “evidence” was why the
files were never made public.
Even
as Modi tries to delete the Nehru stamp on independent India, the files
revealed a rare and humane relationship between India’s first Prime Minister
Jawahar Lal Nehru and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. It hardly seemed to be a
story of two rivals in the leadership space ahead of Freedom.
Amiya
Nath Bose, son of Netaji’s brother, Sarat Chandra Bose, wrote to Nehru in 1952,
saying: “I
want to send, from time to time, small sums of money to my aunt in Vienna. If I
proceed through the Reserve Bank of India and the Austrian National Bank, the
latter may raise objections and create complications. I should therefore like
to know if it can be arranged that I hand over the money to the foreign office
in Calcutta and the vice-consul in Vienna passes on its equivalent in Austrian
currency to her.”
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Anita Bose with then President Pranab Mukherjee |
Amiya’s
aunt was Netaji’s wife, Emilie Schenkl. From then on, it was Nehru , as
Congress president, through the AICC and one time West Bengal Chief Minister, Bidhan Chandra
Roy, who ensured Emilie and Bose’s daughter Anita were never short of
resources. The declassified documents point to Nehru suggesting that some tea
be sent for them, the diverse channels through which the foreign exchange was
sent, and also how Anita was later received in Delhi. Equally, the files reveal
how Bose received and escorted an ailing Kamala Nehru to the TB sanatorium in
Switzerland, and was by Nehru’s side when Kamala passed away .
That kind of clean politics --as opposed to petty politics -- is apparently too too much to expect in New India. But as one generation gives
way to another, one would like to remain optimistic—that we can reclaim clean
politics, beginning with conduct.
wish there were such statesmen leaders now!!!!😡
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