With that out of the way, the demise of the once all-powerful politician of the Indian heartland raises a number of questions about the legacy our politicians leave behind. Surely, anybody who assumes a high office in any form of government would appreciate some words of kindness about his competence, or eulogies praising his achievements. Without sounding disrespectful, unfortunately, a lot of our current politicians are more worried about milking the cash-cow called legislature rather than the long-term effects of such decisions which give a short shrift to the nation itself.
For all that matters, Arjun Singh held a number of high offices in the country, in a career spanning more than 40 years none-the-less. He falls in the category of what is known as 'career politicians', people who rise from the local level to the national pedestal, and who are slowly left staring at obscurity in the current environment of nepotism (Singh's children themselves have had a fruitful political career). But I really doubt if 10 years down the line, people would remember him as a CM of a politically important and gigantic state or as the Minister of HRD who indirectly directs the fate of millions of our children. Arjun Sigh would, in all likelihood and unless the Gandhi family directs a complete revision of modern Indian history, would be remembered for his alleged complicity in the Bhopal gas leak, or the 93rd amendment to the Indian constitution, ushering us into a socially fractured era of 49.5% reservation in all-government sponsored higher education. Nothing like the walk of fame, eh!
So the question then becomes, are our politicians unaware of the long-term consequences of their decisions, or they simply do not care enough and rely heavily on the short-term memory of their voters. I believe any politician is smart enough because manipulating the aspirations of a billion people is no mean feat. Therefore, the only reason I can think of is the second (do care to comment if your view differs). Therefore, Dr. Manmohan Singh perhaps doesn't need to worry about his disastrous UPA-II tenure anymore. Or the likes of Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh can take a sigh of relief because even though they were a part of the Maharashtra CM's roulette, nobody would remember their (mis)deeds to affect their political career. They will keep getting elected, if not in the immediate election then the next one. This has not been an everlasting trend though. There are examples where one mistake in office has maligned the reputation of the politician to an irreversible decline (Kalyan Singh for one). Therefore, one could also say that the electoral college has changed sufficiently into a group of people focusing on their mundane issues rather than the collective future.
Is this a good or a bad thing? I'll leave that up to you to decide.
No comments:
Post a Comment