New India but Same Old India
A few years ago in walked a person by the name of Shashi Tharoor. He was young (by Indian political standards) and came from a storied family. He was western educated, sophisticated and opinionated. The Indian middle-class loved him. He was one of them. He brought a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stinking world of Indian body politic. He lobbied for and became the Minister of State for External Affairs. He created a Twitter account for himself and within months over half a million Indians started “following” him.
He tweeted about mundane things and about his family and his travels. His tweets about the Indian government and its foreign policy were legendary. His differences of opinion with his boss N Krishna (Minister for External Affairs) almost cost him his job. We loved this rebel, this maverick. But alas all good things must come to an end and end it did. The end smelled of corruption and nepotism that reminded Indians of ayaram and gyaram politics.
What went wrong? Joining politics or working for the government is not a right but a privilege. This is very true in a country like India where there is a lot of work to be done and the government can still make a huge difference (In the United States the economy and the policies are controlled by the private sector. In addition most Americans are well set as far as their political allegiances. During elections there are very few votes “in play”).
But there is a lot of money to be made in India also. It takes a very special type of person to resist this temptation and just focus on serving the people. It is clear that Shashi Tharoor was not one such person. It would have been refreshing if Shashi Tharoor came out with the fact that his “friend” Sunanda Pushkar is holding a “sweat equity” worth about Rs. 80 Crore in the IPL Kochi franchise before the franchise was awarded. He did not. In that sense he failed to distinguish himself from other dirty and corrupt politicians that we are used to in India.
This incident should also serve as a clear warning to all of us. India might become a powerful economy and a force to be reckoned with in a few decades from now. We may be able to send a man to the moon or build world class IT infrastructure. But it does not mean that we will be able to solve problems like corruption in politics very easily.
If we look at countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan we will realize that corrupt politics can exist even in wealthy and developed societies. It is extremely difficult to bring about reform in politics. We have to first uproot the current system and it is very difficult to do due to vested interests. It can only happen over time as we keep voting for better and cleaner politicians. This process of refinement should continue until we get the desired result.
Related posts:
- Similarities between Mayawati and Shashi Tharoor
- The Twitter Wars
- Indians Ignoring Commonwealth Games
- Eradicating Corruption in India: Sonia Gandhi’s Ill-Advised 4 Step Process
- Stand Up For Salman Rushdie and Jaswant Singh
Category: News & Government