[nukkad] Sour politics ?

["Prakash Narayanan,J16 Chennai" <>]

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Pritish Nandy
 
 
                   One of the first things I noticed when I became a member
of Parliament three months back was that everyone expected me to be a fraud.
It was, it appeared, part of the screenplay written for me.
 
                   The first thing people told me I must do, to be taken
seriously, was to change  my looks. Stop wearing jeans. Go to Fab India and
get yourself some khadi kurta pyjamas or, better still, wear a dhoti. Sport
white whenever possible. But look shabby and unkempt, was the next bit of
advice.
 Grow back the hair on your head, said those who knew that I was shaved, not
bald. Stop                 streaking your beard with strange colours. Stop
wearing Oakleys. Do not go around with good looking young women on your
arms. Everyone had a point  of view on what I must be, what I must look
like. But one  thing was quite clear: I must not look the way I did. It was
all wrong
 for my image. Informed friends told me how John Major transformed his looks
overnight, on the persuasion of his PR guys. How Al Gore changed his entire
wardrobe. Others described how Rajiv Gandhi failed so miserably in politics
because he did not quite look right, did not quite
behave right. The Wranglers, the Reeboks, the love for pasta did him in,
they argued, and when he finally did change his looks, after the V PSingh
snafu, it was too late. The people of India had already rejected him as not
exactly  vote-worthy.
 
                   Look poor, they told me. Never go to fashionable bistros.
Avoid five star hotels. Do not be seen entering a pub or a bar. If you must
drink a vodka  tonic, do it on the sly. And, heavens forbid, do not get onto
the dance floor. Never be seen with a beautiful woman unless she is your
mother, wife or daughter. Avoid other people's mothers, wives and daughters.
Even if they happen to be single or divorced.In fact, if you can, they
warned me, avoid women in general. They can blackmail you later. Sell off
your Pajero. Throw away your bright, fluorescent T shirts. Give away your
flashy Versaces. And, for God's sake, take the stud off your ear or size it
down.
 
                   I thought they were joking but soon realised they
werenot. They were genuinely worried for me. They felt that I needed serious
advice on how to look, behave, be politically correct. Oddly enough, no one
expected me to be correct. They were quite happy if I only looked
 correct. No one said: Don't take bribes. No one said: Take your
responsibilities as an MP                seriously. No one said: Serve the
nation, work for the poorest of the poor, leave an enduring impact on India.
These were, obviously, not priority concerns for them. The priority concerns
were how I must look, what I must wear, what I must pretend to be.
 
                   It was not my friends alone. The moment I entered
Parliament, I discovered that being phony was in fashion. The first example
was my salary. In July 1998, the year of the Lord, my salary was a princely
sum of Rs 1,500 and I was expected to hold no other office of profit. If you
think I am joking, check it out. The lowliest government servants earn much,
much more than                   that. So do your drivers, your cooks, your
peons, your newspaper delivery boys.
 
                   It took me a little while to figure out why no one
protested overmuch about this entirely unrealistic salary. The unlisted
perquisites were substantially more. Constituency allowances. Personal
assistants. Allowances for attending Parliament and Standing Committee
meetings. These were all part of an MP's entitlements. As well as flats and
bungalows, computers and  printers, airline tickets and railway passes, gas
coupons and subsidised phones. Even a free Internet account. Plus there was
this one crore rupee constituency allowance instituted by the pouting
genius,Narasimha Rao to ensure that MPs cutting across different party
affiliations stood by him in his moments of crises. All, tax free. Entirely
off the books. 
                   I have nothing against perquisites. MPs, I guess,deserve
to live well like anyone else. But the hypocrisy stinks. Why not show it all
on the books and pay your taxers like every other Indian citizen does?
 Shouldn't we set an example?
 
                   Coincidentally, the issue came up for discussion in
Parliament the very next month. But no one was even ready to listen to the
proposition that the salaries of MPs should be realistic and on par with
that of senior officers of the government. Instead, after decades of
procrastination, during which inflation had driven up everyone's salaries
and the cost of living, the salaries  of MPs was raised to Rs 4,000. Even if
you simply calculated the current value of the Rs 1,500, fixed so many years
back, it would be Rs 65,000 a  month.
 
                   Instead, hypocrisy prevailed. In fact, even this paltry
rise was contested by the Marxists in Parliament who insisted that the
salaries of MPs should not be increased when workers in public sector
undertakings were not being paid their rightful wages in time. Very laudable
in spirit, I guess, but not exactly realistic. Nor good for the morals of
those who
 are supposed to be the custodians of the nation's morals. For we must
realise the simple fact                   that if we do not give our MPs
realistic salaries, they will make their ends meet in not exactly the most
correct ways.
 
                   That is why it makes more sense to pay them proper,
respectable salaries so                   that, like other citizens of
India, they pay proper, irespectable taxes instead of seeking shelter under
the guise of amnesia every time they are caught fudging their tax returns
and, in some cases, for not even filing them for years.
 
                   Secondly, it makes infinitely more sense for MPs to be
paid to set up proper                  offices to serve their constituents.
This happens all over the world. MPs need to attend to public complaints,
research issues and  topics they want to  specialise in, travel extensively,
read, learn, attend seminars, buy books, keep themselves informed. This is
the only way public life can attract serious talent. The rogues and
vagabonds who stray into politics, the crooks and scoundrels who seek refuge
there, the geriatrics who end up earning their undeserved pension packages
for sucking up to the political system during their working years now need
to be replaced by decent,
 young, fresh-faced people who will see politics as yet another area of
achievement and excellence. A career like any other. But one where they can
truly serve  India.
 
                   To make this happen, our MPs need infrastructure. They
need facilities. They need to be taught, trained, informed, inspired. A free
laptop is not the answer. They need to be educated as to how to use it
optimally. They need  to be given full fledged offices, where bright-eyed
young men and women  can serve as interns. To keep their MPs informed and
educated about what                   is happening around them, in India and
in other parts of the world. As India  globalises, this is becoming more and
more crucial.
These clever, young, idealistic interns will also ensure that shady
businessmen and dirty power                   brokers keep a distance from
the office of the MP because they know that their reputation will be
besmirched if their MP is compromised.
                   It does not matter how the MP dresses, what language he
speaks, what community or caste he comes from, whether he shaves his head or
his beard, whether he smokes or drinks or wears striped purple trousers. The
more important issue is: Is he informed, articulate, sensitive to the real
issues  that beset his people, his constituency? Is he honest? Is he
truthful? Is he committed? Do people believe in him? Do they respect him? Or
do they simply elect him because he is a wicked, vindictive, lumpen pig who
will  torch the villages that do not vote for him, who will
 kill and maim those who stand up to him?
 
                   I have seen more selfish, corrupt, despicable men in
khadi than I have ever seen in jeans and T shirts. Rapists and criminals do
not  necessarily smoke and drink and wear bright colours. As Phoolan Devi
will tell you, most of them dress in white dhotis, do not go to pubs and
 discotheques, live a perfectly normal family life and yet exploit the weak
and the vulnerable with                   unrelenting cruelty. Thieving and
dacoity are not the exclusive preserve of those who live colourful lives.
Charles Sobhraj may began exception but most law breakers are not flashy
people. They hide behind  their anonymity.
 
                   It is time we stopped looking at appearances. It is time
we stopped taking moral positions on the basis of entirely superficial
considerations. Instead, we should try and create a system which would,
under normal circumstances, attract to politics decent, committed,
honest people. Not as a  miracle. But as a rule.This will happen when you
and I and the educated middle classes stopped  talking in terms of
stereotypes and will focus, instead, on real people to
tackle real issues in a real political environment.
Only then will India find real leaders to lead it out of darkness into
light, out of hypocrisy into truth.
 
 
 



> _________________________________________________________________________
> That is it for now, Bye!
> Regards
> Prakash Narayanan
> (*pnaraya3@ford.com,Prakash_narayanan@msdc.hcltech.com)
> *:office-044-6264206(Extn:31)
> *:Residence-044-2451940
> _________________________________________________________________________
> 


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