THE POLITICIAN

 THE POLITICIAN

What is great about a politician? Nothing--literally nothing. But [s]he is everything. In our country nothing happens without the ubiquitous politician. Is it possible to define the person called politician? The person appears in human form. Beyond that there is nothing human about the ‘politician’. A politician is the most adept ‘chameleon’ swiftly changing colours / code of conduct, inclined to misconduct  and portraying  an artificial smile shielding the draconian desire or design within. The ubiquity of a politician is a major hindrance to prospects of progress in development / infrastructure.

[S]he, seldom  misses an occasion for public appearance, especially at events of media galore. Any civilian with sensibility / sensitivity cannot hope to survive in politics. The foremost requirement for a political career is to disband looks of ‘high profile’ personality and to liberally mingle with the masses, readiness to shed crocodile tears is an instant advantage in projecting an image of ‘concern for common man’. Despite the ‘down to earth‘ projections of self, politician chooses to portray an image to be ‘taken note of’ by the ‘organizers of any event , so that [s]he is the central figure in all key events of the occasion.  Another facet of politician in building the personal ‘image’ of self is to wear ‘spotlessly clean attire’ in pure white [males] or rich fabric [females] so that even in strange locales ,the politician gains recognition. Within about 50 days of getting ‘elected’, the politician reveals resourcefulness by visits in the newly acquired vehicle, with his/her henchmen perching on the lateral surface of the vehicle – as if the person inside is a high profile target for terrorists. It is a kind of signal for rivals and the general public that ‘I am no small person’. Leaving aside such paraphernalia of the politician, if we watch his /her social conduct in all functions in the town or temple, [s]he would field self in prominent locales with folded hands, as if the person abides by decent disposition during celebrations. The folded hands signify the fast-approaching general elections to the local body/ state / National level.  A little after the elections [s]he is a rare person shielding self from public view.

Does it mean that the politician is a despicable entity? We may not be justified in such summary categorization of the political clan outright. There are sporadic good ones across the spectrum of politicians of differing political ideologies. Like the common man filling varied slots of good, bad, desirable and the undesirable, the political personalities too represent every segment. But, the general aversion to the clan of politicians stems from the unscrupulous trends among the majority of them. They reflect feudal tendencies which they stoutly oppose on political platforms. For them observance and advocacy are two different mutually exclusive principles; they advocate liberal outlook but stick to archaic practices of ‘ruler’ and the ‘ruled’.

A feeling that ‘all is not good with the Indian politician’ looks rather unfounded; the political clan across continents seems to suffer from similar syndromes if not from identical ones.

MEDIA and RHETORIC

All politicians share the same mania for popularity. So, they tend to stay in prominence through media. They tell lies for winning elections and revel in rhetoric of a high order.  While addressing the poverty-stricken local masses, they do not hesitate to call the American President for a debate on unemployment in US, as if the same is no longer an issue in a hamlet near Kanyakumari. That, it is all rhetoric can be readily recognized from the high decibel utterance as if from his/ her death bed.

 Somehow, the gullible idiots among the voters fall a quick prey to rhetoric for the sheer articulation thereof than for the truth of the matter.  The politicians of all hues have the knack of wooing the voter through tall promises of accomplishing the impossible and emotionally offering self to get thrashed if the promise is not fulfilled. Subsequently the person would extricate self from the prospect of getting thrashed by politely reminding the voter that the dead line is not over yet. For the next term too , the same person would come out with taller promises like allocation of housing plots of 1000 sq. ft each on Mars or Moon if ‘elected’ from this constituency. For each election ‘neo-idiots’ emerge as voters by virtue of calendar age to repeat the folly of the elder generation.

Very few realize that rhetoric is an intoxicating dose bound to fade off with time. The power of rhetoric empowers the power monger to achieve his/her ambition of boundless wealth across border-less territories.          God is Great.  But the politician looks greater!

Prof. K. Raman