When Barack Obama speaks, the world listens. Earlier this week he said, “There are consequences to (Donald Trump’s) actions…it affects how the world looks at America. That behaviour matters. Character matters.” Bingo! Obama nailed it in just those two words — character matters. Character is all that matters — whether in politics or in any other sphere of life. It’s like lycra — either you have it, or you don’t. Such a deceptively simple thought – character matters. But how often does one hear it in public life? Worse, does it even matter to anybody? Despite the potency and timing of Obama’s message, as D-Day (Donald Day) draws near, those impactful words may or may not have any real impact on the outcome of the American presidential elections. Orange Hair could well stay put in the White House for another term. But at least an important voice, respected across the globe, said it like it is and called Trump out.
India does not have a Barack Obama unfortunately. There is nobody of his stature to call out a single scoundrel — there are any number of people at the very top of the heap with exceedingly poor character.
We tolerate them and look the other way. We are used to scoundrels of varied hues, ruling this vast and difficult country of ours. When we discuss the ‘character’ of our political class, we adopt just one criterion — corruption. Financial corruption, that is. We disregard the morally corrupt, the spiritually dishonest, and the emotionally bankrupt. India is obsessed with just one thing — money. Who has it, who doesn’t, and how it was made. Surely ‘good character’ includes more than concealed Swiss bank accounts, and suitcases stuffed with undeclared cash? The reason we allow money to play such a disproportionately large role in our lives is because of our deep-seated fears and insecurities about famines. We are terrified at the prospect of running out of food someday. This is a legitimate fear. Food and plenty are denied to a majority of our people even in 2020. No wonder a 31-year-old challenger in Bihar elections is giving sleepless nights to the tired, old veterans playing clichéd games with people who are forced to do with less — less of everything, including basics.
Chief ministerial candidate and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has been pulling in the crowds as he takes on Nitish Kumar and says flatly, “People are fed up with this government’s inefficiency….” as a sharp retort to Nitish Kumar’s taunt about the young Yadav (31) being “too inexperienced” and wondering where he will get the money to provide the promised 10 lakh jobs. Yadav counters, “If the CM says he has no money, he should be held accountable for poor fiscal management in all these years.” This is the blunt language young India needs to hear more of. By now it is obvious to the voter that the Sushant Singh Rajput tragedy being cold-bloodedly milked for political gain has flopped miserably as a poll strategy in Bihar.
Whether or not Tejashwi pulls it off when the votes are counted remains to be seen. But he is certainly not holding back on any front, putting in gruelling hours with a dozen back-to-back election meetings, galvanising the jaded and disappointed voter to reject the old order and give him a fair chance. Yes, he has positioned himself as the poster boy of his party — but, why not? Who wants to see Lalu Prasad on posters, even if he is the party president? Lalu has been flogged enough over decades. The Rabri Devi novelty wore off ages ago, and nobody is particularly interested in brother Tej Pratap or sister Misa.
Back to the question of character, in the context of politics, shameful as it sounds, voters don’t really expect saints to contest elections. But hey — nobody wants bigots, murderers, cheats, manipulators and others of that ilk either. Generating religious animosity to create propped up vote banks does not fill hungry stomachs or increase employment opportunities. This is likely to be the single most joyless Diwali in recent memory. But the joylessness is not exclusively about the Covid-19 pandemic halting celebrations. Let’s not use Covid as a cover for financial and political lapses of monumental kind. Onion is priced at Rs 100 per kilo. So, good people of India, forget mithai and other such Diwali treats this year. Feel blessed if you can manage to score a kilo or two of pyaaz. Think of your sacrifice as ‘character building’. Happy Dussehra!
