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The Great Indian Politician Service A Short Cut To Affluence And Influence
By: R.S. Mooshahary

When I joined the Indian Police Service four decades ago, the Indian Politician Service was somewhat different from what it is today. It was not a quick gateway to fame, power and prosperity; it did not even offer an assured means of livelihood and the people who took to it were deeply concerned with the welfare of people. Their motivation was service and not reward and they did not have to depend on its income for a living.

I have an abiding interest in politics and I wanted to plunge into this IPS but I knew I could not do it because I was too poor. I needed to earn for survival and the thought of making a living out of politics was repugnant to my conscience. So, I joined the Indian Police Service and continued to be there because it provided me with challenges to stimulate initiatives, a dignified position and an honest livelihood. At times I look back and wonder what would have life been like had I opted for the Great Indian Politician Service.

Politicians of all hues and views, creed and breed have constituted this service with a paramount objective to live off the people and acquire wealth by stealth. There is no qualification required, no examination to pass, no age limit, no verification of character and antecedent; any one - particularly the unemployables with criminal proclivity - find an enticing refuge in this service. They quickly pick up the nuances of a lucrative trade, gather muscle power and tussle their way through to create a haven of bounty for themselves. It is an exclusive club; they do not want well-meaning and respectable people to contaminate them by being there!

This IPS invades every space of social and national life - whether it is a matter of art and literature, science and sports, technology and ecology the all-knowing politicians will be there to regurgitate their wisdom for public benefit. They will lull you to sleep with their sonorous promises to improve your quality of life, trumpet the noble deeds they are doing and the sacrifices they are making for you. They are a class with no parallel in brazenness and deceitfulness. And the state protects them but no one protects the society from some of them.

We are responsible for their growth and eminence. We hero-worship and treat them as demigods and that encourages them to extend their influence in all our activities. What happened at the 47th Bodo Sahitya Sabha session at Dotma last week was one such example. Narrow power politics created such a fraught situation there that it was not possible to decide on the next President of the Sabha and the most important session - the open session - had to be abandoned owing to threats of physical harm. BSS is to blame for it because it was depending heavily on the largesse of the upstart politicians with no concern for anything other than converting political power in to personal influence to hold the conference. This is an object lesson for all; it is best to exclude politicians and power mongers from any nonpolitical functions and manage things in a simple way from resources within rather than invite their domination.

The undue importance politicians receive is a sign of content poverty of a society. It does not happen in a progressive society because politicians there are just like any one else serving the society and there is nothing extraordinary about them. In his highly readable tome - My Country My Life - released recently, L K Advani admits that the politicians receive unjustified importance and publicity that often undermine the good work done by others. Their performance and achievements are inversely proportionate to the claims they make but the media makes them the cynosure of public by focusing on everything they say. The reality that they are the fount of fraud, poverty and violence is not highlighted by the fourth estate.

My geriatric mother asked me more than once if I was bigger than a the Sub-Inspector of police or a local politician both of whom exercised tremendous power in the area and lived a prosperous life. Being an Indian Police Service Officer is not a ticket to affluence and influence but it provides one with a decent standard of living and opportunity to help those who need it most. In my long career, I had held appointment of the highest paid bureaucrat in the country drawing higher emoluments than even the Cabinet Secretary. In the present assignment too I may be the highest paid public servant in the state. Nevertheless, my assets still will not be even a fraction of a politician who has held power for a term. It militates against my spirit to know that the wealth the politicians make makes someone poorer and deprives the society of its resources. When countless people feel the same, they revolt engendering militancy and violence, which we see now.

I am not suggesting that there is not a soul in the great IPS who does not have fine human qualities. In my public career and personal life, I have known many a politician who is upright, dedicated, honest and wise. It has been my pleasure to know them, work with them, listen to and learn, from them, .but they are like a few fresh fish in a basket of rotten fish overwhelmed by its stink. We have the Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar who leads a spartan life on his wife's income from a small job with herself traveling in public transport instead of some tony cars like other ministerial spouses. It was indeed so once upon a time with most of the politicians; they believed in frugal living and selfless service. MP and MLA did not enjoy lavish lifestyle nor did they give themselves a fabulous pay and a lifetime pension.

The best way to ennoble political life is to make it austerely attractive. It should deter people to come to it for gold digging and reverse the current trend of unemployables and criminals flocking to it. To ensure a level playing field to the rich and the poor the elections to all political positions should be state funded where even the people in employment - including government servants - should be eligible to participate. The assets and liabilities of politicians holding public office must invariably be put on websites and displayed in the notice boards to enable public audit. There should be a limit of two terms for elective offices without pension to encourage new talents and induct dynamism in the system. We need nothing more than the absence of the mercenary politicians for development inasmuch as the fund plundered by them will be there in the implementation of plans and programs,

For the evil to succeed it is enough if good people just sit back and do nothing. It actually amounts to abetting the evil to flourish if good people do nothing more than drawing room disapproval of misdeeds. People know that the politicians amass wealth without inhibition, misuse and abuse their power; break all codes of ethics and accountability still we make them feel important and indispensable.

Politics is too sacred a Dharma to be trifled with avaricious intent. We must redeem it from the monopoly of uppish and parvenu politicians and restore its sanctity as an institution of service, sacrifice and sobriety. The intellectual and social enthusiasts - young and old - have to strive together to create this new paradigm to make politics an all-inclusive endeavor for equity, justice and well-being.

The writer, a former Director General of Police in Kerala and Director General of the National Security Guard and the Border Security Force, is currently the State Chief Information Commissioner, Assam