The manner in which political leaders conduct themselves in public life impacts impressionable young minds. Given the fallen levels of public discourse in this election season, our leaders have left behind a shameful legacy

Dietrich Bonheoffer put one of the eternal truths in these words: “The test of the morality of a society is what it does to its children”. It saddened me when I read for the first time as I asked myself: Do we really care for our childrenIJ It creates the same impact on me when I repeat it in my lectures to alert and conscious audiences.

The least that a society can offer to its young is the civilised behaviour on the part of elders and particularly the leaders who intrude in every home and hearth, courtesy the 24x7 media access. In any of the earlier 15 general elections to the lok Sabha, the non-voters — those below 18 years of age — were never subjected to   an environment which was bereft of civilised behaviour and respect for the individual and the electorate.

Now, several leaders across the spectrum of political parties are unhesitatingly making pronouncements that attack the very idea of the integrity and unity of India. And they go scot-free. What is the relevance of a mere warning from the Election Commission of India to a person like Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan, who is just not bothered and continues to assert he has done no wrong. The video that presents his loud-mouthing on Kargil victory, giving it a totally unwarranted communal colour, hurts everyone, particularly the military veterans. It damages the proud secular character of the defence forces.

The manner in which Mr Khan interprets the use of puppy by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is another unscrupulous attempt to spread communal hatred. His biases and prejudices have totally exposed the communal foundations of the secular political parties in India. His own party survives on casteism and minorityism and is on the way out. How Mr Khan is helping the Muslims of India and particularly the young amongst them, remains beyond the comprehension of ordinary citizens.

Giriraj Singh of the BJP appears to have just returned from another planet to demolish all that is the very basis of the existence of India. Former US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had said in the 50s of the 20th century that if you are not with us, you are with the enemy. Former US President George W Bush repeated it.

 Mr Giriraj Singh goes ahead of them: “If you do not vote for Modi, get out of India, and go to Pakistan”. His understanding and interpretation of democracy not only raises serious doubts on his capabilities to acquire knowledge and internalise it, but it also casts aspersions on the education system that is responsible to let children study social sciences and learn the spirit of democracy and the meaning of democratic values.

Strange things happen in politics. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh predicts that if Mr Modi comes to power, it would be a disaster for the country.  Known as a great scholar and academic, did it not occur to him that there is no place in democracy for any one person to place another of his choice as the Prime Minister of IndiaIJ  Did he find it in consonance with the democratic principles that India should suffer a Prime Minister for 10 years who could not become an elected lok Sabha MPIJ Was it not a disaster when he declared himself as a resident of Assam, just to get into the Rajya Sabha, and just to hoodwink the technical provisions as existing at that timeIJ 

When such things happen at the top, people like Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar stoop to allot tea-blending space to Mr Modi. Was it not a great humiliation of Indian democracy when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi debunked an ordinance on tainted MPs that was duly approved by the Union CabinetIJ The Government meekly withdrew the ordinance.

The seeds of the decimation of democratic norms were sown some 10 years ago. When the credibility of the system declines to an all-time low, politics offers space for free play to one and all. National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, also a full-fledged Cabinet Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government, wants all those who vote for Mr Modi to be drowned in the sea. He predicts that if Mr Modi wins, Kashmir shall no more be with India.

The main objective of election is to elect a Government that would make India a better place to live in and contribute. In other words, it would strive to give a better quality of life to generations ahead. While the outcome of elections are decided by the opinion of the 18-plus, no Government could afford to neglect  those below 18 years of age.

Education is not imparted only inside the closed boundaries of schools and colleges; learning takes place all around in society and the system of governance. The manner in which our icons and leaders conduct themselves in public life impacts sensitive and impressionable young minds.