Poor school students of Odisha don’t get fresh eggs in the midday meals due to high prices. Insane political youngsters pelt eggs at metal shutters of the entrance gate of a confused Mayor of Bhubaneswar. These agitators behaved like street hoodlums on hire. The frightened young people holding BJP flags had faces ridiculously hidden with cloth masks. The eggs could have been donated to schools with poor support to feed the hungry kids. Though any militant activity by people in protest is banned by the Supreme Court, these dumb-headed agitators could have done better if rotten potatoes and eggs were chosen to be hurled at the accused (wrongly or rightly), for these objects do not injure targets physically but hurt due to the hellish smell which remains in force for a whole day unless washed away with best of detergents followed by spraying of strong deodorants all around.
Some poorly educated citizens imagine that the Mayor of a tiny city is the first citizen where even the Governor, the Chief Minister and other super heavyweights reside as kings and princes. Further, people also may not know that the Municipal Commissioner is the bigger boss than the Mayor in taking all critical decisions because he knows laws of the land, has the skills for framing rules and implementing them effectively. It is common knowledge the Mayor remains busy keeping political masters happy and corporates fittingly bribed to remain safe in chair. Ananta Jena could have been nabbed on the rising number of dirty, criminals-infested slums and garbage yards at wrong places. But accusing him of a sex slur on the basis of a video clip with hazy and unrecognisable visuals is terribly misplaced and ethically wrong. The investigating authorities would come up with the findings soon. If Jena’s involvement is established, law would fix him. It’s still so premature to declare him guilty. The Congress and the BJP are not going to gain a bit on exposing a small Mayor even if the sex scandal is proved to his disadvantage. The BJD supremo would instantly drop him as hot brick and bring even bigger laurels to the party as he is particularly popular for kicking out corrupt and tainted political biggies from the fold. But the opposition parties disrupting normal activities and obstructing free flow of traffic shall not be gaining on any score. Their credibility is declining alarmingly.
The private lives of our leaders are interesting in the sense that we identify with others with their daily struggles and interests. We like to point to what someone else does as an example of what they believe. However, one’s private struggles should not make or break an incumbent. We don’t elect our leaders to be a moral authority, but a legislative one. But we are all humans and don’t always live up to our own standards. We could have the world’s greatest leader with marital issues or we could have a dangerous fascist with the perfect family. We have to decide who the perfect leader is. But it’s also true that a characterless leader loses public trust. A leader is not like a technician who may do a good technical job while being a terribly bad person. But a politician has to be a good person to remain in public good book. Politicians’ private lives reveal more about their morals than their sound bites. What politicians do in their private lives matters and does impact their public responsibilities. People would not vote for a candidate who espoused law and order but broke the law regularly. The person would be considered a hypocrite.
Most Western people care about a politician’s private life to the extent that it gives them insight into his/her character. So, they don’t care about a person’s sexual orientation but do care about the extent of the lying people do to hide their escapades or extramarital affairs. But Clinton’s initial lies about the Monica lewinsky thing seemed like something anyone would do to save his family and himself embarrassment. John Edward’s cheating on his critically ill wife, lying about it, and trying to get someone else to take the fall for the pregnancy of his girlfriend was over the top and indicated a level of selfishness unacceptable. But actions speak louder than words, and one’s private actions that one may wish to keep private are relevant when they don’t align with words and promises made to people.
Some radically democratic people believe the public should not care about a leader’s private life except when it affects the politician’s public life. Paying a prostitute with taxpayer money, leaving one’s office unmanaged or contracting a venereal disease are all detriments to the job the taxpayers hired you to do. It subjects a politician to pressures, up to and including outright blackmail that are potentially distracting from their public duties. But the media only cares about “character” and “sleaze” because sensation brings them revenue and respite from running around against odds.
Our leaders’ private lives are interesting in the sense that we identify with others, with their daily struggles and interests. We like to point to what someone else does as an example of what they believe. However, one’s private struggles should not make or break a candidate. We don’t elect our leaders to be a moral authority but a legislative one. But we are all human and don’t always live up to our own standards. We could have the world’s greatest leader with marital issues or a dangerous fascist with the perfect family. Obviously, the former would be the choice.
The Congress and the BJP front liners are holding the society to ransom. This violent agitation should have happened only after the investigating authorities had conclusively held Ananta Jena as a devilish lecher. This is just not the time for the irresponsible media to hold court and prosecute Jena only because some pinhead opposition leaders scream to that effect. Wait and watch should be the wisest thing to do. The truth about the engineering student dying in mysterious circumstances would also be out by then. The provider of the cloudy picture video, Pradip Pandey, too has no strength of conviction. He only keeps harping on the urgency of investigation. The big pity is that the name ‘Niankhunta’ has been adapted from a same-name magazine founded by legendary political satirist late Godabarish Mahapatra who had kept all erring political masters on toes during the 1950s and 1960s. Hopefully, the small time Mayor will come out clean as he keeps asserting that the silhouette picture of a man in the video has an enormous tummy unlike his and the nose of the wolf is vastly different from what God has given him.
The filthy, disturbing story be negated at the end with a heartwarming tale from history: The greatest and the tenth Sikh Guru and founder of the Khalsa, Govind Singh, was born on December 22, 1666 in Patna to Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru, and Mata Gujri. Guru Gobind Singh was called Gobind Rai as a child and studied Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi and Persian. In 1672, Guru Tegh Bahadur took his family to Anandpur Sahib, which he had founded in 1665. Guru Gobind shifted to Paonta in Sirmaur state in 1685 following an invitation of the local ruler who sought his help in fortifying his position against the rival king of Garhwal. In the years that the guru was in Paonta, he composed sacred texts. In 1687, he joined forces with Bhim Chand and some hill rulers to defeat Alif Khan and his supporters’ troops in the Battle of Nadaun. In another battle the following year, the Garhwal ruler attacked Paonta, but the guru who marshaled forces on the other side emerged victorious in the Battle of Bhangani. Following the Bhangani victory, the Bilaspur Queen appealed to the guru to return to Anandpur Sahib. He agreed to this request. In 1699, heeding the call of the guru, his followers gathered at Anandpur on April 13. It is said that at this gathering, he asked for volunteers who were willing to instantly give up their lives as proof of their dedication to the Sikh cause. The guru called the five volunteers who stepped forward — Daya Ram, Dharam Das, Himmat Rai, Mohkam Chand and Sahib Chand -- the Panj Pyare or the five beloved ones. These five men, henceforth known as Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh and Bhai Sahib Singh, became the first of the Khalsa or baptised Sikhs. And female members of the Khalsa began to be called ‘Kaur’.
So, let’s forget Ananta Jena for the time and keep taking inspiration from Guru Govind Singh, who has left behind one of the most beautiful communities in the world called the Khalsa whose contribution to building modern India cannot ever be ignored or forgotten.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)