The political culture of sycophancy destroys democracy, promotes low-quality leadership and dynastic trends, and shuts the doors on meritocracy in public life. We have seen that happen in India, and in countries such as Haiti in a brutal way
The Republic of Haiti has the uncanny knack of attracting all negative headlines, perhaps once every five years. The last time it attracted international attention was when it was beset by a major natural calamity. I was part of the medical relief team and observed first hand the privations of the unfortunate citizens. It was a heart- wrenching experience, but there was also a redeeming human trait in evidence which could serve a lesson for the rest of the world: The never-say-die fortitude and the incomparable ability to empathise with the sufferings of their neighbours — despite their own tributations. I returned from the country and, much chastised, hoped for a more sensitive human being.
However it is not always so. Haiti is a country of outstanding natural beauty. Alexandre Dumas referred to Haiti as “la Perle des Antilles” or ‘The pearl of the Antilles’. Haiti has a very chequered history that provides us with many historical facts. It was the first country in the world to gain independence from colonial powers — in 1804. And if my recollection of Caribbean history is accurate, it is the only country to have successfully defeated three European colonial powers viz France, Britain and Spain. What is even more remarkable is that the movement for independence was run by the slaves and their descendants.
But Haiti became an unfortunate victim of superpower manipulation — the consequences of which are still reverberating very hard. Haiti has continued to make to the bottom five in nearly every list of developmental indices of human development for the last several decades.
Much of the blame for this should rest on Francois Duvalier, who was the country’s President from 1957 to 1971. A brilliant student, Duvalier completed his medical education with flying colours and returned to his country where he became enormously popular. But no sooner had he assumed power, latent despotic tendencies within him came to the fore. He became a compulsive kleptocrat and developed a coterie of criminally-minded strong-armed thugs around him, who were named ‘Tonton Macoutes’. They were a bunch of loud-mouthed elements with supposedly unquestioned and fanatical obedience to ‘Papa Doc’ (as he had by now come to be known ), and their main duty was to terrorise and liquidate everyone who deigned to question his supremacy. Meanwhile, Papa Doc persisted with his notoriously pernicious eccentricities, which included voodoo magic and declaring his son ‘Baby Doc’ as his successor — the latter was barely in his teens!
True to his wishes, when Papa Doc died, 19-year-old Baby Doc was the ‘elected’ President. Tonton Macoute’s reign of terror continued with no respite. Unsurprisingly, his day of reckoning finally came. Successive American Governments insulated the father/son duo from international wrath and accountability but even they could not save Baby Doc when he was forced to flee with his wife Michele to France. They had, it is popularly believed on the United States advice, hoarded the country of all its wealth before their departure.
Baby Doc died at age of 63. His death was barely reported in the Indian newspapers. The legitimate question here is whether it should have been. I believe, yes. Unbeknown to most of us, the Duvaliers left behind a legacy which all of us should take note of primarily to make sure that it does not take deep roots within our own societies.
The legacy that the infamous father/son duo have left with us can best be described as the ‘Tonton Macoute Syndrome’ — whereby, the person exercising power has to rely upon a loose confederacy of criminally minded hoodlums and thugs to disseminate trepidation in order to realise his/her goals, both personal and public which often intermingle.
It would be apt to look into the relevance of this notorious syndrome in Indian context. Not very long after Papa Doc’s death, I relocated to the United Kingdom when this country was placed under Emergency and was ruled by a dictator who had started off as a popular democrat. In one of the political debates, I attended in london, llew Gardner, a top political commentator mentioned that India under Indira Gandhi was emulating Haiti and went on to equate Youth Congress goons with Tonton Macoutes who were following ‘Mama Doc’ (Indira Gandhi). He then went on to draw various similarities between the two — how the Youth Congress workers with official patronage and sanction were indulging in every form of thuggery and how brazenly the country’s leader was not just overlooking all this anarchy but promoting her good for nothing offspring.
Even a staunch opponent of Emergency like myself took exception. I was just not prepared to accept that India was headed the Haitian way. And sure enough once Indira Gandhi declared elections to validate her dictatorship, the country gave her a message that was loud and clear. I believed that Gardner had been proven wrong.
On reflection, though I am at times persuaded that while the Duvaliers’ disdain for elections has been negated convincingly, the ‘Tonton Macoute’ culture has percolated the Indian polity. In the contemporary political scenario, it is difficult to identify a political formation which does not have its own ‘Tonton Macoute’ system where the same fanatical obedience is demanded and liberally displayed although the contours of democracy prevent its degradation to the Haitian level. The malady that had started with Congress has infected nearly all other political parties now. One only has to observe the party spokespersons on the television to appreciate that the ‘Tonton Macoute’ culture is thriving within our polity.
Is it a recent phenomenonIJ No — in my reckoning, the first Indian equivalent of a ‘Tonton Macoute’ was VK Krishna Menon, for whom Nehru’s word was more than a metaphorical gospel truth. The reason it was nipped in the bud at the time was because Nehru’s commitment to democracy took precedence over his loyalty to Menon and his fellow political travellers were not prepared to accept the total abrogation of public accountability that ‘Tonton Macoute’ culture entails. But Indira Gandhi had absolutely no qualms at all. It is largely because of the ambience she promoted that even the Congress bigwigs are encouraged to adopt this philosophy to ensure their progression in the party hierarchy. The other parties — the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Shiv Sena, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Rashtriya lok Dal etc have instilled a culture which apart from commitment to electoral process (at least for the time being) would not be that alien to a ‘Tonton Macoute’.
It is up to the BJP, which has a huge mandate, to ensure that it does not fall prey to this very destructive tendency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected because people were rightly fed up with the corrupt and venal Congress Government where a Prime Minister was reluctant to act against those who supported him for political reasons.
I believe, one of Mr Modi’s first tasks should be to eliminate any vestige of ‘Tonton Macoute’ culture. That would be his stellar service to the country. And the Duvalier duo’s dark legacy is a stark reminder of what can happen if this timely warning is not heeded.