Dhoti Kurta
and a Gandhian Cap!!
What image does it create in your subconscious mind?
A Patriot, a
politician or a leader?
If your
answer is among one of these, this article is for you!
If not please ignore.
You may be extravagantly spending your precious time reading something uninteresting.
Recently I
came across an article where our living Gandhi (Anna Hazare) comments on the
lifestyle of an ideal politician and a leader. He believes and many of us
believe that the politicians should lead as much a simple and miserable life as
they can. It is a matter of pride for the living Gandhi, that a chief minister
of a state wears a slipper.
"I have faith in her (to lead the nation) because she is a Chief
Minister but still wears slippers. She did not take a government bungalow. She
lives in her father's small house....”~~Anna Hazare ****
What do we expect from our politicians?
We expect them to do their duty in the best way possible, without
interfering any further into their personal lifestyle. But off course, if a
leader represents himself as a pauper, this is a matter of great concern. This
is just like a compromise with the feeling of the people and which implies that the
people should remain content with whatever they have. If the people’s
representative accepts the life style of a pauper, there shouldn't be any
question for the people to deny it.
Leaders are the representatives
of its own people and responsible for the overall development of the nation. Why do we expect our leaders to represent themselves
as a miserable creature? Why can’t politicians wear suit and other western
attire which are accepted in the Indian culture or why can’t they dress
casually? Why can’t they live a life of a common man who can afford the
necessary comforts of life? Why should the politicians avoid the use of new
technologies and developments which has made the world a beautiful place? Do
they need to wait like a captain of a drowning Ship who is expected to rescue
himself at the end?
To be honest, the Indian politics has reduced to a school, where
admission is just a matter of attire and learning is just an art of portrayal.
Anybody with a white attire, trying to implicate the Gandhian thought is a
politician and a leader! Our illiteracy is quite evident from the fact that we try to derive the
literal meaning of things, without going into the depth.
The idea behinds Gandhi’s thought
was completely different, and was purely based on the financial, political and
social conditions of the country at that point of time.
The intention of adapting to what we say the “Gandhian lifestyle” was
just to give an edge to the falling economy of the country and to provide
employment to the much needy people who were starving during the freedom
movement.
Let’s analyse this in current prospective. Our politicians wear khadi
dresses just for the sake of formality and to create an illusion of patriotism.
What relationship does attire has with patriotism is yet to be invented! If observed, khadi dresses are no cheaper and no
more a symbol of simplicity. In order to understand the relationship between them, we need
to ask ourselves few questions and if that sounds logical, we could arrive to
a conclusion.
Does our politician weave their cloths themselves or wear hand woven
dresses? Does Anna Hazare do that?
No!! And neither do we expect anyone who could contribute more in a
different way to spend their time on any such unproductive activities which are
already taken care by the different large scale industries. India has grown
tremendously and there are other major issues to resolve rather than living the
lifestyle of a person who lived more than 5 decades ago.
Why do we try to follow the foot step of a person who fought a different
battle?
Change is
the law of nature and every change made is in the search of perfection. In general
we never think of a better lifestyle until and unless we experience something
different and better. And that is the truth. This does not means that our
politicians start adapting to the best lifestyle at the cost of public funds,
so that they could offer the same to their people. But off course, what they do
of their personal legal funds is their business and there should not be any
raising eyebrows.
Over and
over again we have seen the personal possessions of the politicians being
brought into news, trying to defame them by stamping them as wealthy! In India
it is a taboo for a politician to be wealthy, no matter however rich he is.
On one hand
where we dream of diminishing the gap between the rich and poor, and try and
make available the best lifestyle possible for each and every citizen of the
country, on the other hand we impose our Gandhian thoughts on our politicians, which
deprive them from enjoying their personal life below an open sky.
India needs
to move on from such silly thoughts and look forward to be at pace with other
developed nations of the world rather than following the footstep of a person
whose reputation has already been shaken, so many times by its own people.
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