Are simple living and an austere lifestyle the new ideology of politics? Actually, there's nothing new about it.
Abani Roy, Member of Parliament from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) since 1999, used to be a source for every journalist in Delhi covering the Left parties. His home on Ferozshah Road was also the party office. His pride and joy were the rose bushes he tended himself lovingly in the garden. In the tiny, dank living room, he would offer reporters unsweetened tea as some of us would cross-question him (we thought, subtly) on the proceedings of the coordination committee formed when the Left was supporting the government headed by Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2009. Roy later had to leave the RSP because he wrote one letter too many to the prime minister opposing the merger between Bharti Telecom and South African telecom major MTN, alleging it was a threat to India's security. He wrote another one on the dispute between the Ambani brothers. The commissars in his party disapproved.
George Fernandes (who was incidentally absolved of corruption charges by the Central Bureau of Investigation recently, which should tell everyone about the limitations of sting journalism) occupied a large government house in Lutyens' Delhi but lived in one room. The rest of the house was given over to refugees from various parts of the world - Burma (now Myanmar), Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. He owned a rickety Fiat car. When the Congress came to power, he found he could not move out of his house because then home minister Shivraj Patil was his neighbour, and every time the minister had to move, Fernandes' gate would be locked. One day he ceremoniously smashed the pillar and removed his gate altogether - because he had no need for it and if there was no gate it could not be locked! He stopped washing his own clothes, but only when it was gently suggested to him that he could utilise that time by becoming the defence minister. You may have had ideological differences with him: but he was a unifying figure who rallied Naxalites, socialists, Gandhians and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh alike when Delhi was burning after Indira Gandhi's assassination, and half a dozen killings of Sikhs from necklacing alone were reported.
A lot is made of the sartorial flourish of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. An officer reported that Modi lives in a small house that has the mandatory security outside - but has two attendants who come in every morning and leave at 9 p m. Someone, only recently, thought of doing a security audit of the chief minister's home and chanced to enter his bedroom. There is one bed, a table with a personal computer and a TV, a low two-seater sofa with a table where he has his meals and a tiny shrine by the side of his bed. There is a plastic wardrobe - the kind that is transparent that you can zip up - that contains his clothes. The first thing that officers did was to install a bell by his bed that would ring in the telephone exchange that is manned 24 hours - so that if he felt indisposed or in need of assistance, he could ring it. Again, you might not agree with his politics, but the way Modi lives is an indisputable fact.
The Bihar chief minister's bungalow occupies several acres in the heart of Patna. But the cowsheds have gone, converted into offices and a large part of the splendid garden is now an ugly covered structure designed to hold the Janata Darbar. The only other house Nitish Kumar possesses is his ancestral home, a dilapidated hut-like structure in his village Kalyan Bigha, that recently got a facelift.
Mamata Banerjee lives in a tenement that is probably illegal in Kolkata's Kalighat. The only concession she permitted the Public Works Department, before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to lunch, was a coat of paint. She cooked the meal herself.
The stories of A K Antony's austerity are legion. He didn't have a suit when he became defence minister and had to order one on an emergency basis. Claims that his wife has set up an NGO are yet to be verified, as also reports that her paintings were bought by the Airports Authority of India for Rs 28 crore.
Yes, there are chief ministers whose sons set up companies on the basis of bribes paid in India and abroad. There are also chief ministers who say they will never ski without a helmet again, should they meet Michael Schumacher's fate. But in those states, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has little or no traction. The personal is the political, austerity is great, but can we please get a move on? Come summer, there will be a shortage of both water and power unless steps are taken immediately. Already, the jats of Haryana are talking about giving no water to Delhi. Islanding of power in 2012 under the much reviled Sheila Dikshit government has ensured essential services such as the Delhi Metro will not be hit even if there is a grid collapse. But is anyone overseeing the likely power demand in July (the month Delhi consumes the most power) and demanding to know what the power companies in Delhi are going to do if there is a shortage?
When a Bharatiya Janata Party leader went to Vajpayee to complain about his bureaucrats, the latter chided him and said a wise man doesn't fight with the tools he uses. Instead of admiring Delhi's problems - and AAP's rise - we need to get down to solving them.
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