India Needs Moral Cleansing

In a more fundamental sense, Narasimha Rao was seen to liberate the Congress from the stifling influence of the Nehru-Gandhi `banyan-tree. Democracy was expected to become more meaningful. Moreover, it was believed that as compared to the Bofors-tainted Rajiv regime, Narasimha Rao would provide a cleaner administration.

This belief was somewhat dented by the security scam. But by and large faith in Narasimha Rao remained unshaken more so after Harshad Mehtas suitcase bluff was called. The mud didnt stick on him even after the sugar scandal.

Even though the nation never developed a love affair with Narasimha Rao, as it did with the members of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, there were great expectations from him, which were sustained for sometime. Because of this, the shock now is greater. He is booked for forgery, bribery and cheating. The shock is compounded by the fact that moral degeneration is not confined to Narasimha Rao alone. It has afflicted the second best political hope of a large section of the nation L K Advani.

 

There were clumsy attempts through a disinformation campaign that Mr Advani had been framed. The RSS whispering mill tried to spread the impression that Mr Advanis name appeared only in a loose sheet found in the notorious Jain farm house.

But this is not the case. His name, alongwith 12 other politicians, was found on Page 8 of a 40-page methodically maintained file. There is a supporting evidence for this too. The total payment of Rs 75 lakh given to these 13 politicians was found in another `mother diary under the head `political donation. In short, the evidence against Mr Advani is as strong or as weak as against other politicians in the Jain hawala case.

`Politicians sub chor hain, is now almost a conventional wisdom. But who is above board? In India, distrust of the rich was always there. Business and cheating went together. However, established companies were seen as something distinct. They had their reputation to save and keep the confidence of shareholders and consumers. Their self-esteem made them model employers.

With the recent systemic shift from public sector-driven to private-sector-driven-economy, a greater responsibility fell on the corporate sector than before. But now comes the exposure of ITC. The manner in which the ITC management warded off the takeover attack by British shareholders, did proud to the nationalist business sentiments. But recent events are an anti-climax. If the ITC cannot be trusted, who in the corporate sector can one trust? In the last two-three years, millions of Indians who trusted the private sector and bought shares or units in mutual funds feel cheated. A large number of companies even defaulted repayment of fixed deposits. Today, if the common Indian sees corrupt cheats all around, in politics, in business, whose fault is it?

The economic slowdown is serious. But the growing moral crisis in the country is far more serious. A nation lives by faith. This faith is getting eroded. This crisis acquires dangerous dimensions as the erosion of faith is combined by erosion in social empathy.

Indian society in the modern period, in spite of its extreme social and economic inequalities, was held together by a sort of social contract by the rich with the poor. The rich has now unilaterally broken that social contract. It has become insensitive to the poor. Look at the display of vulgarity by the rich in Bombay. There are people who pay Rs 1 lakh for a dinner with Michael Jackson. They are the same rich who do not pay taxes. No wonder, the word `rich is pejorative for the vast masses of India. Even in Bombay, where the concentration of the rich is highest in the country, it is the lumpen of the slum who rules the city.

Perhaps, food-related hunger has disappeared from the country. But the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing at a socially intolerable rate. The new problem may not be absolute poverty as such but increasing sense of relative deprivation. This has an equally socially unsettling effect. Add to this is yet another social crisis ground-level societal fragmentation by religious and caste lines.

Religious and caste divisions have acquired antagonistic characteristic. India is now burdened with layers and layers of crises. These must be resolved one after the another. But the question is where should one begin? Perhaps, from moral cleansing itself. But the danger is that fascists and authoritarians are often better-equipped to usurp the banner of moral and social cleansing.