Of good and bad

I don't see eye to eye with Pritish Nandy on many issues. But his latest article on lack of good guys in public life is worth reading,


http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/extraordinaryissue/entry/where_have_all_the_good

I personally think we, as a nation, changed during mid 1980's. Corruption was prevalent prior to that, but the corrupt were afraid and not as brazen about it as they are today. The term 'under the table' was quite appropriate. But Bofors changed all that. I saw the first signs of it when I went to Delhi after a gap of 7 years in 1994. The amount of money being vulgarly spent in the nation's capital was mind boggling. The quiet, peaceful Delhi of 1980s was totally gone. And since then, it has been a downward spiral.

During my college days and for a time after that, I had been a left sympathiser, like many of my ilk. But the post EMS left front has turned out to be the biggest disappointment. True, EMS made mistakes, but he was personally clean and had in fact donated all his wealth to the party. Today, the CPI(M) has assets worth more than 2000 cr rupees in Kerala. The common man's party is not so common any more. Ditto for most of the other parties, almost all of them family owned proprietory institutions- be it DMK, AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal, TDP, BSP, SP, JD(U), JD(S), PDP, NC. Leave alone public accountability, even inner party accountability is absent.

In Kerala, people are quick to fight for their 'rights', paying scant attention to their 'responsibilities' as a citizen. But in other parts of India, people neither have responsibility nor do they care for their rights.

When State fails, when law and order is in shambles, when there is poor governance, when the judiciary is not above reproach, when there is scarcity - then it is everyone for himself. In such a scenario, even good guys turn bad.

The country awaits a principled leader who will take over after a mass movement, but I suspect it will be at least a couple of decades till that happens.