I had decided to follow up my last blog on corruption in India by detailing further unsavoury disclosures and revelations in the ongoing saga of the decadently unethical and incestuous relationship between businessman Lalit Modi and the related business empire on the one hand and foreign minister of India Sushma Swaraj and the Rajasathan chief minister Vasundara Raje-the politicians- on the other; that was until I read the commentary in Indian newspapers and electronic media. I was overwhelmed by its sheer banality. The current NDA government of Narendra Modi and its spokespersons argued either flimsy technical defences or that the other guys, the Manmohan Singh's UPA regime, were bad too. The arguments of several celebrated columnists such as Tavleen Singh and Surjit Bhalla descended into mere apologies for the clear ethical lapses of the politicians involved. So I decided to simply and briefly state what was on my mind - as an Indian who has always been concerned about the ever expanding and suffocating hold of corruption in India.
To those who adopt a severely hyper defensive posture at the mere mention of Indian corruption and then go on to say there is corruption in many other countries too- in some much worse than others- I say it is true but that does not absolve us Indians of the mess we have made of things in India. Then they argue and I agree India's has been a great civilisation. But that can't be much comfort to the impoverished, the powerless, the unemployed, the child labourers and millions of others who are desperately striving to eke out an honest living in the permanent smog of corruption and see their dreams of a better life recede into an uncertain future, if at all.
We are now witnessing the most recent iteration of the chronic corruption in India: lalitgate implicating Swaraj and Raje, Vayapam murders, Pankaja Munde's gifts of unbid contracts to the rich and famous, to name just a few. Despite Modi coming into power and his now famous promise of "naan Khaoonga, na Khanay doonga" life in India continues its downward spiral into corruption, a so far unstoppable slide that started shortly after independence. The idealism, elan and the afterglow of the independence movement led by the great Mahatma is all but a distant memory.
Ubiquitous moral and ethical corruption has seeped into both the public and private lives of the country. It is not enough to say the government officials and politicians must rid themselves of bad ethics and dishonesty. Every Indian must do that. Every Indian, rich and poor, weak and powerful, government worker and private individual, young and old, man and woman must start living an ethical and honest life. One only earns the right to criticise others for lack of principles if one abides by them in one's own life.
Modi may not have the courage or the wisdom to fire Swaraj and Raje for their highly unethical actions and omissions but he is good at coining slogans. The one about Swash Bharat is quite appropriate in talking about corruption. Swash Bharat slogan should not have been limited to the dirt in our physical surroundings. It should have also included the dirt in our cranial cavities; that is in our heads. It is in our heads that ethics take hold or not. It is in our heads to be just or unjust, fair or unfair, honest or dishonest and ethical or unethical.
Indians must fight for an ethical India. It must be done by ordinary Indians, who like all peoples of the world, possess extraordinary energy, talents and foresight. It can and must be done despite the dwarfed Indian political elite. It has to be done if modern India is to truly become once again the fabled civilisation that we once were; for that India must throw up ethical leaders.
India is badly in need of an Ethics Revolution.
