Of anguish and respect
SONIA GANDHI silenced her worst critics by renouncing prime ministership at the last moment. Invoking the `inner voice' to `humbly decline,' she proved that foreign origins need not prevent one from imbibing the best in host cultures. Rightly we have heard every sane person exuding praise and admiration for this tyaga. One wishes that all those eloquent supporters, who cannot conceive of such supreme sacrifice, would learn other political virtues from her conduct recently — political virtues of measured speech, restraint in public space and work ethics.
We are political because we are speaking beings who must talk about the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, the noble and the base. As such, many who were disturbed by her acceptance in the first place for different reasons (foreign origins, relative lack of experience, dynastic link and so on) will soon begin to argue about the timing and meaning of her decision. And speculate about whether it stemmed from personal and/or political factors.
And wonder about what she meant by her `inner voice' and antaratma which our own Mahatma also used often. Was it only political intuition? Just emotion? Was it more like the daimons or spiritual forces that pull us or stop us? Among others, Gandhi taught us to approach such phrases as coming from the experience of deep anguish and profound questioning about our duties in critical moments.
Coming from some mysterious source in us, every sacrificial gesture evokes awe and wonder. Justly, we have heard about the `moral high ground' she has charted for others. Many have said that this is a supreme sacrifice and that it is difficult to find parallels. Many possibly also realise that they cannot emulate her in this regard.
But there are less difficult lessons for those who revere her as the `undisputed leader.' To the weeping legislators, she said firmly but politely `I have heard you and allow me to make my decision.' To the excited media (who were all asking questions together so that the viewers only heard Mrs. Gandhi over and over), she was frustratingly precise and focused. What a contrast to the hysterical masses of the Congress — men threatening suicide, women beating their chests, all crying and traumatised! Until the letter comes saying "I am not going anywhere, I am going to be here." Like a mother to a child?
To her credit, she has played down the all-powerful, all-devouring, compassionate `amma' who controls and kills initiative. Like one mature adult to another, she called for trust and respect and space to be herself. And she has shown that part of being a good politician is about measured speech, restraint and decorum in public space. For those youths who begged her to lead them, she has pointed to some possible mentors. By elevating Manmohan Singh, she has shown that respect for someone who has more experience than oneself is healthy. Political leaders need not look like oneself or be young to guide us but must have political experience and judgment.
This is important because time and again we hear the hand picked youths of talk shows tell us about how tired they are of seeing the `same old faces.' If classical education were alive among the mediamen, they may have reminded them that `old fogies' (also of foreign origins) like Plato and Aristotle thought that one is unfit for politics until one is at least 55 by which time one would have been trained in music, gymnastics, mathematics and philosophy, with some field work thrown in! And then if one were lucky, one may have found time for family! Incidentally, Plato did not want rulers to have a family because he thought it would corrupt them! We cannot even dream like him today!
Sonia Gandhi, who some of us still see as a foreign-born Indian, has exhibited some key political and social virtues that one finds more pervasively in foreign lands — a readiness to be adults, make and accept `hard' decisions rationally, refrain from emotional blackmail, distinguish between the private and public (no matter how difficult this is) and maintain decorum in public space. Above all, try not to look for mothers and fathers to hold hands in politics! Would this be asking for too much — that the people we elect behave like adults and friends who can keep their emotions under reasonable check and not prostrate, beg, plead, cry? And also treat us to some quality rhetoric rather than just clichés during historic moments? Noble gestures are praised with thoughtful and great speeches in politics.
VASANTHI SRINIVASAN
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