You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals.”— Marie Curie

When people tell me that I became President on January 20th, 1981, I feel I have to correct them. You don’t become President of the United States. You are given temporary custody of an institution called the Presidency, which belongs to our people. Having temporary custody of this office has been for me a sacred trust and an honour beyond words or measure. Many is the time that I’ve said a prayer of thanks to all Americans who placed this trust in my hands.”—Ronald Reagan, former President of America

Politically speaking this is a winter of despair, dissent, disruption, disgust and disgrace, for our democratic republic. At the Centre we have heard the staccato speech of Leader of the Opposition (LoP), ill-dressed and ill-prepared to address such an august body that decides the destiny of 140 crore Indians.

On December 19, Thursday, 2024, there was high drama at the Parliament House entrance where there was a confrontation between the MPs of the ruling NDA and the Opposition I.N.D.I.A Block during their protests over Dr. B.R. Ambedkar whose name was bandied about by both the Opposition and the Ruling parties in the debate on the “Glorious Journey of 75 years of the Constitution of India.” Home Minister Amit Shah was made the villain by taking his words literally, out of context, not figuratively as it was intended to be. But who will make the LoP understand? Let it be.

If it was a verbal attack inside the House, it turned out to be physical outside the House with two BJP MPs landing in hospital with bleeding injuries to their heads and a BJP woman MP accusing Rahul Gandhi, LoP, of being inappropriate with her.

The victims went to the Police and an FIR was filed against Rahul Gandhi. As if to counter the complaint, Congress Party President Mallikarjun Kharge complained suffering injuries to his knees due to BJP MPs pushing him, besides manhandling Rahul Gandhi. A case of Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “Every action has an equal and an opposite reaction.” Those two forces act on two different bodies — here in our democracy they are Congress (I.N.D.I.A) and the BJP (NDA).

Now let me return to my State Karnataka. The BJP law-maker C.T. Ravi was arrested on December 19, at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, Belagavi, after he was accused of making “derogatory” comments about the woman Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar. Again not to be left behind, as a counter, C.T. Ravi too filed a Police complaint against the woman Minister alleging she called him a ‘murderer.’

Rain or shine, winter or summer this show must go on and it will. The beneficiaries of these political theatre of the absurd will be the addicts of online news readers, newspapers and TV channels with increased TRP (Television Rating Point) running to the banks smiling.

With these political developments, what “We, the People of India” who gave unto ourselves (without a referendum) a Constitution, could do? As mute witnesses, we see only the ominous potential of a failed Opposition, lost in a democratic polity with disparate ideologies and without direction. Quo Vadis? Whither goest thou? Like Jesus said to Peter, ‘To Rome to be crucified again,’ the Opposition with this kind of performance may get crucified again in the next 2029 election.

In Karnataka, we see a replay of the Opposition at the Centre  — over-aggressive and retaliatory to its adversary. To upstarts in politics, power and money are like the intoxicants more potent than alcohol. They lose every sense of judgement and also lose sense to bear an accidental or minor wrong without taking revenge. Which is why we witness the kind of political protest and violence that happened at the Parliament and in the Assembly.

The problem with the Congress and its allies (I.N.D.I.A Block) is that in their haste to build up a huge vote-bank, they ignored the peaceful majority in our country. For the Opposition, the peaceful majority is irrelevant. And they seem to have forgotten that the very premise of Democracy is majority rule. Even in the High Courts and the Supreme Court, the majority decision prevails. Why? Even in the Parliament, majority is the Ruling Party. Why not respect the majority and the majority will reciprocate the gesture.

It is here we look for able leaders. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, himself, a leader and an intellectual, has in his writings laid great emphasis on the qualities of a leader. I had mentioned about this in my Abracadabra column dated 17.12.2024 quoting Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He said, a person with an empty mind can have no direction, like a ship without ballast and without rudder. Well, if we make such persons our leaders, what can we expect, except what we are witnessing today?

I am left perplexed at the behaviour of our MPs and MLAs in the past few days wondering if Ronald Reagan, whom I have quoted above, has a strong message for Indian law-makers.

After watching all the happenings in our Parliament and Karnataka Assembly on TV, I went to put my grandson Dev to sleep with a story. The naughty one won’t sleep without a story. I opened the book “The Illustrated Stories of Tenali Raman” and began to read a story titled “Tenali Raman and the Royal Barber.”  The story:

The royal barber’s daily task was to give King Krishna Deva Raya his daily shave. One day, the King asked his servants to call the barber for his haircut. He trimmed the King’s hair very neatly and so the King appreciated the barber’s work saying, “I am happy with your work. Ask for a boon, and I’ll grant it.”

To this, the royal barber said, “Your Majesty, I would like to serve you as a Minister in the Royal Court.” The King agreed to the royal barber’s wish. As this news spread around, the other Ministers became worried. They thought that an uneducated man at a Minister’s post might misuse the powers he held. They went to Tenali Raman with the problem, who assured them of his help.

The following day when King Krishna Deva Raya passed by a stream in the Palace, he was astonished to see Tenali meticulously scrubbing a black dog. When the King asked him what he was doing, Tenali Raman answered, “Your Majesty, I want to turn my dog into a white cow.” The King laughed and said, “Tenali, you can’t transform a dog into a cow!” Tenali replied, “Then, Your Majesty, how can you turn an uneducated man into a Royal Minister?”

On hearing this, the King realised his fault. That very day, the King asked the barber to get the education and experience required for the position, and told him that until then, he was to remain the royal barber.”

My grandson Dev had fallen asleep…, but I was wide awake wondering about his future.

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