DECENCY IN PUBLIC LIFE - 6

28th April 2009.

Dear Fellow-Travellers,

By the time you read this it will be E-Day minus one. Whereas many will have already decided whom to vote for, an equal number must be having some difficulty in making up their minds. I wouldn’t blame the latter group. Both the major parties in the fray – the Congress and the BJP – have identical manifestoes, both promise development going hand in hand with lower tax rates and grain at throwaway prices (pure magic!), neither has covered itself with glory and both have skeletons in the cupboard - in the case of one of them it is not a question of how many skeletons but of how many cupboards. . .

So, the choice before us essentially boils down to the right candidate. And how does one decide upon the ‘right’ candidate?

I would like to adopt a simple yardstick – choose the one you would not feel embarrassed or ashamed to have as a guest in your home. Personally, I would feel somewhat uncomfortable to share a meal with someone with a criminal record a mile long. So, criminals are definitely out. Fortunately, we have mumbaivotes.com to tell us who the criminals in the fray are.

When both the major parties are in a race to outrun each other in notoriety, it’s time to take a look at The Independent. I do not know what it is about them that is a thorn in the side of Madame Soniaji (on Sunday she exhorted the Mumbai-ites not to vote for them) or of Manmohan Singhji (he called them “spoilers”, remember?). Please note that they have never said these things about the Pappu Yadavs of Indian politics!

Now, I would give my vote to “Spoiler” Meera Sanyal in the South Mumbai constituency

Not only because she is young (so are Bal Nandgaonkar and Milind Deora)
Not only because she has excellent educational qualifications (so does Milind D)
Not only because she has tremendous work experience as a leader in an organisation (none in the S. Mumbai constituency can match that!)
Not only because she has had a terrific international exposure (she won’t say silly things like turning Mumbai into Shanghai),
Not only because of her proven leadership qualities, but

because she exudes SINCERITY of purpose, INTEGRITY – financial, professional and intellectual, all vital requirements in a legislator-leader and, above all, HOPE – something that successive governments have crushed in the common man. I would say the same for Rishi Agarwal. Hardly surprising that Madame Soniaji had to warn us against these threats!

So, let the die be cast, and may the best candidate win. Please remember to cast your vote on the 30th for the one you think is best for your family. India demands just one hour of your time. But no matter who wins, we must be determined to make them ACCOUNTABLE. More on this in the next few days.

As I bring this series of small write-ups to an end I thank each one of you for forwarding these mails to your friends. What started off as an expression of disgust against the use of unparliamentary language in the election campaign has turned into a cry for Decency in our lives. For that, I have only to thank you. Let us vote for Decency in Public Life, let us vote for ourselves.

Yours sincerely,

Deepak Tralshawala