Why do netas fail to practise decency?

Among the things that are in short supply in this country are not just ethics, morals and honesty. Decency, too, is one among them. These qualities are rare to be found because they are getting extinct in the world. Or at least in India. These are not in short supply because they are being hoarded by someone. No good thing is hoarded by the by anyway. So, Droupadi Murmu, a tribal politician, becomes a 'statue' for someone like Tejashwi Yadav – a self-proclaimed youth icon. Well, a statue does not do anything. Perhaps, this younger Yadav sought to convey this to us.

Then we have a more decent option called Yashwant Sinha, former BJP leader now with the TMC who had the gumption to say that the battle (which he is losing anyway) is between "opposing ideologies." A former bureaucrat, Sinha, said referring to Murmu's nomination that one is "hell-bent in throttling the Constitution" and believes the country's President should not have his/her own mind to function but "serve as a rubber stamp to do the government's bidding" (as far as the BJP is concerned). Oh, is it? So Murmu does not have her own mind? Who is speaking, Sir? Is that the DNA inherent to Sinha or his upbringing?

Even a film director like Ram Gopal Varma wondered 'Droupadi who and how about Kauravas?' The 64-year-old Murmu has been nominated by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its candidate for the forthcoming presidential polls. Murmu will be the first tribal woman candidate to take the highest constitutional role in India since the country's independence 75 years ago. Don't these observations only enforce caste hierarchy, patriarchy, male chauvinism and enable women oppression and untouchability. What would Yashwant Sinha do if he is elected as the President? Will he not be implementing the Opposition's agenda and be its rubber stamp?

The rulers and those aspiring to be so should know that decency is necessary for enriching democracy. Frivolous choice of words and emotive language used to garner votes does not embellish a politician's record with any greatness. Sometime back even the AP Chief Minister preferred to use a 'hairy' epithet to challenge the Opposition. Was being so filmy so necessary to him? Gone are the days we find them using an allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one. Nowadays, the practice is to sound 'heroic' (not chivalrous again) to cater to the basic instincts of the level acceptable to a lowly evolved human being, but not a civilized one.

Tomfoolery is another trait that has gained traction of late in case of even top leaders who don't ponder over the choice of words or excuses. One such fantastic theory flouted was by the Telangana Chief Minister, who referred to 'cloud burst' theory as a conspiracy of some inimical foreign nation or hand.

Even to accept such a hypothetical description, one needs to presume that an enemy aircraft comes crossing over into India in an undesignated flight path surreptitiously while our security and aviation authorities are in deep slumber and engineer the clouds (could a cloud burst be engineered) over India's hinterland. Just fantastic! Forget decency, even plain speaking is not practised. When rancor and enmity become the guiding principles of politics, it is inevitable that the character of a person sinks to an unfathomable depth.