When foul is fair

The Way longs to be born

The tragedy of the contemporary world is not so much that there is a dearth of human values as that hardly anyone seems to be interested in values at all. People have not only accepted that corruption is an integral part of politics, religion and any system but have also started justifying it. It is quite scary when prominent BJP leaders like Nitin Gatkari and Amit Shah tell us frankly that their party’s electoral promises were not made seriously. While the former said that the promises were made because they had never imagined the party to win the elections, the latter bluntly called the promises “chunavi jumla” [electoral gimmick].

What is bizarre is that people accept such explanations as morally right. People like Gatkari and Shah have gifted the country a new ethical code by which anything and everything is alright as long as you are a winner. Their supreme pontiff, Narendra Modi, marched to glorious heights by doing things that would make the foulest devil in hell blush. It is only natural that the citizens will jettison all moral codes gaily when they have such rulers and leaders.

More and more women are coming forward with narratives about the harassments they had to face from people who were heroes for many of us. M J Akbar is someone whom I held in high regard until the new narratives hit the media like blizzards. His resignation is not going to make any difference to the contempt I feel for him now. He can redeem his lost honour only by acknowledging his guilt openly and making whatever atonement he can. He owes it to himself and the people for whom he meant much.

The same holds good for others too. People like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah too should set an example for the nation by mending their ways. Accepting one’s errors is the first step towards making a new beginning. And the nation deserves a new beginning.

The nation deserves a new beginning merely because we are standing at the nadir of the moral continuum. When the people know that their leaders are morally depraved persons and that these persons are becoming more and more powerful and successful, it is only natural that the people question the validity of their own personal morality. If the foul is fair, why should one be fair? How can one be fair?