Mahatma Gandhi used to say, “You be the change you want to see in others”. Gandhiji preached only what he practised in his life. He wanted that the leaders at all levels should become role models to others in the practice of moral and ethical values. 

Unfortunately, most of our political leaders miserably fail to practice the dictum of Mahatma Gandhi. On the contrary, many of them are hypocritical. For example, a good number of political leaders violated Covid 19 protocol by organizing rallies and huge public meetings. The Central and the Uttarakhand state governments failed in their duty to call off the Kumbh Mela in which lakhs of people participated, breaking the protocols of Covid 19 like physical distancing and wearing masks. The Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat also participated in the festival with the mask hanging around his neck rather than on his face.  “Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus,” he had said on March 20th as per the media reports. The statement of Tirath Singh Rawat shows how political leaders can hoodwink ordinary people with the drug of religion. For politicians, vote is more important than the precious lives of people. 

Death of two top seers, infection of large number of people returning from the Kumbh Mela, including many seers, and the fear of thousands getting infected when the people who participated in the Kumbh Mela reach back their homes, forced the Prime Minister to make an appeal to the seers to observe the second phase of Kumbh Mela symbolically. In a tweet, PM Modi said, "Now that two royal baths have taken place; I appeal to everyone to keep Kumbh Mela symbolic due to the coronavirus crisis. This will give strength to India's fight against the virus." The Prime Minister could have done it before the first phase of the Kumbh Mela. But he and his party were afraid of losing the Hindu vote bank. 

Our political leaders often fail to accept their failures and mistakes and try to put the blame on the opponents.  Even after being in power for seven years, the BJP and the Prime Minister often find fault with the policies of the Congress for their present failures. But politicians can definitely make an impact by taking new initiatives with sincerity. Four small examples of recent days can be cited in this regard.   

The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s decision to discontinue election campaign through public rallies in West Bengal in view of the unprecedented spread of Coronavirus had a cascading effect on other political parties. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal and TMC supremo, announced that the TMC will avoid organizing big rallies in Kolkata and will also cut down the duration of events. This is a step in the right direction. The BJP, on Monday 20th April, announced that it will stop holding big public events in West Bengal in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus.   At the same time, the Election Commission refused to conduct the last three phases of the poll together despite the appeal by TMC and some other political parties. The EC could have banned political rallies and meetings and instructed the parties to adopt online campaign mode. 

The second example is the five constructive suggestions proposed by Dr. Manmohan Singh the former Prime Minister of India in a letter to P M Narendra Modi. The letter did not cast any aspersions either on the Prime Minister or on the Central government.  It was a dignified letter from a dignified person. The five proposals are 1) Ramp up vaccination progamme, focusing on the percentage of population vaccinated 2) Following a transparent formula for the distribution of vaccines among the states 3) Flexibility on vaccine age criteria 4) Invoking compulsory licensing provision and 5) No bridging trials.

It was very unfortunate that PM Modi did not have the courtesy to respond to the letter of Dr. Singh and thank him for the very positive suggestions. On the contrary, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan used the letter to criticize the Congress party and blamed it for fuelling the second wave of the virus by raising doubts about vaccines. "It is saddening, Dr Singh, that while you very well understand the importance of vaccination as an important method of fighting the COVID-19 battle, people in responsible positions in your party as well as in the state governments formed by your party do not seem to share your view," said Harsh Vardhan. An ideology of hatred can make its followers blind and they will not be able to see anything good in others.   

The third example is the way a consensus was arrived at among the stakeholders to restrict the celebration of the famous Thrissur Pooram to the performance of essential rituals without the participation of the public.  As per the Express News Service, the decision to restrict the Pooram festival was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary V P Joy and attended by representatives of Thiruvambadi and Paremekkavu temples, which organize the Pooram festival. This decision was taken in the context of increasing Coronavirus infection in Kerala. On Monday April 19, the state recorded 13,644 new cases from 87,375 samples. The test positivity rate was at 15.63 per cent.

The opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala, as well as temple committees in the state, were stiffly opposing cancellation of the event. But the efforts of the government through a process of dialogue with all concerned parties could result in a rational and scientific decision. If the political leaders have concern for the wellbeing of the people, and if they stick to principles of good governance and ethical values, they can take right decisions. It is very sad to note the Congress party in Kerala has degenerated to the level of the BJP regarding religious issues. It has not yet learned from its huge election debacles that soft Hidutva cannot compete with the hard Hindutva of the BJP. 

The fourth example is the disclosure by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the name of the donor who contributed to the party through the electoral bond scheme. The JMM said,  “We have nothing to hide,” while disclosing that the party received Rs 1 crore from Hindalco Industries Ltd through an electoral bond. JMM has become the first political party to disclose the name of the entity which donated to it through the electoral bond scheme. 

Ever since the scheme was introduced in 2017 as part of the financial bill, there was widespread criticism of the scheme because of its lack of transparency. The Electoral Bond Scheme entails the usage of electoral bonds which are interest-free bearer instruments used to donate money anonymously to political parties. Electoral bonds are issued in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 1 core by select State Bank of India branches through a KYC- compliant account. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) recently filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to put the sale of electoral bonds scheduled between April 1 and 10 on hold. The three judge bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian refused to stay the scheme. But the bench expressed concern over the possibility of political parties misusing money received through electoral bonds to fuel violent protests or terrorism. 

Before the introduction of electoral bonds, political parties had to disclose details of all donors who donated more than Rs. 20,000. The secrecy clause in the scheme goes against the citizens’ right to know and makes political parties more unaccountable. The Election Commission and the Reserve Bank of India had expressed concerns about the scheme. Against this backdrop the disclosure by JMM is indeed trend setting and a challenge to other political parties for voluntary disclosure. JMM can go one more step further to motivate other political parties to follow its example and make a demand in the parliament to make a change in the scheme in order to make it mandatory for the political parties to disclose the details of the donors. 
 
There could be some honest and ideal leaders in every political party. Often they are silent. Reforms in political parties can take place because of the pressure from the people who vote for them or due to the initiatives of enlightened leaders from within the parities. Honest leaders from all political parties have to make efforts to cleanse the system. To start with, they can take up the issue of disclosing the details of the donors of the electoral bond scheme. 

The civil society also has to question the irrational and unscientific decisions of political leaders. One of the fundamental duties according to Indian Constitution is to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. If our political leaders had developed scientific temper and humanism, they would not have demanded the celebration of Thrissur Pooram, a celebration in which more than 2 million people participate, in the midst of unprecedented spreading of Coronavirus; they would not have allowed the Kumbh Mela to take place with a huge crowd. 

Against the backdrop of increasing religious fundamentalism in all religions, and political and religious leaders brainwashing people with the drug of religion, there is an urgent need for educating the young people about the values of Indian constitution and developing in them scientific temper and humanism. Political leaders sometimes take cruel and insensitive decisions like demonetization; indulge in hate speech and instigate communal violence because they lack humanism or humanness.