Yesterdays post on the Delhi government taking on the Delhi police raised a lively debate. There seemed to be a consensus on the fact that the policing system in Delhi needs to be decentralised, but opinions were sharply divided on the mode of protest adopted by the government. They ranged from calling AAP anarchists, to those feeling that in the given situation, the mode of protest of the AAP at least focused light on the problem and some beneficial reforms would emerge as a result. There is a question here somewhere of the kinds of discourse we prefer, as individuals. If you take value systems and mode of discourse into consideration, you are likely to meet four kinds of people: (a) Honest and polite, (b) Honest and rude, (c) Corrupt and polite, (d) Corrupt and rude. Now lets play a game. if you are an honest bureaucrat, whom would you like to work with? It seems to me that the corrupt and rude would rule themselves out. the corrupt have to adopt politeness and suave behaviour as a matter of survival, otherwise, their nasty behaviour would present a good reason for someone to blow the whistle. So the choice is between (a), (b) and (c). Similarly, there would be consensus that we would all like to work with someone who is honest and polite. But think about it again. Manmohan Singh is honest and polite. However, let us leave it at that! So the real choice is whether one would like to work for someone like Arvind Kejriwal, or Mamta Banerjee, both of whom are honest and rude, or for someone who is corrupt, but civil. You would be surprised at the number of honest people who would like to work with the latter! My last two ministers were in Category (b). I served with Mr. M.Y. Ghorpade and Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, both of whom could be very nasty when angry. They were hard taskmasters, blunt and opinionated. You needed to do your homework before you briefed them. Preparing a parliamentary brief for both was a demanding task. They wanted me to be available like an doctor serving in the Casualty desk; available at all times. I became a social recluse due to them. On the rare occasions that I did mingle with my colleagues, many asked me how I tolerated working with them. My reply was that they were both personally honest and never asked me to do anything illegal, or overruled me to do something illegal. I often countered my colleagues by asking them how they could tolerate working with obviously corrupt politicians, simply because they were polite and suave. I normally got blank stares in return, so after a while, I found a solution. I stopped mingling with colleagues. To come back to both Mr. Ghorpade and Mr. Aiyar, while some briefing sessions could end up as bloodbaths, both were very quick to take decisions on files; they were handled the same day and returned. To speak of Mr. Aiyar, when I worked with him in the Panchayati Raj ministry, he was also handling the petroleum ministry. He virtually eliminated corruption in the assignment of petrol bunks, simply by returning files with decisions the same day that he got them. There was no delay in handling papers; when he traveled on Panchayat work, files would be delivered to him wherever he was and he would deal with them. I even saw him on flights, clearing papers sent by his ministry. Yet, he was hated by the Petroleum wallahs, who did not like his blunt questions and anger if he was not given a well researched answer. With his acerbic behaviour and his clean approach, he did not last long in the Ministry of Petroleum. He was replaced by a smooth talking Murli Deora - if he ever spoke at all, that is - and normal business was resumed. Delays, lack of transparency, and the attendant corruption came back. The sad part is that even honest officers prefer a corrupt but suave minister, to an honest and acerbic one. I see the same trend now. There are a lot of honest people out there, who are upset with the combative manner in which the AAP is handling this issue. To me, the combativeness is part of the winning strategy. I do not think the issue would be solved with Arvind Kejriwal writing a polite letter to Shinde.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 03:59:40 +0000
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