The inchoate anger and frustration of Mumbai's articulate classes and their open declaration of a loss of faith in India's political leaders may or may not lead to anything of substance; indeed, it may all dissipate in a few days or weeks, like a wave in the sand. But irrespective of that, it is hard to understand and even harder to explain the insensitivity and disconnectedness of some politicians in positions of authority. Whether it is the Kerala chief minister barging uninvited and unasked into someone's house, even after being told he is not welcome, and then in the crudest of languages talking dismissively about a home that has just lost its son; or the Gujarat chief minister who has no compunctions about going to commiserate with the wife of an officer whom he was excoriating just a day or two earlier, and then offering money as compensation; their behavior flies in the face of common decency and good sense. Like the anguished father, the grieving wife too refused to meet the chief minister, and spurned the cash. So both politicians got their comeuppance from tragedy-struck families, but it would seem that they still have not understood why their conduct and remarks are off-colour.
It is not just these two worthies. There is the case of a third chief minister, now straining every nerve to hold on to his control of Maharashtra, who treats a site of massive tragedy as a tourist spot, sauntering in with son and movie-maker like so many voyeurs; and his equally worthy deputy, who dismisses the deaths of nearly 200 people, and the injuries of another 300 and more, as a small matter for a big city. For good measure, there is the politician in Delhi who talks dismissively of citizens who gather to express their anguish as well as disillusionment with the dysfunctionality of the state, as some women who put on "lipstick and powder" and who therefore do not represent the views of the country at large.
One or two stray episodes of aberrant behaviour might be explained away; if those putting their foot in it were minor functionaries of no consequence, there would be no point in wasting anyone's breath. But these are chief ministers and the like, and there are no fewer than five instances in as many days or less. They also represent the political spectrum: Congress and BJP, CPI(M) and NCP; and they come from different parts of the country. So their lack of a sense of what is appropriate conduct would appear to be representative of their ilk, and therefore deeply worrying. It does not help that a former film-star who is now a television personality declares to a nationwide audience that if you look down on the slums from the windows of a luxury hotel in mid-town Mumbai, all that you will see are Pakistani flags! The ordinary Indian who retains his sense of dignity and balance while going about his everyday life, with all its trials and tribulations, can more than hold up a candle to these disgraceful representatives of the rich and powerful.
