Lies, damn lies and politics! Let us be worthy of Lord Ram!

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is an eloquent speaker and a writer as well. He often comes up with puns and punches in his speeches. I was waiting to hear from him on his last week's trip to Ayodhya. He didn't speak. But he posted on twitter and Facebook in his own style. Naidu, known for his strong beliefs in transparency, good governance, welfare of the downtrodden, education and so on did not lose time or mince words on his thoughts on Lord Ram.

He wrote: "Over millennia, Lord Shri Rama has been synonymous with the Indian value system. That is why Mahatma Gandhi chose the metaphor of Ram Rajya to describe his concept of good governance and a just society."

To quote another passage from Naidu's Facebook post, "Lord Shri Rama is an embodiment of Indian culture, a pristine symbol of Bharateeyata. He is the ideal King, ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal friend —in other words, an ideal human being. In Him, for centuries, we in India have venerated all of the finest qualities a human being can aspire to possess."

So perfect, Naidu. One wishes, all those who believe in Ram and swear by Ram Janmabhoomi imbibe these thoughts. If a majority of the people go by these virtues, those who do not will be a miniscule, negligible minority.

Read what Naidu said further: The life of Lord Shri Rama as depicted in The Ramayana, personifies the virtues of truth, compassion, justice, inclusion and respect for elders.

That's it. Inclusive policies. Naidu also stresses the importance of practising these virtues – of virtues of truth, compassion, justice, inclusion and respect for elders.

Now, let us analyse these in the current political scenario. Truth. Unfortunately missing in all elements of public life. This is the era of lies, damn lies and politics. Utter a lie ten times on social media and that is considered as gospel truth. Allegations, counter allegations, often backed by doctored investigations and cooked up proofs are all based on lies. Cases filed by one government are turned upside down when the ruling party changes. We come across such cases in almost every State.

Compassion? This virtue is one of the greatest victims of the current political system. We go to any extent to pull down the opponents and batter them with absolutely no human considerations. Otherwise, the unfortunate migrant labour who were forced to rush back home by hook or by crook during the lockdown crisis would not have been called as super spreaders of Covid. The misery that they had to undergo while rushing back home can never be forgotten by anyone who has even a small element of concern for others.

Then Naidu spoke of justice. The less said the better on this subject. The constitutionally guaranteed rights remain merely on paper. To give a small example from a small corner of Maharashtra called Uran, the fishing community which has lost its source of survival has been fighting for 30 years and two generations for their officially guaranteed compensation. They have been forced to live in transit camps with the projects that displaced them failing to give them plots for homes. Intervention from Union Ministers, State Chief Ministers and even the National Green Tribunal have not yielded any results. The poor fisherman is expected to defend himself in the Supreme Court now as the project managements have challenged the NGT ruling for paying the compensation. There could be many more such case studies from other parts of the country.

In the 75th year of Independence, people of this great democracy are forced to fight for social justice – from the right to work, for livelihood to health and education. That reminds me of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly said - improved health facilities not only cater to the treatment of diseases, but are instrumental in ensuring social justice.

"When affordable and best treatment is available to the poor, their faith in the system is strengthened. If they get freedom from the worry of the cost of treatment, they work hard to get out of poverty with more determination", Modi said while dedicating to the nation KK Patel Super Speciality Hospital in Bhuj, Gujarat.

One sincerely hopes that these thoughts flow down to all BJP governments who in turn will ensure that 'health for all' does not remain a mere slogan. The non-BJP States will be forced to implement the good policies if a majority of the States implement them – starting with public health. As Modi said, freedom from worry is all that a common man wants and the policy makers and those who execute them must have compassion to ensure social justice. In fact, it's their responsibility as well.

We have been discussing inclusive politics in these columns. As Naidu pointed out Lord Ram is an embodiment of the virtues that a ruler must possess, Lord Krishna spoke of "YogakshemamVayavyaham", the tagline that LIC borrowed from Bagwad Gita's Chapter 9, taking responsibility of the people's welfare.

It is good that our leaders often pick up these timeless philosophical quotes to strengthen their thoughts. They remain on record as they tweet and post on social media. Thus, it becomes easy for us, the vigilant citizens, to point out and question them. This can lead to didn't-you-say-so debate to make them publicly accountable.

Yes, let us now discuss the broad, yet significant subject of accountability. That's where Lord Ram, who practised it, comes into the picture again. Lord Krishna made Kauravas accountable for what they did.

I am not trying to draw any parallels between mythology and current Mahabharat. I am not as qualified as Devidutt Pattanaik to do that. But the fact is, all our scriptures ultimately lead to one-point, social justice based on transparency, accountability, truth and compassion – the virtues our leaders speak about. This principle of social justice must be followed, to borrow Amit Shah's favourite phrase, from Panchayat to Parliament. Is this not very strongly enshrined in the Constitution?

In this context, I am happy to hear that the Maharashtra Government has decided to have 'Introduction to Indian Constitution' as a compulsory subject for all streams. Wish every future voter reads the Constitution and understands it. In fact, it must be made compulsory for the elected representatives to have the knowledge of the basic tenets of the Constitution. Let the values of the Constitution run in a two-way traffic from people-to-leaders and leaders-to -people. One of the ways of ensuring it is to remind ourselves of the Constitution and have the Preamble "We the people of India…" displayed all across – from Panchayat to Parliament, from police stations to courts. Can this not be a Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav gift for the nation? A suggestion for the next Mann ki Baat?

(The author is a Mumbai-based media veteran now running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging)