Sonia’s inner voice on austerity has spoken

Politicians as a class are seen as being hypocrites and two-faced. They espouse one thing, do quite another. Those who declaim on family values often get caught in sleazy scandals, many of those who rant against corruption have their hands in the till.

The suffering public sees all politicians as dishonest and untrustworthy. In India, the Congressman, in his ubiquitous khadi clothes and Gandhi topi provides the template of the politician lampooned in cartoons and caricatured in films, humbly begging for votes during the elections but disappearing for five years after that, gambolling with women and accepting wads of notes from all kinds of shady businessmen all the while sanctimoniously invoking morality.

It is hardly surprising then that the recent brouhaha over the ‘request’, or rather command by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to his colleagues SM Krishna and Shashi Tharoor to stop living ostentatiously in five star hotels is seen as yet another example of hypocrisy.

The two took suites in the hotels while their government-allotted bungalows were being prepared according to their specifications — which by the way can cost a lot of money — and, it is important to note, were paying their own way. In a sense, therefore they were saving the government money.

Both hastened to clarify this even if they somewhat reluctantly complied with Mukherjee’s order, shrewdly interpreting it to be a party diktat more than a government one. Not doing so would have been not only impolitic but also would have angered the party boss, because the new austerity drive of the government is actually on Sonia Gandhi’s initiative.

It was her way of saying that party members should do their bit while the country’s poor are passing through tough times. Krishna and Tharoor have moved out of the Maurya and the Taj Mansingh respectively. Other ministers and babus have been told to eschew travelling by business and first class and move to economy, where lesser mortals sit in cramped conditions.

This has already raised some hackles — Sharad Pawar feels that business class travel allows ministers to catch up on their paper work. Besides, in the cattle class section they  may have to mix with the crowds and which VIP in this country ever wants to actually hobnob with the riff raff? So expect tough resistance on this one.

Many of us may wonder about this sudden urge for austerity. Is this an image-building exercise or good old fashioned double-standards or god forbid, genuine high mindedness? After all India was never a rich country and wasteful expenditure by government is not new.

As long as the public isn’t complaining and has cynically accepted that this is how things are, why bother to change? Sure, we can continue wearing our khadi rags, but for heaven’s sake, let us enjoy the perks of the job, the ministers may be thinking. Where will this fad end?

But this is not a fad. Sonia Gandhi may or may not be motivated by virtuous intentions, but she does know the power of myth. Business class travel/five star living are symbols, but important ones. These are the measures that have made the front pages. The real targets are bigger. The high command is concerned about some of its high flying (literally) partymen and ministers who are perceived as too close to tycoons, who lead colourful and glamorous lives, who jet around with their rich pals here and there.

Older Congresswallahs find this totally at odds with the Congress culture, which is all about playing down your wealth and not being ostentatious. India may have changed in the last two decades and rampant consumerism may be the order of the day, but there are still large numbers who are left out of this growth.

Even the middle-class is hurting. Sonia Gandhi knows that. She also knows her real power comes from that vast pool, rather than the handful of wheelers and dealers useful for raising funds but little else.

When a partyman lives the high life, he mocks the country’s underprivileged and this government is all about the aam aadmi. Her prime minister is steeped in that culture of honesty and simplicity — he used to drive his own Maruti 800 when he was out of power.

As an oldtimer Krishna was expected to know that, even if newbie Tharoor didn’t, but they both made a tactical error because they did not appreciate the optics of the situation. It is not going to stop here. Sonia genuinely believes that showing off is vulgar. Her children too have picked up those traits.

Congress members who are uncomfortable with that have no option but to follow. Call it hypocrisy or good political sense or real concern for the people, that’s the way Sonia likes it and that is how her ministers will have to play it.