…of the same material (Guest Editorial 1)

Guest Editorial for Morung Express newpaper

An office peon steals milk powder from the office refreshment. A politician diverts fund from a poverty alleviation scheme to build his private mansion. Of the two, who did more wrong? The office peon harps about how corrupt our politicians have become. We agree. But how different are we from the ones we are pointing fingers at? 

A friend asked me why we blame our leaders all the time when we ourselves are corrupt. I replied that it is right and valid that we blame them. A politician and a peon are both individual human beings. But by virtue of their positions and spheres of influence, it is important that we have clean leaders. One decision or action of a single politician can affect thousands or lakhs of lives which is not so in case of the peon. The scale of corruption - of some milk powder lost and lakhs of scheme money lost - is so different. A good leader can motivate a lot of people through exemplary living and creating opportunities for better living through decisions which will make people not steal milk powders (in case the peon struggles to meet daily needs). 

But corruption isn’t a simple shirt that we wear or choose not to put on. In spite of the longing to be free from it, we all are somehow in it together. It is so pervasive that each one of us is directly or indirectly involved. It is possible that the problem of corruption is always blamed on our leaders looking at the scale of the corruption while in the root we might be the same. It is very much possible that the peon and the politician are made of the same material. The only difference is the lack of opportunity for the peon. Given the chance, the peon would have acted as the politician because they are made of one material. We want change but we are always waiting for others to bring it. It becomes a viscous cycle that we keep complaining about corruption while at the same time we want the scale to tilt in our favour; we want that shortcut, or that special connection which can manipulate the system to our advantage, and thereby promoting further corruption. Somewhere, we have to stop and start to be the change. 

It requires systemic and structural changes. We need laws, rules, legislations, etc and the enforcement of such measures. But even with a good system or structure in place, it becomes a very moral and personal matter, the evil of corruption. It is so hard to say that I contribute to the problem which ails our society. But from that uncomfortable and inconvenient place of meeting our own weaknesses, we must all begin. We won’t get it right overnight. It will be a process. Education or awareness is important and we need it. But to root out corruption calls for a change much more radical than increased knowledge. It calls us to change on the inside. It will be as difficult as a tobacco user trying to kick the habit. He is well aware of the health hazards. Each time he takes a cigarette out of the pack, he sees the terrifying warning signs. But it is so hard to overcome it. Fighting corruption will be that difficult. But if we don’t do it, we will continue to suffer from it.