Re: [HumJanenge] Quick group poll: HONESTY OF POLITICIANS

Hi,

My answers to all four questions - A to D, are NO, NO, NO, NO! 

My reasons: Honesty is not to be assessed based on whether or not an individual has benefited personally or financially. 

If one is silent on any misdemeanour, it is indicative of acquiescence. This is as much tantamount to dishonesty as is personal involvement in malfeasance. 

Dishonesty need not be confined to financial impropriety. For example, Vajpayee, who like, Manmohan, appears to be personally honest, as far as his own financial matters are concerned, was silent on two occasions when a PM was expected to act. One was during the Godhra riots and the other was when Graham Steins was murdered. His foster son's activities are also in the news. 

Vajpayee did nothing when his election agent was caught violating electoral laws. He did nothing when the news of the Jain money-laundering racket broke out. 

Manmohan presides over the most scam-ridden government in history. How could one classify him, as honest? 

The problem is not only with our politicians. This class all over the world are similar. Human greed is not a peculiarly Indian phenomenon. The difference is that the justice system elsewhere is better developed and public consciousness better equipped to handle political dishonesty. 

The problem is not even one of personal dishonesty of politicians. It is a matter of cultural perceptions. Vajpayee did not see anything wrong with Advani's lie on the Kandahar hijacking. There is very high tolerance regarding moral issues in India. A CM who is bigamist continues in office and no one dares to even mention it! 

Regards,

Mathew     

On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 10:39 AM, ashish kumar <ashishkr1965@gmail.com> wrote:

Friends, Fellow members of Humjanenge

Many "patriotic" and secular (Uniform Civil Code etc.) members of this group have voiced a concern that an anti-secular agenda emanating from a coterie running the country (which they call BHARAT) is as important an issue to discuss and engage upon, as say only corruption.

In particular a message from Sh Sant Mathur is interesting

"Its well known that secretively a scandalous communal agenda of
Islamisation/Christianisation of BHARAT is getting followed under the
dictat(mostly indirect) of the top most political functionaries of the
governing Alliance of the nation. Its a shame that its not getting exposed
as corruption is !
spm "

In this context I would request the Learned members of this group to freely express / vote on the following simple query by posting to this group. Please trim all emails and only answer YES or NO.

QUESTION

I believe that the following politicians are honest, secular and have acted in national interest in their public actions
at least 70% of the time.

A) Prime Minister Dr. ManMohan Singh  (YES / NO)
B) Chairperson UPA (Ms Sonia Gandhi) (YES / NO)
C) Former Prime Minister Sh Atal Bihari Vajpayee (YES NO)
D) Former Home Minister Sh Lal Krishna Advani (YES / NO)

Ashish
Stand up and speak out