A friend of mine has been diligently sending to me one Kural daily, with succinct meaning included. Recently, one Kural got stuck in my mind for a few days and I just did not know why I was unable to get past that one. Then it dawned on me that this particular couplet was directly showing the torch on the behaviour of the contemporary politicians in our country. Who would have thought? That classic crown jewel of Thamizh literature, Thiruvalluvar's couplets, 'Thirukkural' being the guiding light for the current crop of political leaders in the country, in conducting their affairs? Yet, that seems to be so, going by how diligently Thiruvalluvar's edicts for rulers are being adhered to today. I know it is beyond belief and the interpretation of the ruling class today could be warped by their own crooked objectives, but they seem to try to abide by the teachings of Kural in their own weird way. Let us see how.
Kural 382 is one of the best examples. Thiruvalluvar lays down four fundamental tenets for rulers to follow for success in their endeavours - - fearlessness, giving/sharing generously, wisdom to prevent harm and relentless energy while facing problems. We know what Thiruvalluvar had in mind when he laid down the four guiding principles, but our politicians definitely know differently and have brazenly taken the contents out of context to completely twist the lines to their advantage.
Absolute fearlessness - once one is part of a leading political party, especially one of those which is likely to be ruling in some part, the politician does not need to fear anything. He contemptuously swats aside all those institutions one normally respects and fears - like justice, law and order, right and wrong etc and proceeds to loot public wealth with single minded dedication and commitment. He does not fear the courts or police because he knows they are all on the take, powerless against bull-headed political leaders and that he can buy his way out of any and all troubles that are likely hurdles in his way of amassing wealth for himself. By personal leadership, he also instills this fearlessness (and also lawlessness) in his minions and cronies as well as political and personal heirs.
Giving generously - taking off from the previous trait, this comes as a necessary corollary for successful politicians. All the loot they collect is shared with the contractors they select for all works; with the party seniors who can otherwise cause immense harm, if deprived of their rightful share of the booty; with all those ever-willing and sycophantic relatives and friends who become recipients of corrupt money as benami holders. The last tribe may not get to usurp all the wealth so ill-gotten, but will enjoy a decent share to ensure that they live well and perpetuate the terribly obnoxious practice. Helping in this devious enterprise are professionals like tax practitioners, lawyers, government officials, whose palms are all eagerly awaiting grease all the time.
Wisdom to prevent harm - This is where the ruling class excels in ingenuity and combine that with their ability to make undeserving people unduly rich. While Thiruvalluvar meant preventing harm to the general population through righteous rules, current crop of leaders gleefully focus on a few segments of the same population which are helpful to them in conducting their evil business fearlessly. They nurture hooligans and vicious gangs of all stripes in order to mercilessly pummel protesting people into submission, without compunction. In that sense they do protect the offending people from harm of all kinds including threats from opponents as well as action from law enforcing agencies. They are very clairvoyant in preventing harm to themselves by resorting to dubious and even outrageous techniques to escape jail and punishment. There seems to be enormous wisdom available to cook up new designs to violate all rules with impunity and still be free from punishment/action. Even before the affected party goes to court, the offending guys have got anticipatory bail for all kind of offences including capital crimes.
Relentless energy in dealing with problems - Politicians have a separate corporate set up for this essential feature in their industry, as we know, as mentioned earlier. Problems there will be since most of their entrprise is entwined in illegal and nefarious activities. But then they also have a regular, well-trained supply of ingenious professionals like lawyers, tax consultants, corrupt judges, public relations team, press people et al whose only responsibility is to subvert the system and keep the leaders out of trouble all of hues. They are ever ready to deny all accusations even before they are made and are ten steps ahead, like seasoned chess players are, of their opponents at all times. And once a well manufactured solution is cast for a specific problem, like a well oiled machine their system replicates it ad infinitum. Because it has all the same crooked web to work with.
Avaricious and warped men's interpretation of Thirukkural and their implementation of its edicts may be entirely different from the original intent, but our intrepid politicians will shamelssly cry from roof-tops that they follow the Kural diligently, if given a chance and a platform. Only God can tackle them!! If He wanted, he could have made short work of all these specimens in no time, so we have to conclude He does not want to touch them with even a barge-pole.
