Goodbye, Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of State for external affairs and a former Under-Secretary General of the UN, has been forced to resign from the Union Cabinet due to the raging controversy surrounding the IPL Kochi team. In spite of his impeccable credentials, he has had a tough time negotiating the torrid currents of Indian Politics. His brand of politics, his being an outsider even in the Congress and perhaps his personality too has not endeared him to his colleagues in his party or elsewhere. He endeavoured to open his working to the public completely through a forum like Twitter. He attempted to establish norms of transparency and efficiency under his watch. But Indian Politics was probably not ready to accept his ideas so easily. It is an open secret that members of the Kerala Congress have harboured grievances against his sudden elevation as a Minister even when he was a first time MP. Tharoor, on his part, is not too keen on plying the beaten track when it comes to being a politician. He has enjoyed great support from the PM and the Gandhi family. That helped him land a substantial job in the government. His stature as a scholarly, articulate, experienced diplomat and his authorial success bode well for his future as a politician of the educated middles class. Unfortunately, that stature might have worked against him too.

The previous ‘controversies’ he has been embroiled in were more media creations, less important issues. The News media – much like an oily salesman hoping to sell dubious products – pounced on him because of his popularity within their audience. He has been accused of hogging the limelight. He might not have felt inclined to refuse initially precisely because he wanted to be open. But the media needs to sell its products too; the subsequent reports did make him wary. The element of his being an outsider even to the media perhaps also played a role. Tharoor probably did not have time to build strong linkages with the domestic media. Indeed it is the media’s role to be dispassionate, but how many of our journalists truly are? But these also issues betrayed Tharoor’s lack of understanding of how the Indian polity functions. His being a man in a hurry can be attributed to his own high estimation of himself – not something untrue in itself. But was such ambition palatable to his peers? His predicament offers the clearest answers. His misdemeanor in this case was puny when compared to the allegations leveled against other politicians. Nevertheless, the stink of perceived corruption was too much for the Gandhi family. Reaching rarefied heights has a major disadvantage; the fall is just as heavy.

When he announced his candidature for the Thiruvananthapuram seat, I recollect feeling excited at the prospect of someone I admired being a part of Indian Politics. His appointment as Minister offered more hope. However, the cynicism within politics in general and the Indian version of it in particular will not recede so easily. Tharoor has perhaps been a victim of his own previous success. He has misjudged matters a few times. But it is not in the best interests of Indian Politics and the country itself to hound out a person of great intellect and capability. It would be a disgrace if talent like his is sidelined because he is easy fodder while the real vultures prey silently on the populace of this nation. I hope, for the sake of India, that he’s not disheartened and returns to centre stage a wiser man, one ready to earn his spoils.