Monday, 10 March 2014

Public perception of politicians

I have always wondered why in today’s India does the average person look down at a politician.  Just try wearing a white Kurta and walk into an airport or a railway station , you will draw attention, you will get noticed . My initial thoughts were that it’s to do with the way politicians are shown in Indian cinema . But why does Indian cinema show politicians in the way it does. If you look at the Indian cinema of the 50′s the politicians were amongst the good guys , it was the business community and being rich that was portrayed as bad . Then came the late 70′s and early 80′s Indian cinema added the politician to the bad guys group . In 2001 a movie by the name Dil Chatha Hai was released, which in my view changed the face of India cinema and the way India would look at a person with money,  business or come from an affluent background . It was no longer wrong to have or make money. This still did not change the way a politician is looked at. I have wondered why. I have seen a number of politicians do some amazing work , making personal and family sacrifices , so why this “dirty” or “bad guys” tag .

Last week while watching the news I got the answer to why politicians are viewed in the way we are . A debate was to take place on a serious issue but instead of debating the issue at hand people on the debate stared accusing each other on personal issues. These had nothing to do with the particular issue or any policy matter which was to be discussed at all , it was plain personal mud slinging . I have never seen a business person or civil servant accuse another of any misdeed on a public platform , it’s only the politician who does this . We speak less about issues and policies and more about moral standings of the other . It is not time to change this?
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