Being peoples’ representative it is important that politicians come clean about their health issues, rather than hiding them behind some lame excuses
Deepak Laad
This piece is not written with any particular Minister or Chief Minister in mind. The governments referred to, could be any dispensations with whatever hue -- saffron, green, red or blue.
Well, ferreting out information about afflictions, ailments or diseases an individual is suffering from, tent-amounts to violation of the person’s constitutional right to privacy and without any doubt is unethical and illegal. But then, if the individual is holding a constitutional position, the electorate voting him to public office have every right to know if he is physically and menta lly fit to discharge his duties.
There are numerous instances where employees absenting from offices have been directed by their employers to appear before medical boards to ascertain whether they are fit to do their jobs. Sometimes, employees behaving abnormally are also referred to psychiatrists to investigate their mental health. So when a Minister is found bunking office for long period, the citizen is just in inquiring about his health and, if denied the information, approach an appropriate court to seek its intervention. And the court’s inquiry in the matter can no way be construed as invasion of privacy of the Minister concerned.
Further, in government offices, companies -- private as well as public -- it is obligatory for a person who has proceeded on medical leave to produce, at the time of resuming his duties, a certificate from medical practitioner affirming his recovery and fitness to do his job. Why should the Ministers, Chief Ministers be treated differently as exceptions to these rules applicable to public and private employees? Being peoples’ representative it becomes all the more important that they come clean about their health issues, rather than hiding them behind some lame excuses.
Times have changed. Actors from film industries who are normally more conscious about their glamorous image, have been disclosing their life threatening ailments in details. Actor Sonali Bendre-Behal and Irfan Khan had tweeted about contracting cancer and proceeding abroad for treatment. Actors owe their popularity to their fans, the same way the Ministers, their powers to their voters.
A secret does not remain so, if it is leaked to even a single person other than the person himself. When a Minister is admitted in a hospital for treatment the doctors, nurses and analysts in labs are privy to the information of his ailment. They may pass the ‘exclusive piece’ of news on to their select friends to flaunt self-importance and it triggers a nuclear fission like chain reaction and explodes and echoes in public space. The sentiment always is -- ‘well, we told you so. Didn’t we?’. So the chaperons and cabinet colleagues of the concerned sick Minister trying to pass his serious life threatening issues off as something innocuous as bouts of cough, cold or indigestion looks more ludicrous. Such lies turn empathy of ferments on the streets to anger and antipathy. So why tell lie? Honesty has always been the best policy.
Generally an officer working in any institution -- government or private -- undergoing treatment is not allowed to meddle in office matters, let alone functioning from his hospital bed or home. Normally the temporary charge is officially handed over to next in the line, till he resumes duty -- fully recovered. So why any Chief Minister should be allowed to run the affairs of a state sequestered himself in his home? How proper is it to take confidential files, which are normally kept locked in the state secretariat after work, to someone’s private reserve? A government servant retires on turning sixty. There are many among the retirees who have worked dedicatedly for the government for three to four decades. Post retirement, unfortunately, if they are down with some serious ailments and the insurance covers run short, no way government would come to their aid doing them a good turn. So why should the tax payers money go in footing medical expenses, running in lakhs or sometimes in crores, of the Ministers and Chief Ministers?
At times there may not be likelihood of an early recovery of some sick Ministers who are relieved of their portfolios. Ailing as they are, they may not be in a position to move around in their constituencies or attend cabinet meetings, so propriety demands that they should be asked to resign as MLAs, as well. That does not happen because their head count is needed to keep the government in power. In democracy constitutional positions are not transferrable or negotiable, however sincere the underlying intentions may be.
Now finally coming to bodily side of it. Reincarnation and rebirth are hearsay, so better concentrate on this one life and take proper care of the body housing the soul. After attaining sixty the regeneration of body cells decelerates and the faculties starts slowing. Today’s politics is fraught with negativity. Prejudice, dishonesty, malice, envy, jealousy, trickery and many more such poisonous emotions can further wreck the already weakened body. So better take a break. The best solution is to allow some able bodied person from the party to assume the mantle, so the state’s administration runs smoothly and Janata is not unnecessarily harassed and inconvenienced. No one is indispensable.
