To be or Not to be – Part III - Tharoor’s Dilemma

After eleven months in the office, Shahi Tharoor has stepped down from the post of Minister of State for External Affairs. Everybody knows the reason. It was not his ability to perform that cost him the post. He, instead of being an asset in the parliament for the ruling party, became a liability on account of the way he has conducted himself on a few occasions.

I don’t believe that he was corrupt, I don’t know whether his ‘transgression’ compared to the standards of some of the politicians are anything extraordinary, I don’t know whether compared to the loot of public finance that many in the ruling class perpetrate, Tharoor benefitted in any financial sense; though the there are questions on the nature of sweat that paid for certain equity.

For a seasoned diplomat with decades of experience in international diplomacy his failure is that he forgot an age old dictum; “Caesar’s wife has to be above suspicion”. Natural question is whether all our “Caesars' wives are above suspicion”

There is one big difference here. Tharoor was trying to muscle into a club, banking on a different skill set and preaching a different value system. On the basis of these credentials he had managed to take an express elevator to the position of power and influence in Indian politics. It has caused jealousy pangs among many who had been waiting in the wings for years, it has caused concerns among some established veterans about the changes propounded by people like him, it has caused worries that the apple cart is tilting. It was natural that the empire would strike back.

When he embarked on such a challenge he should have been a bit more careful; especially when he was yet to establish a strong support base who would have stood up for him. He should have shown more discretion and tried to avoid anything that could be misconstrued as pushing private agendas.

Now he has two choices. Work on building the support base and fight on the position of strength. Or join the club on their terms. This is standard operating procedure for any new entrant at the top. Or he can decide to retire and take up less risky hobbies like sky diving...

“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting". George Orwell.

Politics could be more demanding than any serious sport.