Hail V. M. Sudheeran

Like plenty of others, I have a lot of respect for V. M. Sudheeran. What sets him apart in to a breed of his own is the honesty, integrity and political maturity that he espouses.  In a field like politics, it is quite a challenge to come across individuals who sound credible to the public. In a realm where the extreme extents of expediency have been made shameless use of, persons like Mr. Sudheeran are those who refuse to let go of truth and sensibility. He wins our hearts with the level headedness with which he approaches issues and subjects them to dispassionate analysis. He raises the banner of a kind of politics in which people come first, and the party, only next.

Mr. Sudheeran represents a number of things to the common man. He is a respected senior politician who is not dying to get into positions of power so that the power can corrupt him. He is not after power. Being after power, and then getting into power has lot of advantages. The alibis of the power-centered are many and most of those never sound credible enough for those who stand outside the circle of power. Often the power which is sought to achieve the common good of the society becomes an end in itself. The ‘power for power sake’ attitude begins to go hand in hand with a ‘power for party’s sake’ equation. A good politician should be capable of speaking one’s mind on issues which concern the man on the road. Power can never stop a representative of a community from owning up to failures and in giving into corrections. When we come across a politician who does not try to go all out to grab an important chair, it sure impresses us because of the otherwise common experiences we run into day after day.

Mr. Sudheeran not only doesn’t run after position, he speaks his mind. But to speak one’s mind is not that hard. What is rather more difficult, as we all realize when we listen to the umpteen occasions where politicians speak first and think next, speak first and often don’t think at all, is to speak sense. Sense is increasingly becoming a hard commodity in the political markets around us. A minister who takes open forum off a film festival since it could be a platform for criticism or a politician who shoots his nonsense off by holding women themselves responsible for getting raped are tell tale signs of the said dearth of sense which is increasingly illustrated in the field. Mr. Sudheeran not only talks but, importantly, he talks sense. The ability to observe and to analyze seldom deserts him.

The serious bane of politics today is the ‘party is always right’ kind of logic. This blinds the followers of a certain political ideology from sighting the truth. This ‘lets-not-criticize-our-party’ line of thought has brought lot of damage to the credibility of the political parties around us. When the party followers fail to call a murder a murder, or lechery as lechery, there is a serious problem involved. It is a problem of political morality. When the political morality of a party runs counter to the perceived norms of public ethic, the party line is in the dock. What is promoted in such situations is political immorality. Mr. Sudheeran could rise above the parochial structures of politically manipulated moral limits to take positions which are true, but against the party line. The benefit of the approach is that he puts people first. This is a pivotal position for a politician to take since for a good share of the people , politics is about people and not about parties. Parties come and go, but people remain.

Criticism is a valid tool of growth in any community.  If taken positively, criticism could be instrumental in policy correction and in societal progression. There are those detractors of Mr. Sudheeran who argue that mere criticism can never be social service. In a world where self criticism becomes non-existent and sensible feedback becomes hard to come by, we can always make do with the likes of Mr. Sudheeran. When the political bosses are besieged by the yes-men, the alarm bells should commence to ring for the right thinking individuals. A tendency to comment transparently on issues which concern the man on the road is indeed a sign of maturity and a message of inclusion.

The political world for sure can take cues from the activism which Mr. Sudheeram champions. He represents a connect with a reality which many of the politicians will wish away or smile off. The ability to think straight , without being  masked by the blinkers of party flags, and the audacity to talk straight, helps him break off from the pack to which he belongs. With more of his kind, our world would be better off.