- Valson Thampu
I doubt if we realize how strange and unusual the Mamkoottathil matter is (henceforth, the RaMa-Syndrome). When, before now, have you come across an instance in which gross, even revolting, allegations of moral-sexual depravity were levelled against a public figure, and tens and thousands of Keralites expressed their fervour for him? Do we recall an issue in which an entire party stands in the docks, as in this case?
Or, consider this other, even more astonishing, aspect. A man, allegedly, threatens to ‘rape’ a girl repeatedly, as she claims. Rather than flee from such a predator, she wants and believes that he will marry her! Have we become as stupid as to believe that one who wants to rape, and rape repeatedly and sadistically, would marry and make a happy home with his victim(s)? Really?
There is only one light in which we can make sense of this bizarre situation: a complete overpowering of the moral by the political and the sensual.
If tens and thousands of Congress men and women feel instinctively for RaMa it is not that they are his blind worshippers, but that they are disenchanted with the rest of the Congresswallahs. Not many among them give their followers a sense of political effectiveness and vitality. In such a context, sexual excesses become, subliminally, a substitute for political potency. As a result, RaMa gains in fascination, ironically, even through the allegations levelled against him. It is not that what he is alleged to have done is acceptable, but that the rest of the party big ones are disappointing. Going by indications, Rahul could well win his constituency next time as well, if he contests as an independent; something truly astonishing.
This predicament is not exclusive to the Congress, but pervasive among all parties. The hallmark of our political life is the alarming decline of the ethical and the ideological. This creates the classic situation in which anyone and everything can be defended by invoking ‘the sinless may cast the first stone’ cliche. Stones are still cast in prime news hour discussions both because public memory is short-lived and these motormouths are exceptionally thick-skinned.
In order to assess the moral coherence of the Congress party, it suffices to regard the response of Adoor Prakash to the acquittal of Dileep in the actress sexual assault case, and the disarray it created in the party. Prakash is not a man-in-the-street-Congi. He took a position that the rest of the party had to scramble up to disown! But they did so urged by electoral compulsions, and not because of superior moral sentiments.
The way the RaMa matter is being handled indicates that as a society we are disinclined to let this issue to quicken our conscience. All we are interested in is to weaponize morality for the sake of political gains. So, moral lapses become sticks with which parties thrash each other. This is immoral. This opportunistic moral carping against individual instances of detected immorality in the adversary’s camp, while defending the same within one’s own camp, needs to be recognized as downright immoral. The people do. That’s why they feel greater affinity to the accused than to his traducers.
Think, for a moment, of the blasé references routinely made to the BJP brand of ‘washing-machine’ politics. Criminal and moral offences of politicians are instantaneously washed white when they join the BJP. All legal actions against them are frozen, but not closed; kept as the sword of Damocles hanging over them. No one seems to be troubled by the immorality of it. For the life of me, I cannot understand how the ‘spokespersons’ -perhaps we should say, ‘spokes-orifices’- of a party that is ideologically its polar opposite and become vehement, instantaneously, in denouncing their former camps and in whitewashing what they formerly deprecated! We accept this in a matter-of-fact way, because character and individual stature have ceased to matter to us.
I did a couple of videos on the RaMa issue and posted them on my YouTube channel. The audience responses they evoked astonished me! Thousands of Congressmen and women -significantly, more women than men- expressed their support for RaMa; not because they disbelieve the allegations against him, but because they feel that politically he is better than the rest of the lot. If moral stature does not matter, then what matters is flamboyant effectiveness of the political kind. On that score Shafi and Rahul outshine all others. Many a Congresswallah feel that some of the state leaders were not unhappy to contemplate gaining from Rahul’s downfall.
In the midst of all this, stray voices of the Church leaders are heard now and then in our political wilderness. Especially of late, some of them have been airing their grievance that Christians are not adequately represented in the top echelons of the Congress party. In all likelihood, the present KPCC President owes his elevation to lobbying by his religious patrons. Be that as it may, the question to be asked is: What does it mean to ‘represent’ the Christian community? Someone to do the bidding of Church leaders, or someone who can represent the ethos, the ethical and spiritual culture of the biblical faith? Church leaders need to be a tad more mindful of their calling when they choose to be politically clamorous in the present context.
Let me close by returning to an issue flagged at the outset. Are our girls -never mind of which religion- getting dangerously attracted to sexual perverts? If they are, why are they? Why are we not educating and equipping them to distinguish between lovers and sexual predators? If we don’t, shouldn’t the blame for the shocking, devastating outcomes rest with us as well?
The reason for the general, subliminal reluctance to see address the moral implications of this shocking event needs to be reckoned. If done so, it will put the spotlight on the general decay in our midst, and our duty to do something about it. It will highlight the need for us to change and to be reformed, which is not a welcome prospect. Everyone wants the society to improve morally, but strictly without having to improve oneself.
All told, the RaMa-Syndrome is Kerala’s date with truth. But even to read it aright, we need a modicum of moral sensibility and ethical vitality, of which not much seems to be at present in evidence.
