Should the marital status/affairs of a Politician be open to public debate?
Open Public debate over the marital affairs of politicians is a kind of encroachment over their privacy. The constitution of India has provided the right to privacy to the each citizen of India. And the politicians are not the exception. Marital status or marital affairs are extremely sensitive & personal matters and nobody should be allowed to intrude into one's private space. Recently we have seen many cases where marital status or affairs of politicians has become talk of the town. Social media was very much interested to know about what is cooking between our Politicians and their alleged girlfriends. The research was so intense and dedicated that if a fraction of it could be infused in our space research Projects then definitely India would have got its indigenously built cryogenic engine much before. But unfortunately, we are more interested & concerned about "Why Mr. Modi is not living with his wife", why Late Ms Sunanda Tharoor, married (third time) to Mr. Shashi Tharoor"? Why at the age of 60, Mr. Digvijay Singh wants to marry her girlfriend"? All these queries and discussions are futile and have nothing to do with the real issues of India. It would only add up to the sensitization and Cheap popularity tricks for selling news.
Politicians are also human beings. Their right to privacy should also be respected. They also have the right to choose the way of their life and so the life partner. It is true that politicians are here to serve the people of India and their character and behavior should be ideal. But in present days, everyone is interpreting the definition of being 'ideal' in his own way. Our traditions and brought up are such that we always evaluate a person by evaluating his behavior towards his parents, teachers, spouse and then to himself and the other people because we believe that "Charity begins at home". But in case of marital affairs the case is not the same. Failure of marital affairs could not be entrusted solely to the bad character of a person. There are so many reasons for marital discords or it is also possible that there is no discord at all; the separation is resulted from their mutual consent. And surely the actual reasons behind any relationship or discord could not be understood by public debates. Hence, it is better to lead a normal life, following the inner instinct and do the right things in right way because it leads to a satisfied inner conscious. And don't you think that a person with strong emotional fulfilment & strong mental insight could serve this nation better?
Further, debating over politician's marital affairs serves no purpose there are so many other grave challenges before India to be discussed and debated over. Moreover, it is not only about the politician in question. It is also could bring embarrassment for his partner/wife who may have nothing to do with the politics and have no such political obligations. Such unwarranted social debates could also prove terrible for the families of the couple in question.
But at the same time, it is also necessary that the legal background and social interactions of the politician should be checked and monitored by the competent authority (not by the people) so that people with criminal background or sick behaviour could not enter our political system. Up to some extent the Election Commission of India is entrusted upon with this task and in my view no other parallel research or debate is needed in this regard.
-Pooja Gupta
