On the Corridors of Power: The Theatre of the Absurd
by
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Written in a lucid humorous style, this book is an eye-witness account of the high ‘drama’ enacted on the corridors of power of the Indian democracy. The episodes contained in the book give glimpses of the theatrics at the higher echelons of power, in which the principal actors have been the career bureaucrats, the ministers, the ruling politicians and the businessmen. While some of the incidents witnessed by the author as a participant-observer highlight the funnier and hilarious aspects of bureaucracy, they also reveal a deep and tragic malaise of the system – the strong undercurrent of corruption, conspiracy, compromise, complacency, callousness, selfishness, lack of transparency and misgovernance. It is a ‘cosy club’ of men in power, where the leader says ‘if the boat sinks, we all sink together’. Leaving a teaching job in the university, the author joined the civil service with a great deal of enthusiasm and patriotic fervour to serve the nation. Very soon, he realized that the concepts of service, patriotism, discipline, honesty and integrity are anathema to the present breed of politicians who, with a few exceptions, were only interested in amassing personal wealth and power, in abuse of power and positions and in developing great arrogance and aggrandisement. When the Parliament, the temple of democracy is itself filled with tainted and uneducated politicians, some of them having grave criminal records, the outcome can only be a tragic situation where power turns the people’s representatives into public enemies, very similar to the characters in Ibsen’s famous play The Public Enemy. What should the honest bureaucrat do in this situation? He has practically no choice; either he quits the civil service or he compromises with the politicians in an unholy alliance. Since it is hardly possible to quit the coveted civil service, the only alternative left to an honest bureaucrat is to try to remain neutral and conscientious and face the consequence of being side-tracked, tossed about or pushed to innocuous positions in the bureaucracy. This, of course, remains his main strength and brings rewards when the opposition party comes to power and look for neutral and efficient officers as replacement of the henchmen of the previous regime. It is a sad commentary on the bureaucracy that the majority of the bureaucrats, though intelligent and efficient, do bad things and allow themselves to be drawn into the vicious circles of partisan politics. Owing to the fears of reprisals and marginalization, they behave like the comic characters depicted in the well-known serial “Yes Minister”. These intelligent bureaucrats become the right- hand persons of the corrupt politicians and in the process of creating wealth for their bosses, they also stack away a part of the wealth for their own enjoyment. Fairness, justice, service and duties to the people are all forgotten. The bureaucrats, especially the Police, become the main instrument of the politicians in power to torment the very people who have elected them. The author who worked in a number of ministries in various capacities, soon found that he was a total misfit in the system which promoted sycophancy, favouritism, inefficiency, corruption and crony capitalism on an ever-increasing scale. The situation had been worse in the economic ministries as compared to the regulatory ministries. Finding no escape route, the author invoked the sayings of the great Bengali saint, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa that in this muddy world, one must live like the fish which lives in the muddy water but mud cannot stick to it. Trying to be honest, upright and non-compromising on corruption brought lots of ridicule from his colleagues who thought he was a perfect idiot. Idiot he was and he remained throughout his a non-conformist idiot. The only silver lining in these dark hours had been that the author has had encounters with a number of brilliant bureaucrats and politicians, though few in number, who were the shining examples of honesty, probity, uprightness and efficiency and it is these few people who upheld the flag of governance and did not allow the system to collapse.
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About the Book
An astonishingly free and frank eyewitness account of corruption, scandal, inefficiency, conspiracy, dishonesty, favouritism, misgovernance, and lack of transparency at the higher echelons of decision-making in the government. Written in a humorous style, the book contains stories of the kind of games played on the corridors of power and in various ministries. While all the major decisions are taken at the level of the ministers in charge and all the misdeeds are committed by the politicians, they conveniently escape responsibility, and the bureaucrats are invariably made the scapegoats. It is an irony of the system that the real culprits are never summoned or hauled up by the Public Accounts Committee. Not being able to withstand the pressure and the fear of brutal reprisals, good bureaucrats also fall in line, and good people start doings bad things. The author always thought he was a misfit in the system. The author looked back at his encounters in the Central Ministries with a sense of pride, a sense of fear, a sense of horror, a sense of helplessness, and a sense of frustration. Being a nonconformist from childhood, he did not agree to compromise with any minister, politician, or seniors on issues of principles and propriety. It became increasingly clear to him that no politician or a bureaucrat was interested in thinking of reforms, doing things for public good, or serving people with patriotic fervour. Greed and power had overtaken almost all politicians, making them arrogant, revengeful, and fearful people and a genre of superior species that had no connection with the common people.
About the Author
A product of Presidency College (now Presidency University), Parimal Brahma, poet, writer and singer started his early life as a Lecturer in Economics before he joined the Central Civil Services by sheer accident. The glamour and demands of the Civil Service muted a promising poet and singer. While the author rose to the highest level of bureaucracy, he always felt he was a misfit in the system and described himself as a ‘non-conformist idiot’. As a participant-observer, he had seen many a drama played on the corridors of power. In this book, in his unique humorous style, he has tried to play back and retell some of the funny tales and episodes witnessed on the stages of our great democracy. While working in various Central Ministries, the author discovered that the majority of the political bosses were out to subvert constitutional functioning making non-transparent methodologies as part of their natural behaviour. While all the major decisions are taken by the ministers, they are not accountable to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, in fact to anybody and the burden of their misdeeds always fall on the bureaucrats. Honest bureaucrats who assert themselves for transparency and constitutionality are either crushed or sidetracked. Honesty, integrity, discipline and patriotism are anathema to the present breed of politicians and are perhaps incompatible with the present stage of our democracy.