Whoever leaked photographs showing Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in tender moments with a woman journalist clearly had a political agenda. The pictures went viral on social media in no time. The idea was obviously to discredit Singh for having an affair, but the politician surprised his detractors by immediately acknowledging the relationship. So did the woman journalist in question, Amrita Rai.
Singh deftly used an incident aimed at embarrassing him to demonstrate how sophisticated he is. He wasn't afraid to admit to having an affair at the peak of his political career and at the age of 67. This flies in the face of the prudishness that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the Bhartiya Janata Party want the Indian people to observe in matters of love and marriage.
Singh's wife passed away last year, and the woman journalist is separated from her husband, seeking divorce. These details and more were helpfully provided to us by media reports. But why should anyone be concerned about what two consenting adults do with each other in private?
Jokes about the couple flooded Twitter and BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi declared, "All I can say is that the lesson of morality gives a perverted definition and I think Congress leadership should take into cognisance." Given that she's a lawyer, she was on firmer ground on the legal technicalities of the matter as she advised Rai's husband to file a case of adultery. However, Rai's husband had already said on Facebook that the marriage was over, divorce was on its way and he respected his wife's right to have a relationship with whomever she liked.
The real reason why Lekhi considered it appropriate to demand that Rai's husband and the Congress party alike take action against Singh became clearer when she added, "A new definition of morality has been given by the actions of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Sahab. Those who preach lessons of morality should first look within themselves to see if they are practising what they are preaching to others."
We know what this is about, don't we? It is about settling scores with the Congress party's attack on "Snoopgate" – the leak of phone conversations in which Narendra Modi's Man Friday Amit Shah is heard co-ordinating efforts with the Gujarat Police to conduct detailed surveillance of a woman in whom Modi allegedly had a romantic interest. The only reason that Snoopgate is of public interest is because state machinery was used for the operation. Yet it must be said that even in the Snoopgate incident, details were put into the public domain that we didn't need to know.
While the Snoopgate story was published by a media organisation – with due consideration of the public interest involved – the Indian media largely shies away from revealing details about the private lives of politicians. The exceptions have only proved the rule. What has changed now is the use of social media, where those with political agendas put out "sex scandals" relating to politicians, and the damage cannot be undone.
The happy truth of these sex scandals, though, is that they have merely gossip value. The revelations that Narendra Modi was allegedly stalking a woman and using even state machinery for it, that he allegedly had her in his house and was too embarrassed to call a doctor when she was ill, has not made any difference to his prime ministerial pitch. If anything, the revelations have, in a perverted way, enhanced his image as a virile strongman.
A video showing a Congress lawyer-spokesperson having sex in his chamber with another lawyer, allegedly recorded by his driver who wanted to settle scores, was put out on YouTube. It was repeatedly taken down because of court orders and yet repeatedly uploaded. The thin justification was that he was getting sexual favours in return for helping her become a judge. There was nothing to substantiate the charge. The man was relieved of his responsibility to defend the Congress party on TV news, but was back soon. If it really had been a grave issue of public morality, there would have been public outrage about the party putting him back on TV. There was none.
Octogenerian Congressman Narayan Dutt Tiwari had to resign as governor of Andhra Pradesh after a TV channel showed pictures showing him in bed in his official residence with three women, allegedly sex workers. But that wasn't the most difficult moment for Tiwari. A short while later, he faced a paternity suit from Rohit Shekhar, born to a former lover. Shekhar recently won the case after a long court battle. All he wanted was to be recognised as Tiwari's son. His father had never married his mother. Denied a Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha election now underway, Tiwari last month formed his own small little party and made Shekhar its president. Tiwari has been a butt of jokes, but not an object of conservative condemnation relating to "public morality".
The truth is that for all the humbug of public morality, Indians accept that such relationships are a natural part of the human condition. It isn't as if the BJP and the RSS have escaped such incidents. The allegations about late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan , sex scandals in the Karnataka unit of the BJP, a charge of male rape against a BJP minister in Madhya Pradesh, are just some examples. Even an RSS representative in the BJP, Sanjay Joshi, fell victim to a hidden camera.
Political sex scandals – sometimes involving surveillance, rape, and murder – have become so commonplace in India that it should no longer be news that human beings need love and sex, and that people in public life can't be expected to not have natural desires. The law and the media must investigate illegal surveillance, violation of privacy, rape and murder, but the bluster about morality must be dispensed with. Political rivals seem to have a vested interest in keeping such humbug alive because they need sex scandals to neutralise each other. But hypocrisy about morality has no takers.
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Singh deftly used an incident aimed at embarrassing him to demonstrate how sophisticated he is. He wasn't afraid to admit to having an affair at the peak of his political career and at the age of 67. This flies in the face of the prudishness that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the Bhartiya Janata Party want the Indian people to observe in matters of love and marriage.
Singh's wife passed away last year, and the woman journalist is separated from her husband, seeking divorce. These details and more were helpfully provided to us by media reports. But why should anyone be concerned about what two consenting adults do with each other in private?
Jokes about the couple flooded Twitter and BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi declared, "All I can say is that the lesson of morality gives a perverted definition and I think Congress leadership should take into cognisance." Given that she's a lawyer, she was on firmer ground on the legal technicalities of the matter as she advised Rai's husband to file a case of adultery. However, Rai's husband had already said on Facebook that the marriage was over, divorce was on its way and he respected his wife's right to have a relationship with whomever she liked.
The real reason why Lekhi considered it appropriate to demand that Rai's husband and the Congress party alike take action against Singh became clearer when she added, "A new definition of morality has been given by the actions of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Sahab. Those who preach lessons of morality should first look within themselves to see if they are practising what they are preaching to others."
We know what this is about, don't we? It is about settling scores with the Congress party's attack on "Snoopgate" – the leak of phone conversations in which Narendra Modi's Man Friday Amit Shah is heard co-ordinating efforts with the Gujarat Police to conduct detailed surveillance of a woman in whom Modi allegedly had a romantic interest. The only reason that Snoopgate is of public interest is because state machinery was used for the operation. Yet it must be said that even in the Snoopgate incident, details were put into the public domain that we didn't need to know.
While the Snoopgate story was published by a media organisation – with due consideration of the public interest involved – the Indian media largely shies away from revealing details about the private lives of politicians. The exceptions have only proved the rule. What has changed now is the use of social media, where those with political agendas put out "sex scandals" relating to politicians, and the damage cannot be undone.
The happy truth of these sex scandals, though, is that they have merely gossip value. The revelations that Narendra Modi was allegedly stalking a woman and using even state machinery for it, that he allegedly had her in his house and was too embarrassed to call a doctor when she was ill, has not made any difference to his prime ministerial pitch. If anything, the revelations have, in a perverted way, enhanced his image as a virile strongman.
A video showing a Congress lawyer-spokesperson having sex in his chamber with another lawyer, allegedly recorded by his driver who wanted to settle scores, was put out on YouTube. It was repeatedly taken down because of court orders and yet repeatedly uploaded. The thin justification was that he was getting sexual favours in return for helping her become a judge. There was nothing to substantiate the charge. The man was relieved of his responsibility to defend the Congress party on TV news, but was back soon. If it really had been a grave issue of public morality, there would have been public outrage about the party putting him back on TV. There was none.
Octogenerian Congressman Narayan Dutt Tiwari had to resign as governor of Andhra Pradesh after a TV channel showed pictures showing him in bed in his official residence with three women, allegedly sex workers. But that wasn't the most difficult moment for Tiwari. A short while later, he faced a paternity suit from Rohit Shekhar, born to a former lover. Shekhar recently won the case after a long court battle. All he wanted was to be recognised as Tiwari's son. His father had never married his mother. Denied a Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha election now underway, Tiwari last month formed his own small little party and made Shekhar its president. Tiwari has been a butt of jokes, but not an object of conservative condemnation relating to "public morality".
The truth is that for all the humbug of public morality, Indians accept that such relationships are a natural part of the human condition. It isn't as if the BJP and the RSS have escaped such incidents. The allegations about late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan , sex scandals in the Karnataka unit of the BJP, a charge of male rape against a BJP minister in Madhya Pradesh, are just some examples. Even an RSS representative in the BJP, Sanjay Joshi, fell victim to a hidden camera.
Political sex scandals – sometimes involving surveillance, rape, and murder – have become so commonplace in India that it should no longer be news that human beings need love and sex, and that people in public life can't be expected to not have natural desires. The law and the media must investigate illegal surveillance, violation of privacy, rape and murder, but the bluster about morality must be dispensed with. Political rivals seem to have a vested interest in keeping such humbug alive because they need sex scandals to neutralise each other. But hypocrisy about morality has no takers.
