Politics should be redefined as a responsibility by revisiting it from the malicious misjudgment of service.

As long as the delusion that politics is a service prevails in society, politicians will remain irreparably irresponsible and capricious. The country relentlessly heads on the path of decline. Therefore, an atmosphere and psychology should be created that politics should be internalized as a challenging responsibility rather than a service. 

Politics is considered to be the king of all policies. Ancient philosopher Aristotle duly assumed politics ‘the Queen of Sciences’. Politics marks a primarily pivotal role in the development or non-development of any country. If politics gets exercised into clean, pure, dedicated and pro-people mode, all other sectors and genres of society will automatically start flowing in the same rhythm and tendering the accurate tandem. If politics is not devoted to citizens and veers off beyond the genuine interests and concerns of the people, all other sectors of society will groom utterly ugly and grim. Thus, author late Jagadish Ghimire, in his seminal work 'Sakas,' has metaphorically remarked the other categories and aspects of the society as auxiliary path or subway and politics as the highway.

Even though philosophers and scholars opine cross-cutting polemics, the leaders involved in politics themselves consider politics as a service. They embroider a heaping praise on themselves by saying that they are striving to serve the country and citizens through political practice. It has never been measured anywhere whether their uphill battles are really serving others too, except family members. Existing reality evidently paints a bleak picture and charts a charred credit.

Bleak Picture

Trade deficit is heart-wrecking. About a million young people have gone abroad in one year. More than 300,000 have flown for higher education. In fact, those 300,000 have not only gone abroad, rather they have left the country. Those who went abroad for seasonal employment may come to the country one day. But those who went pursuing higher education will seldom return. Apocalyptic corruption cases are exemplary for global reference and citation. Citizens even don’t have generic trust towards the government and leaders. Disappointment and frustrations are beyond limit and capacity to endure. But a saga that 'politics is a service' has become the main reason why the politics of our country is not able to cater to the expectations of the citizens.

Saga of Service

Social service is voluntary or denotes voluntary work. One can serve as per discretionary decision. Social service is done for exclusive pleasure and happiness of the doer. In social service, the doers are placed at the center.  Feelings like ‘I have served, that's why I am the prime or chief’ gets indirectly unfolded. Gross and deep gratitude is expected from others. Not the needs of others, but your own happiness is important in the course of doing social service. There is no fixed standard as to how much and in what quantity the service should be extended. It is exhaustively up to the service provider to: what to serve and what not along with its quality. There is no compelling situation that everyone should engage in service. Everyone is free to do whatever one likes and loves while serving society. Serving does not mean that it has to be in accordance with the expectations or needs of the recipients. The receiver should express happiness and satisfaction in whatever and as much as s/he receives. One should also be gracious and grateful to receive irrespective of being compatible to his/her wish. No compensation or benefit can be taken for service. No reward or payment is expected for social services rendered. No one can be penalized for non-service to society. Social service can never be made mandatory.

But if we don't fulfill our responsibility or do something wrong, we can be punished. There are many examples in the world where leaders are punished when they engage in malpractice. China's former railway minister Liu Zhijun was executed a few years ago and top banker Lai Xiaomin was executed the following year for incurring losses to the nation. Amnesty International estimates that many dozens may have been executed in China, Saudi Arabia and America in the last two years for not fulfilling their responsibilities towards the citizens and the country, and being indulged in corruption. Suharto, the president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, was punished for embezzling about 35 billion dollars. In 2012, Fiji's former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was jailed on corruption charges. In a scandal in Brazil in 2012, the powerful leader Jose Dirceu was sent to jail. In another similar case, the former Prime Minister of Croatia, Ivo Sanader, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to 6 years. In Bangladesh, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was also imprisoned for 18 years on charges of corruption.

But in our country, everyone who is involved in politics, whether they do good or not or even do conspicuously wrong, gets equal treatment and facilities. They are always free birds. The country is sinking into dismal poverty, leaders are becoming billionaires. Although the country has not changed, the leaders have changed a lot. Even if the country has not, the leaders have advanced much.

For common people, politics was supposed to be social service. Therefore, politicians are absolutely carefree to think that they should bear any responsibility. The moral obligation to meet the expectations of the citizens is negated. They are not obliged to assimilate a sense that there should be punishment and compensation for their ineffectiveness. A mindset is made mature that they did what they could; what they could not should be excused and accepted. A habit and behavior is developed to accept everything automatically as service, i.e. done according to their wishes.

Now, politics should be redefined as a responsibility by revisiting it from the malicious misjudgment of service. Responsibility has criteria to carry out. One has to perform according to the expectations of the receiver and the recruiter, not according to their own wishes. If one fails to do so, s/he will not only be freed from the responsibility; s/he should bear brute punishment. One has to make an immediate indemnification for the damage caused by his/her inefficiency. One should also feel shame and be self-critical too.

As long as the delusion that politics is a service prevails in society, politicians will remain irreparably irresponsible and capricious. The country relentlessly heads on the path of decline. Therefore, an atmosphere and psychology should be created that politics should be internalized as a challenging responsibility rather than a service. 

 
• politics
 
• service
 
• misjudgment