Politics - from Pericles to Rahul Gandhi

Mayawati says Rahul Gandhi does not understand politics; that he is staging a 'political drama' by fraternizing with poor Dalits – who are her flock.

But I daresay even Aristotle would not understand that Rahul Gandhi's antics can be called 'politics' – in the sense in which the philosophers of ancient Greece used the term.

In ancient Greece, the city was everything, and politics belonged to the 'polis' – the city.

There were many great politicians in Athens, with Pericles topping the list. Yet if we look at their political values, we see that the city came first, always.

Rahul Gandhi lives in New Delhi.

(In a highly privileged district, of course.)

Delhi is a city that is collapsing – I ran away – and the latest efforts of the 'transport planners' has proved to be a massive flop.

Rahul Gandhi is not interested in such matters.

His party, the Congress, has never fielded mayoral candidates in its entire history. For them, local self-government has always meant village republics and panchayati raj. Cities still do not matter in their 'politics'.

This is how the word 'politics' has lost its meaning.

It meant something else in ancient Greece.

In means something else in the western world.

It means something completely different in contemporary India.

And I think it was Confucius who said: "When words lose their meaning, the people will lose their freedom."

See my "The Purpose of Politics".