(Suresh Kumar is a four-time MLA from Rajajinagar in Bengaluru city)
This is my 31st year as an elected representative. In 1983, I was first elected as a municipal councillor in Bengaluru - also called Corporator. The day I entered the municipal corporation building a senior leader gave me a pep talk that I must stay always accessible and approachable to the common man.
Unlike these days, when one can keep in constant touch with voters using mobile phones, emails and social networking sites, we had none of these then except landline telephones. And landline phones were scarce and called expensive. So one had to be available to voters in person and be visible, accessible, earthy and humble.
I learnt quickly that the best way to achieve all this is to remain one among the common man. It became an article of faith for me all these years.
I did not land in the municipal corporation as an elected representative just like that. I thank my stars for the unusual education that I received as someone in public life. It was a rare "university education" for me during 1975-77. I am not referring to my B.Sc., or LLB education. The best political education I got was when I was imprisoned for 15 months during the Emergency period under the MISA law.
I had the company of illustrious political leaders at the Bangalore Central Prison and had this wonderful opportunity to observe these great men who were role models for an aspiring public servant with their "simple living, high thinking" kind of lifestyle.
I saw from very close quarters great personalities like Madhu Dandavathe, who later served as Union Railway Minister during the Janata Party government in 1977-79. When he got a call to inform him that he had been chosen for the Union Council of Ministers, he was washing clothes at home.
I joined the RSS when I was eight years old. I have come across many RSS pracharaks who were highly educated, but had opted for simple living as full time workers with a frugal lifestyle. I grew up amid people to whom simplicity was not a choice, but a fact of life.
As a councillor or corporator I was known as "Cycle Suresh" as I regularly used a bicycle in my municipal ward. Many a time, the water board valve man rode pillion on my cycle in the early mornings to attend to water supply problems.
While I was practising as an advocate, I used my cycle to attend courts. As an MLA in my first two terms, I got promoted to "Scooter Suresh"; I frequented scooter parking stands in the Vidhana Soudha and other government offices.
When I entered politics, there were a large number of political leaders who were not only a beacon of simplicity and role models, but also had no sense of entitlement. I had to move to government quarters as a minister seven years ago because my mother's house, where I spent most of my life, was too small to meet hundreds of visitors I received every day.
Even as a Cabinet minister holding the Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development portfolios in the BJP government, I got the beacon light from my official car removed and never used it in Bengaluru. And I made it a point to always travel economy class whenever I had to fly. Some of my peers ridiculed me, but I could not help that.
People generally think politicians, as a community, believe they are above other members of civil society. "All are equal, but I am more equal" think political leaders and elected representatives, voted to power by the common man. They somehow turn uncommon once elected.
Power and arrogance seem to go together. This deadly combination makes a public personality a much detested animal. We come across many incidents about the arrogant behaviour of public representatives at toll booths, theatres, hotels, public events etc.
Craving for privileged treatment has hurt the image of the Indian politician. In most instances, the followers or chelas demand special treatment for their bosses and, indulge in all kinds of nuisance, attracting public or media attention.
As the saying goes, "if God wants to destroy a person, he will create a few followers for him. And they will do the needful". But unfortunately everyday our tribe is doing everything to further bolster this image of a politician. One may have thought 24/7 news channels, social media and public activism would change them. But, sadly, it has not.
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