DNA: Mumbai: Friday, October 14,
2016.
An air of
anticipation has enveloped Chennai’s Apollo Hospital for the last three weeks.
Ever since, September 22, 2016, when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha
was admitted to Chennai’s Apollo Hospital for “fever and dehydration”, hospital
authorities have been regularly issuing press releases about her condition. But
thousands of supporters have gathered outside the hospital, hoping for details,
standing in vigil and praying for Amma’s quick recovery. The opposition too has
demanded an official statement and a photograph as evidence of the
68-year-old’s recovery.
There’s
always been a desire among media, politicos and even the aam aadmi to know
exhaustive details of the health of elected political leaders. Such inquiry
into the lives of public figures is inevitable, and when it comes to India,
there’s historical precedence. “It’s often said that if journalists, or the
world, knew how Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s health was deteriorating around the time
India became politically independent, then the course of history would have
been different,” shares Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, editor, Economic and Political
Weekly.
Besides,
today’s media over gauging, or lynching, as some would call it, is a result of
the media having “grown bigger and getting more competitive. Today, public
figures are increasingly finding that their personal lives are being more closely
scrutinised than ever before,” says Thakurta. And when it comes disclosing
their medical conditions, he points out that, “there are politicians and there
are politicians. A whole lot us knew that VP Singh was suffering from cancer
long before he passed away. When Manmohan Singh underwent a bypass surgery,
regular bulletins were issued at AIIMS in Delhi. But when Sonia Gandhi
underwent treatment at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York, no one knew the
reason”.
Why such
different stances on disclosure within the same party, one may wonder. Congress
member and former union minister Kishore Chandra Deo says that even for a
public figure, health is a private matter. “As the Congress president, Sonia
Gandhi wasn’t a government functionary, but represented the party. Her health
would only affect the party and the members didn’t feel the need to elaborate
on her health,” says Deo.
Interestingly,
the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, protects the right to privacy. It
exempts from disclosure: any information which relates to personal information
that has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would
cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central
Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the
appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public
interest justifies the disclosure of such information.
But given
that almost all corporate organisations today make employees undergo health
check-ups to ensure they are of sound mental and physical health, isn’t it in
the interest of the public to ask the same of public authorities whose
decisions impact the nation? Thakurta doesn’t think it desirable to make such
disclosures mandatory, or even necessary, to gauge politicians’ health because,
“if s/he is unable to appear in public, walk or talk, we’ll find out sooner
rather than later”.
Deo argues
that, “political parties are not like private organisations. By definition, they
are associations of people 10–15 people having a certain purpose or ideology
can start one. Political leaders can govern upto the age of 90, like Fidel
Castro did. Moreover, in India we follow a cabinet form of government,
therefore the responsibility is collective, wherein as Sir Ivor Jennings said,
the prime minister, or in case of states, the chief minister is primus inter
pares or just the first among equals”.
Admitting
that the anti-democratic nature of parties sometimes makes this “collective
responsibility” true only in theory, he adds, “Such issues arise only when all
power revolves around one person.” Even so he believes, there should be no
“speculation and demands in Jayalalithaa’s case. The opposition is asking for
information. Sadly, it has taken political overtones. Such disclosures would be
justified if something was left wanting like a policy decision kept pending,
administration coming to a standstill or a lapse in cabinet functions.”
While a
health check protocol seems unnecessary as the party members can elect the
next-in-line, Deo welcomes legislation to regulate party functions as a
solution. “I have always said that ours is a multi-party democracy, so no one
can dictate the ideological content of a party. But we can have a body to
oversee that each party is working as per the provisions (like intra-party
elections) of its own manifesto or constitution.”
As for Amma’s
health, as Thakurta said, we’ll find out sooner rather than later.
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