Pen wise, pound foolish?

Have you ever noticed how 'words' and 'sword' sound so similar? Only, the former pierces sharper. When it comes to political play, a journalist-turned-politico can beat his non-penning adversary hands down, or so I've seen. Sometimes, of course, the impact is a little so hard that he inflicts irreparable damage to his party. Take Arun Shourie, for instance, and his criticism for BJP and its leadership. But it is not the first of its kind. A day before Shourie, Sudheendra Kulkarni embarrassed his party in a similar way by venting out all his angst against his party in a leading national daily before quitting the day after. And it is not only the BJP that has tasted the bitter tonic of intellectual ink from those its fed and fondled. Like Shourie and Kulkarni, Shahid Siddiqui and Sanjay Nirupam have also done it in the past, and the list is too short for a column double the length of this one.u00a0

During their happy days, these journalist-politicians shower all the generosity they can, spinning clever words and quotes and analyses, andu00a0 that work in the favour of their party's politics and policies, and enjoy its fruits far more lavishly than most regular politicians. However, when their equation is disturbed, hell descends. All issues are thrown open in public, and all disdain is direct, thus causing embarrassment to the outfit they once chose of free will.

I see the deteriorating quality of our politicians as one of the major reasons behind such an immature indulgence. Our politicians love to hear their own voice, and blissfully ignore everyone else's. But, of course, they want some magic-spinners, some word-workers who can blow the trumpet loud and clear. That's where this dependence sets in, the kind that's more poisonous than they can ever pre-empt. Unlike a scribe-turned-back-stabbing-neta, however, no regular politician deals in ink, and this is where he loses out, on power and credibility.u00a0

Parties must ponder upon inducting journalists into their party. I won't be surprised if questions like 'Do journos make good politicians?' are raised during school debates and coffee chats. BJP president Rajnath Singh's statement that he can "neither swallow nor spew out" journalists, should be enough of an eye-opener.

Let us not forget, here, that the Congress, too, faced some serious embarrassment due to its new entrant Shashi Tharoor. Tharoor saw some success in the past as a writer, and his love for the written word and the urge to communicate put his friends in the party into some discomfort when he Twitted the party's stand on Baluchistan. Surely, a seasoned politician would have preferred to keep his views to himself at a time when the entire party was scurrying for cover after Manmohan's blunder in Egypt. It is argued that journalists make for bad PR professionals, but it goes unarguably that they make for worse politicians.u00a0

Amit Kumar is Chief Reporter with MiD DAYu00a0