Test of a leader

French President Nicholas Sarkozy is holidaying in Egypt with his girlfriend Carla Bruni...

French President Nicholas Sarkozy is holidaying in Egypt with his girlfriend Carla Bruni, while the French media looks on indulgently. Politicians in France have murmured that if Sarkozy’s happy, so much the better, and the only criticism by the media is that the president is artfully using this relationship to build a more humane image with the French voter.

There are absolutely no morality issues on whether the president should or should not be involved with Bruni. Never mind that Sarkozy’s visit has rocked Egypt’s Parliament with Conservatives questioning his sharing a hotel room with a lady he is not married to. In India, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is facing uncomfortable questions regarding his friendship with the articulate and charming Pakistani journalist, Aroosa Alam. Singh’s arch rivals, the ruling Akalis, have claimed Alam has ISI links and in a desperate attempt to prove the affair, they’ve challenged Singh to get his wife, herself an MP, to endorse the friendship.

Are politicians entitled to privacy when it comes to their love lives? Does it matter if they have extra-marital affairs as long as they do their job?

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India, despite its intrusive TV media and current love of reality shows is surprisingly reticent when it comes to reporting on politicians’ personal lives. While in America, the most liberal of nations, a politician’s every move in the bedroom is brutally scrutinised and discussed on talk shows. Comedian Jay Leno has said that the Lewinsky-Clinton affair has given him the best jokes of his career. It’s ironic that in a country where almost half of all marriages end in divorce, the American voter remains morally conservative; a recent poll suggests that one in three of all voters would like to know if a presidential candidate had an affair, and it would influence their decision. Hillary Clinton, a presidential hopeful and a wife who’s stoically put up with her husband’s humiliating indiscretions has somehow turned things around, yet she faces a tough task ahead; even if she beats Barack Obama to become the Democratic candidate, she needs to present a happy picture of the all-American family to come to power. Contrast that with India, where besides the Gandhis, most people would not even know Manmohan Singh’s kids’ names, or what they do.

Amarinder Singh was voted out of power for reasons that have nothing to do with Alam. Elections in Punjab are a long way off and pedestrian comments on him and Alam are unlikely to bother the Indian voter in the future. After all, we have far bigger issues like water, electricity and roads to think about when it comes to choosing our leaders.

leher.kala@expressindia.com