New Delhi, October 17
Albeit a little late, Rajasthan’s controversial minister Mahipal Maderna, suspected to be involved in the case of mysterious disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi, has been shown the door by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. However, this not the first and most certainly will not be the last time when one of our “illustrious” politicians has created an embarrassing situation for his party and also those who elected him, courtesy his wayward behavior.

It is with a disturbing recurring pattern that politicians repeatedly deny sex scandals and also the evidence despite many cases of errant behavior by those in power, most prominent in the recent times being the Kashmir sex scandal or the one that forced octogenarian ND Tiwari to put in his papers as the Andhra Pradesh Governor.

Sociologist Rajesh Gill believes sex scandals are not new to Indian politics, the only difference is that because of the presence of an overactive and highly competitive media now they cannot be brushed under the carpet.

Research, says Gill, suggests that power is the single-most corrupting factor. “Politicians may indiscriminate while choosing a party but are fairly consistent when it comes to such scandals, which are very much a part of political culture in India or anywhere else in the world,” she points out.

What makes a politician so irresistible to women is their easy access to muscle and money power, which also changes their own perception about themselves, says the sociologist. “Powerful people tend to see themselves as more attractive than they really are, plus power seems to change how people think about risk, leading to a higher tendency for infidelity both in powerful men and powerful women,” adds Gill.

According to Gill, such behaviour is “quite normal” for those in power and the problem only occurs when there is a scandal. Fortunately for politicians, people have a short memory. So, it makes news only for a while when a certain Fiza finishes off the political career of Chand Mohammad, aka Chander Mohan, the deputy Chief Minister of Haryana or when Rajmohan Unnithan, a Congress leader Kerala, gets arrested for “indulging in immoral activity”.

The list of politicians involved in sex scandals is quite comprehensive. Prominent among them being Amarmani Tripathi, a UP Cabinet minister, who was arrested on charges of being involved in the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla.

In 1998 JB Patnaik, Congress Chief Minister of Orissa was accused of being involved in sex scandals by affidavits from two former senior government officials while in the eighties a photograph of Suresh Ram, the 46-year-old son of the then Defence Minister in the Janata Party government Jagjivan Ram, is said to have cost his father a chance to become the first dalit Prime Minister of India.

Gill, however, says it is not always a man who is at fault. “Women may not always be the victim, they can be perpetrators too,” she asserts.