Personal edification at state expense

Is there no one to tell the PM that there is no such thing as a private undertaking by any prime minister?

Pilgrimage has many manifestations and differing rituals, but it is at the core of all faiths and beliefs, including the three major monotheistic religions.

In some sects and groups, there is also the tradition of visits to tombs or shrines of those renowned for religious piety and lifelong devotion to the faith, though some orthodox sects are uncomfortable with this practice. Motives for undertaking a pilgrimage can vary, ranging from search for “truth”, or fulfilment of a vow, doing penance, or seeking a miraculous cure.

In the subcontinent, ziarat of holy sites has been a well-established practice, even though many of our founding fathers, while good Muslims, generally refrained from projecting their faith, viewing it as something that needed to be pursued with quiet dignity.

Much of what we see now — loud and offensive proclamation of one’s faith and aggressive adherence to rituals rather than compliance with its ennobling core principles, is a phenomenon that should be credited to the late General Ziaul Haq. Since his passion to visit the Holy Land and that too, not alone or merely with family members, but with a planeload of sycophants and hangers-on, this practice has become de rigueur for our ruling class, with none refraining from turning this private act of piety into a public demonstration of personal adherence to the faith and fealty to the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Unlike John Bunyan’s central character, who experienced excruciating pain and mortal dangers as he journeyed from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, our leaders have devised not only a hassle free, but an all expense paid road to salvation.

But our current prime minister has gone one up on his predecessors. With days left before his term in office ends, he embarked on a pilgrimage to India, at a time when the country is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis and the populace haunted by a virtual breakdown in law and order. A visit to Ajmer Sharif and the opportunity of offering prayers at this holy site is, of course, a fond wish of many of us. But if he was so very moved by the idea of seeking forgiveness for his transgressions, surely he could have waited to become a private citizen to undertake this “mission”, rather than take advantage of the state’s resources to jet off with the entire family, that apart from costing a hefty sum of money to the cash-strapped state, sent all the wrong signals. Is there no one to tell him that there is no such thing as a private undertaking by any prime minister, especially to a neighbouring country, with which any interaction is not without an element of speculation? He may not have been told this, but Indian leaders are not too amused at the proclivity of our leaders to turn up uninvited, at the pretense of visiting holy sites. In fact, his visit would have earned him greater kudos had he embarked on it as a private citizen and travelled at his own expense. Surely, Raja sahib, thanks to foresight and imagination in his ventures, would not have found it too onerous a financial strain.

Compare this with the reticence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has spurned repeated invitations to visit Pakistan, if for no other reason than to pray at Sikhism’s highly revered sites, by reiterating that the state of our bilateral ties did not merit such an initiative. In fact, the timing of Raja sahib’s visit could not have been more inappropriate, with Singh declaring only days before that Pakistan was not doing enough against terrorists and this had “cast a shadow on the bilateral dialogue process”. With the normalisation process in a hiatus that is not likely to change, with both countries focused increasingly on pressing internal issues and governing parties playing safe prior to the elections, we need well-planned initiatives not spur of the moment efforts at personal edification.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2013.