Boman Irani asks N.R. Narayana Murthy on the Achievers' Club program on Star World why he does not want to run for public
office. The answer is vintage NRN. Logical, data-driven and to the
point.
NRN says he does not understand why politicians must not
have a retirement age when bureaucrats and private sector employees do.
He mentions that Mathematics problems that used to take him an hour to
solve in his younger days now take him three. He further adds that he does not have as much energy as he once did. And
here's the kicker. He thinks he may meet the minimum threshold to do certain
things in life, but doing things in life must all be about being the
best and not about meeting bare minimums.
Mr. Murthy's logic does make you smile. How nice it would be if our
MLAs and MPs take up a math test before filing their nomination. Or take
up a 100m sprint to measure their energy level. Or heck, maybe just
read a joke so that they honestly ask themselves how long it took for
that to sink in.
Setting a retirement age for the political class is
a pipe dream. No politician will pass a law that restricts
him. The closest to a 'restriction' that has been conceived thus far is
the term limit, but that works only in the presidential form of
democracy.
But once in a while, it does feel nice to indulge in such entertaining fantasies like R.K. Laxman's Common Man and laugh off the humor. Plus ponder over a wonderful recipe to
ensure fewer bare minimums....
1 comment:
Pithy, but very apt post. Yep, setting age limits for politicians is a pipe dream.
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