Morality is the cornerstone of political credibility. Citizens vote leaders and governments into power with the belief that power will be exercised on the basis of values such as justice, accountability, and transparency. For any democratic society, its moral survival depends on politicians having a sense of integrity and on politics itself having ethical principles. However, power is often the first thing that will corrupt the morality of individuals and political parties. The political life of the young MLA Rahul Mamkootathil has now become mired in this moral decline. For some time, a few victim survivors have been openly and loudly raising complaints against Rahul in public. Yet, no one had come forward for legal action. Even so, under public pressure, the Congress party took action against him. Now, at the peak of the build-up to local body elections, multiple cases have been formally registered against him. Rahul’s anticipatory bail plea has been rejected too, and his arrest could happen at any moment. Thus, as the “Rahul effect” has turned into a major political campaign issue during the election period, the Congress party is now attempting to restore political morality by hastily removing him from the party.
There is no dispute that political leaders too have a right to privacy. Constantly shining a torch into their personal lives is not a healthy practice. However, people's representatives are not merely development icons or celebrities on social media; they are also expected to be role models and carry a special responsibility to uphold moral values in their personal lives. Any failure to practise in private the purity and transparency they preach in public will come at a high cost. This is because politics and governance are built on public trust. Once an opinion is formed that a leader is dishonest or exploits women, it affects not just the individual but also the movement he represents and the democratic system as a whole. It was this realisation that Rahul Mamkootathil lacked, and that is what has led to his premature political downfall. Whether the allegations against Rahul Mamkootathil remain within the scope of a consensual relationship between two parties is a matter for the court to examine. Let the judiciary determine the truth of the charges through trial and deliver its verdict. However, the actions of an MLA elected by the people cannot be judged solely by the legal scales of abuse of power, deception, or misogyny; they must also be weighed against moral standards such as preserving dignity and upholding transparency and credibility.
How can a person who violates the law in his personal life and undermines the dignity of women claim any moral right to speak in the legislature about women’s safety or justice? It is here that “personal morality” becomes an indispensable value for a public representative. While the principle that “a person is innocent until proven guilty” prevails in courts of law, public life demands standards that are far higher than just legal innocence. By expelling Rahul from the party, the Congress is likely to sharpen its attack on the Left on the issue of political morality in the coming days. The Leader of the Opposition has already fired the first salvo in that direction. There are leaders and elected representatives in the Left camp as well who face similar charges of sexual misconduct. And in the Sabarimala gold smuggling case, it is a former MLA and other party leaders who have been arrested and jailed. What action has been taken against them is a question the Left will have to answer, not just politically, but also morally. In short, adherence to political morality does not mean prying into personal life. Rather, it refers to a higher sense of values and justice that must be upheld throughout one’s life, without drawing a distinction between what is private and what is public. True political culture can emerge only from such an approach. The most tragic reality is that, amid political arguments and noisy confrontations, what is gradually being eroded is value-based politics and the morality of politicians. All these developments call for a serious rethinking of morality in public life and politics.