The veil of secrecy surrounding the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s nature of ailment and the place of treatment comes as a surprise in a democratic country like India which is aspiring to be a superpower.
The way the ruling Congress has handled the entire episode, displaying a mastery over art of concealment, reminds one of the Cold War era Soviet regimes which kept the illnesses of their leaders as state secrets. Only in the dictatorial socialist regimes that the health condition of their leaders are kept under wraps.
Sonia Gandhi is the most powerful leader in the country, responsible for running the government. Her ailment and the line of treatment is a matter of public concern.
It is absolutely essential for the government and the ruling party to disclose the details and maintain transparency about the whole thing.
Withholding the information on such a matter will only trigger wild speculation and uncertainty.
The ruling party cannot take refuge in the argument that Sonia’s health condition is a private, family matter and her privacy needs to be respected.
It is totally unacceptable in a free, democratic country that the health condition of the most powerful person in the government is not shared with the public at large.
This kind of secrecy is reminiscent of the practices adopted by the socialist regimes behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
Even now, in communist countries like Cuba, Venezuala and North Korea, an extreme secrecy is maintained about the medical condition of their rulers, even if they are of terminal nature. For instance, no one knows about the nature of ailment of Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Compare this with the free flow of information in a thriving democracy like United States. The President Barrack Obama getting a bloody lip during a basket ball game makes it to the news headlines there. So is the case with multiple heart problems of the former President Bill Clinton and former vice-president Dick Cheney.
For India, which often brackets itself with US as a successful democracy, it is better to be transparent about their leaders.
