Recently there was much controversy revolving round Mr. Shashi Tharoor’s interaction with the netizens through Twiter. This is not the first time for his tweets to break the harmony of our conventional political process. This time as his opinion which apparently goes against his Home Ministry counterparts has become public, the controversy cropped up. It’s true that a minister bears the responsibility to defend the decision taken in a Cabinet meeting and not to dissect it in public. One can raise debates about something before the decision is taken, but not after that, as far ministers are concerned. There is no denial that the acts of Mr. Tharoor tend to undermine the conventional principle of ‘collective responsibility’. But, to say, as is supposedly said by some senior colleagues of Mr. Tharoor, that since governance is a serious business it should not involve public debate is another extreme.In today’s world where dynamism has become an essential element to survive, our political community must understand this. It is true that widespread public contribution sometimes brings some immature suggestions. But, this is too small a reason to undermine the average maturity of the people. The government need not always take decision directly following the opinion of the mass, but it must prove itself to be mature enough to withstand criticisms. And one must remember that the success of a democracy also lies in its capacity to draw more people to the ‘serious’ business of governance, not in making them aloof. And, we must consider the tremendous effort Mr. Tharoor has been putting in that direction for sometime now and honour his intentions.
