The Angry
Husband - Part 3
Ram Gopal
has gained strength from strength in conducting his household affairs as well
as in his relations with neighbours.
When he became Chairman of the Municipal
Committee, he chose the other office bearers carefully, appointing only those who toed his policy and programs on
cleanliness, transparency, vegetarianism. Loyalty to his own self was a crucial
factor. Similarly, he took care to ensure that some public bodies like the city
library, the Art Council, etc., would be headed by new incumbents who shared
his philosophy.
He monitored his colleagues’ work closely and
did not reprimand/criticise them openly if found wanting in performance but
quietly changed their portfolios.
Counter-views
on his policy and programs were aggressively challenged and dubbed as
reflecting anti- civic sense and even asking those who aired them to move to
other cities.
He was
careful in creating and maintaining a popular image of him in the minds of the
public by addressing meetings regularly even on matters pertaining to the other
office bearers. His colleague office bearers missed no opportunity to sing his
praise.
The
Municipality had been a hot- bed of corruption and bureaucratic malfunctioning.
His first task was to root out corruption and bring about accountability of the
Municipal officers. This alone brought
him many admirers. Delays still occurred in settlement of citizens’ cases but
the citizens were ready to suffer the delay in the belief that corruption has
at last been eliminated.
The previous
members of the Municipality and other powerful businessmen who were their patrons
and beneficiaries were systematically reduced to low importance. Many of them had several skeletons in their
cupboards and Ram Gopal gained a lot of public acclaim initiating court cases
against these persons.
His personal
integrity and zeal to transform the city to conform to best international standards
is conceded even by his opponents as unquestionable. However, it is marked by
one blemish, i.e., some elements of the citizenry have taken upon themselves
the responsibility of punishing those who either showed some reservation or
reluctance to abide by his philosophy. The question as to why he is silent on
this and why no action is being taken to rein in these elements looms large in
the minds of many.
