AK Anthony: The ideal politician who did not click

Everybody knows that he is one of the politicians who can be described as being "not corrupt." He is one person who enjoys the sympathy of a vast majority on that count.

Somehow I have come to feel that being just and righteous are more important than being incorruptible in a pluralistic society like ours.

There is a general impression that Mr Antony has tried to appease majority sentiments and in the process has hurt minority feelings. He is human.

Quite sometime ago, I listened to an interview on Asianet. His wife was speaking on his behalf on matters of faith. She said she is a firm believer in Christ and he was not. He is a humanist who wants to be good and do good to everyone irrespective of caste or creed.

I see many humanist politicians in our land. I myself had a great regard for such humanists who are not overcome by the narrowness of vision that a Christian can be accused of.

When a person is a humanist, he is saying that ``man'' is a true measure of what is good and bad. But this standard can be very faulty. Hitler also believed that he was trying to do good to Germany, his nation. Millions believed with him that Aryans constituted a superior nation. So they agreed to exterminate six million Jews. Many humanist ideals had led to many such catastrophes. The lesson: our human wisdom is very limited.

Have you ever thought that the narrowness of vision of a Christian is far superior to the broad vision of a humanist? I would like to put it to Mr Antony that his many mistakes had arisen because he had made "man" his standard. He has not tried to understand Christ as the best standard for justice and righteousness given to the human race.

Narrow In the right way: “We must become ‘narrow’ in the right way – "narrow" in the sense that we live only for Christ. I do not mean at all that our lives should show more religiosity. There is no one as broad hearted as the crucified Christ, whose outstretched arms seek all men. It is a matter of decisiveness in one's heart, of living only for Christ. If we have this decisiveness, we will have broad hearts, though not, of course, in the worldly sense of tolerance for anything and everything,’’ so wrote J. Heinrich Arnold, a German author once hounded by the Nazis.

When you try to live in a way as to please men, you get into all sorts of problems, you commit all sorts of mistakes. Try to live in a way as to please only Christ. You will never make a mistake. Only when Christ comes to reside in you, you will know what it is to be righteous; what it is to be just.

There can be no human standard that is better than the standard laid down by Jesus in the Bible. The most well–meaning person goes wrong when he does not acknowledge Christ or His standard. Not even Sai Baba or Mata Amritanandamayi or Mother Teresa can set us a better standard than that laid down by Jesus on the Cross.

I hail from a Hindu family. My people are still Hindus. I love Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs. and even atheists. Some of them are even better than my Christian brethren. But when I want to build my character I will trust nothing better than the eternal principles laid down in the Bible. All human greatness I see in history owes much to faith in God or Christ–– so little to faith in man. I will trace every mistake of Mr Antony to doing things in his wisdom and not in the higher wisdom that is available for a believer in Jesus Christ. I must say that with all humility because he was born in a Christian family and I, in the midst of superstitions and idol worship!!

I have witnessed recently that some of our Christian leaders like Sangma, PC Thomas, Sangliana turning for light to the BJP camp. I do not deny the human goodness I find in the BJP ideology. But that goodness is deceptive, narrow and blind. Only Christ's Cross embraces everyone including the BJP fanatic!!

My concern is with Christians in politics, nay Christian leaders in politics. They ought to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. When they try to place human goodness and standards above this light from Christ, they land up in trouble making many mistakes in the matter of their judgements, justice and righteousness.

Is there anything greater than the righteousness of Christ? I will confidently say : No. Mother Teresa, an Abraham Lincoln, even a Mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, a Tolstoy have their source of greatness rooted in Christ and His eternal teachings and nothing else.

Christian MPs seem to make an extra effort to lose their identity, lest their minority status should become too evident. Not only in politics, but also in other professions like teaching and law, Christians seem to suffer from a minority complex. This is partly because of the yeomen contribution made by missionaries and Christian pioneers in all fields. While the lone evangelist in a remote corner or a Christian social worker among tribals may have reasons to take on a low profile the members of parliament can hold their heads high knowing full well they represent a population that has done creditably well contributing their services to the national cause. Unfortunately they often appear to be apologetic for being Christian!

Not that Christian MPs should add to the communal voices. But they should definitely be speaking louder in issues of justice and righteousness on the strength of the tradition that Christian missionaries, educators and activists had maintained.