The separation of business and politics

In one of the children's verses written by Jogindranath Sarkar, a boy sets out on a grocery trip reciting the items asked by his mother. On the way he finds three other boys having fun playing games, and a fourth one enjoying himself flying a kite. Despite these distractions, he moves on with his grocery list because he didn't want to be late and upset his mother. But when he reaches the store, he's alreadymixed up in his mind between qualities of rice and fruit, lentil and mustard, and fish and curd. The risk of similar confusion is also staring this nation in its face.

At a time when this country is stuck in the rut of political discontent, everybody is clinging to their grocery lists.The businessmen are worried about business. Parents are worried about the school attendance of their children. The commuters are concerned over safety on the roads. The government wants to crush the opposition. The opposition is determined to topple the government.

Everybody is reacting from their respective silos. People are always driven by survival instincts and cannot be selfless when threatened. It also brings the ringing contradiction that this nation is as quickly united as it gets divided. Common interests unravel at the slightest knock of self-interests.

Hence, different people complain for different reasons. The business community screams because political instability hurts bottom lines. Parents are woebegone because kids can't go to school or sit for their exams on time. And commuters scramble for rides between work and home,their grievances writ large on their faces even before they open their mouths.

That gives the bifurcation that exists between citizens and their country. And who can ever blame the former if the latter doesn't cope with their expectations? Businesses have to survive, children have to thrive and life has to go on for average people whose concept of the country is their corner of the world where they want to live in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

Seething under the surface of a common destiny is the discontent of a splintered nation. For decades, it has been trying to apply sterile economic bandage to heal its political wound. Every time political showdown escalates, it's as if it is injurious to this nation only because it hurts business interests.Business leaders rattle off numbers to warn how disruptions in production, delays in delivery and loss of new orders are going to shrink export earnings and foreign exchange reserves.That concern somehow is akin to the panic attack in a needy family when its sole earning member happens to fall sick. 

It gives short shrift to the fact that this nation is more than a business proposition. Our governments are also equally confused, never too sure if the source of their power lies with people or profit. Lately, the state minister for home assured armed security and compensation if transport owners agreed to ply their buses during the countrywide siege enforced by the opposition. He, however, said nothing about the passengers who might get hurt or killed if the buses were targeted by miscreants. It's obvious that in the minister's mind, people come after transport in this republic.

The business leaders are now asking politicians to keep business separate from politics. There was a time when religious leaders were involved in politics in the Christian Europe until matters precipitated to such an extreme that separation of church and state was deemed essential. In this country, we are still struggling to keep religion separate from politics. Another separation may not be possible for the same reason a woman can rarely get pregnant when she is pregnant already.

It's the involvement of business in politics that has complicated matters in this country. This is not to undermine the importance of business in national dynamics because the first and foremost function of the state is to guarantee the right to food, shelter and clothing. But the entire thrust of our business community is on forging a politics that should make economic sense. In an ideal situation, it's economics that should have made political sense.

This nation has mixed up its priorities like that boy with the grocery list. When parents are worried, commuters are harried, and common people are stricken, these are definitely genuine signs of trouble. A republic is nothing but a territorial embodiment of the dreams and hopes of its people.

But if this nation is compared to a family situation, business disruptions may lead to loss of income and financial hardship. A loving family can overcome that hardship because its members will care for and cooperate with each other. In contrast, a contentious family squanders its fortune on bad habits and litigations.

Politics can't stay away from business unless business decides to stay out of it.

The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.

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