I was similarly jolted by another conversation last week. Two bright girls from Bangalore, both studying law and doing summer internship in Delhi, met me at a friend’s place. They had been closely following media reports on the alleged illegalities of Pratibha Patil and her various institutions — the bank that went bust, the sugar factory that defaulted on loan repayment and had to be sealed, the trust that siphoned off money from its own educational institutions, a government-supported working women’s hostel that rented out space to commercial entities, the diversion of MP’s local area development funds to a family-controlled trust, the murder case, the suicide case . . . the list is growing by the day. “Is it impossible,” the girls asked me, “to bring about a change for the better in India? Why do unscrupulous people triumph in our country? We have grown up believing that young people should be idealistic and work for a better India. Are we naïve in our belief?”

I responded to the question as honestly as I could. However, the two interactions reinforced a troubling awareness in me about a growing divide between Political India and Young India. The youth, by and large, are no longer inspired by the political establishment. They are mostly aloof from every mainstream political party, since none of them is today capable of nurturing and animating, on a large scale, the innate idealism among the youth. They see politics as the breeding ground of cynicism and opportunism, which are the very antitheses of idealism. They view most politicians as unprincipled and self-seeking individuals who put their own and their family interests above the interests of the nation and society. And when someone as undistinguished as Pratibha Patil, someone with such dubious credentials, is hand-picked for the highest Constitutional office, young minds feel cheated. Their belief in India gets dented. Their belief in themselves — their commitment to their own convictions and ideals — also stands diminished. This is when young people begin to develop doubts about lofty goals and thoughts. Soon some of them themselves become victims of cynicism. And some of the brightest and most idealistic young minds might even conclude, as they did in the 1960s, that our democracy is sham and a “different path” is needed to change India.

It is an ominous sign when the youth begins to lose hope in India’s democratic system. No doubt, many factors other than Patil’s indefensible candidature have been contributing to their alienation from politics. But the prospect of Pratibha-Patil-as-Rashtrapati has rapidly come to symbolise degeneration of the polity. If even the would-be Head of State is exempt from the requirement of accountability — moral if not strictly legal — can ordinary citizens be blamed for thinking that India has lowered the standards of morality and legality in public life? Can young people be blamed for adjudging India — at any rate, Political India — to be a cesspool of corruption, criminalisation, nepotism and opportunism? Look how brazenly Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh rationalised, on Thursday, the allegations of financial irregularities against Patil by stating that these are common — even indispensable — among politicians rooted in the cooperative sector in Maharashtra.

But I look at the unfolding situation from the point of view of young Indians. For example, will a young MBA working in a bank listen respectfully to President Pratibha Patil (assuming she wins the election) when she exhorts, in some ceremonial speech, the banking sector to raise the levels of efficiency and transparency? What will a farmer-member of a cooperative society think when, in some hypothetical speech in future, she calls upon cooperatives to clean up their mess and fix responsibility on wrong-doers? What will young MPs think when, as Rashtrapati, she addresses the Parliament and asks “Honourable Members” to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the MPLAD scheme? What will a newly recruited young police officer think if, from some presidential platform, she calls upon investigative agencies to do their job without fear or favour and ensure due punishment to the culprits even if they have high-level political connections?

I wonder if these questions have occurred to some of the well-meaning persons in the UPA who are still bravely defending Pratibha Patil’s candidature.