P Chidambaram may have failed to set up his commission to enforce belt-tightening in government, but he is certainly living up to the ideal of austerity. At least, he has managed to prevent Romesh Bhandari from charging his bathroom fittings, billiard cues and heavy drapes to the exchequer. However, the Rs 68.45 lakh that Bhandari has spent in beautifying the Lucknow Raj Bhavan does give one pause for thought. What will they think of next? Nice, private bowling alleys, with sten-toting hard men to keep the common herd out? A dinky little jacuzzi for high summer in the hot plains? Has Bhandari considered the state of his favourite golf course? There could be room for improvement there. In the case of a governor, the possibilities are endless. A few days ago, the Governor of Bihar was in the news for running up huge travel bills, probably brought on by frequent, unnecessary airdashes to Delhi. But even his malfeasance looks like a shrivelled excuse in comparison to Bhandari's, a thing of great imagination and grandeur.

In fact, the case raises an extremely basic issue: are the perks accorded to a governor really useful? Governors were assigned palatial British mansions after independence because the Raj had conditioned people to respect the government through a display of pomp and circumstance. Today, however, the trappings of power do not impress anyone, not even in the boondocks. A generation of politicians has given exhibitionism a bad name by getting caught with its hand in the public till. The panoply of power now only gives rise to the entirely justified suspicion that the public is footing the bill. Besides, it was always assumed that governors needed to command respect, because they were expected to take charge of the reins of power when elected governments failed. In other words, they were expected to pilot the states through their most turbulent phases. Yet, the performance of governors in recent times has belied those expectations. Romesh Bhandari himself has been in serious trouble for allowing Uttar Pradesh to degenerate into anarchy. For a while, vested interests and robber barons enjoyed more influence than any arm of the State. In fact, he was probably chalking up his cues while UP slowly turned into the Wild West of the cow belt.

Having failed to do his duty to the public, can Bhandari now expect the taxpayer to defray the rather high costs of his lifestyle? He is, indeed, a wonderfully well-preserved relic of the huntin', shootin', fishin' classes, never happier than when stepping lightly out on the green, negligently lashing at the undergrowth with his mashie-niblick. But surely he recalls that those classes were composed of men of independent means who made a point of paying their way through life. If he cannot pay for his own cueball, he could develop an interest in bridge instead. Or carrom, perhaps. A sport that does not call for waistcoats and ceremony, anyway. The government is entirely right in putting curbs on the spending of governors who fail to govern.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.