Every one of us have our own favorites, be it a color, or person, or an object, and we are often more attached to our favorites than others, and may even enter into fierce fight in order to safeguard or protect our favorites. We have seen several instances in India, when a favorite cinestar had expired, or lost the political battle, there were admirers ready to immolate themselves, and some of the stars thus have found place in temples and places of worship. This may be an illustration of the extent of madness that people go to, but no doubt these stars and idols become so very important in the life of these often illiterate masses, that they would do anything for them.
It is one thing to have favorites, and another to indulge in unbridled favoritism, especially when a person is required to go beyond all regional, linguistic, national, religious, cultural or ethnic categories. But when I come across persons who are so very attached to their own linguistic or cultural group, that they blatantly bend all norms and rules of decency in order to express favoritism to the people they belong to. As people belonging to a particular culture, language and region, we are required to favor our own people, to express our solidarity with them, especially if they are in need of our support and cooperation, but that cannot take place when they are engaged in public service. When these kinds of things happen frequently, such persons are sure to lose the confidence of the people they serve.
It is such a touchy issue that no one would dare speak about it, but when no one talks about it, all concerned would be quite conscious of the undercurrents of such things happening around. Unfortunately unbridled favoritism is something that cannot be kept hidden for long; sooner or later people would come to know about bending laws, rules and regulations in order to accommodate a person just on the merit of his/her language, religion, or region or culture, and it would be quite shameful to be accused of favoritism. Bordering on favoritism is nepotism, of which many of our political leaders are often accused of, starting from the husband of our nation’s first citizen to the lowest ranking public servant.
Every time when favoritism is in effect, bending the rules in order to accommodate a person who does not deserve the favor, what is obvious is also the fact that some persons who in truth deserved the favor is unjustly denied. This goes against the very notion of justice and truth. Anyone who is concerned of social justice cannot indulge in favoritism, in one form or other. But we live in a world where favoritism and nepotism are considered law of the land, and you would be frowned upon if you refused to favor your own kith and kin, there are very few options left open. When a person denies direct favoritism, s/he would be branded as insensitive to the social ties, and when s/he favors his/her own people, then there is injustice done to someone else, while favoring some others.
It would be almost impossible to close one’s eyes from favoring one’s own people, even when one is aware of the repercussions, which may not be all too sweet; there would be occasions when one may be forced to favor one’s own people, even while closing the eyes to some other deserving persons, but if these occasions are exceptions, then one may be considered as safe. But when these things happen as everyday reality, there is a danger that soon such persons are sure to face the ire of the people who have been denied of their due rights and privileges. On several occasions I have felt the pain of being disregarded, because some others had to be favored, and that only makes me conscious of being on my guard to protect myself from indulging in such dubious acts of charity!
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