Politicians are known to be thick-skinned but when they emerge from jails as heroes it is disconcerting.

Politicians are extraordinary people. Thus they are beyond many rules which apply to ordinary people. For example, a stint in jail is personally shameful and socially disastrous to the common man. It could mean a permanent blot on the reputation of the victim's family and lead to his ostracisation from the immediate society. More than one generation of his family have to live with the stigma and the burden of guilt. It is never easy to off-load these.

The case of the politician is different. A jail experience, for whatever crime, is a badge of honour for the leader. There is no sense of shame attached to it. It leaves the politician with no stigma or the risk of social boycott. Instead, it adds to the aura of the person, making him/her bigger than earlier. Check the case of Kanimozhi, member of Parliament and daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who was in jail for her alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam for many months.

A near non-entity in the party before her role in the Kalaignar TV-2G scam connection hit the headlines and the court decided to keep her behind bars, she has now been elevated to the party’s top echelon, sharing the exalted space so far reserved for brothers Stalin and Azhagiri and of course, Karunanidhi himself. The party sought to make her release on bail an affair to remember and spared no effort to paint her as the victim-heroine.

Suresh Kalmadi, the prime accused in the Commonwealth Games scandal who was released on bail on Thursday after nine months of incarceration, has been offered take back his job as the chief of the Indian Olympic Association.

"Nobody in the IOA has objected to Kalmadi taking charge as the IOA president…It is up to Kalmadi to decide on what he wants to do. He has done a lot of good work as IOA president and was responsible for bringing the Commonwealth Games to India. It was a very successful event," IOA vice-president Tarlochan Singh was quoted in the Times of India.

The fact that he has been accused of involvement in serious scandals in the Games does not seem to worry many in the sporting establishment. It should not surprise if Kalmadi gets a rousing reception from supporters in Pune after his return and gets accommodated in the Congress organisation in due course of time. Just to remind you, both Kanimozhi and Kalmadi are out on bail. It does not mean acquittal by any stretch of imagination.

Why is a jail trip so different for politicians? It is turning out to be some kind of a pilgrimage which washes all taint on them. In all religious faiths pilgrimage holds high significance. It means purification of the soul of the sinner. All his vices are forgiven after the spiritual experience and he returns to ordinary life as a reformed person. Our politicians are giving a different interpretation to the exercise altogether.

A few decades ago, the generation of freedom fighters were proud to claim that they had suffered the jail experience during their struggle against the Britishers. It was a genuine badge of honour since it indicated that they had made some sacrifice for the country. They had a cause and were happy to fight for it and face the consequences. Cut to now. How everything has changed! Politicians go to jail on charges of corruption – it means cheating the country and its people of money – yet they put up a brave face. There’s no sense of shame at all in being treated as criminals.

They are known to be thick-skinned and it helps them to play the perception game by claiming they are in the clear and are being harassed for no reason. What is worrisome is the social, political acceptance of crime as a normal activity.

There’s no social pressure on them to be ashamed of their act. This applies to politicians behind the bars on charges of murder and rape too. It is possible that crime is about perception and politicians are better equipped to manage perception than the ordinary folks. That is unfortunate. Societies need not have double or multiple standards on the corrupt and the criminal.