Writing about morality and public life (or public figure or public anything) is a challenge. You need a reliable proof-reader, to begin with. One letter missing and the debate becomes more interesting than intended. Still. Singhvi’s seedy episode calls for a comment.

People have survived in politics despite far more incriminating evidence against them than what is on record against Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Yet, for all practical purposes, his political career seems to be over. If he were a baba or swami, he might have survived, even prospered. But this is politics. There is something called morality in public life, after all.

Consider the facts. The video shows two adult people getting physical. No law is broken there. It is in his court chamber, not in a Raj Bhavan (though even the governor’s residence should not have been an issue but that’s another story). A rumour is doing rounds that the woman in the video was asking Singhvi to help her become a Delhi high court judge. This, of course, is a rumour and not an established fact.

Rumours might be true and there might be ten other facts about the woman and her efforts to build her career. But as for concrete facts, there is not much mud in the video to sling against the Congressman. Of course, a wannabe-judge is involved, and we certainly need a thorough investigation in what looks like a casting couch for judiciary. It would either prove Singhvi innocent or give career tips to many in the legal fraternity.

What is going against Singhvi is the people’s expectation that the political leaders should not be seen committing adultery. They understand sex, as much as money and muscle power, is an accepted currency in today’s politics. But you show them a glimpse of one political leader’s escapades, and they instantly disapprove of it. Calling it hypocrisy would be simplistic. Even in the more permissive western societies, a Clinton or a Strauss-Kahn has had trouble.

Closer home, in independent India, there is a roll call of great leaders whom people revered and even emulated but preferred not to peer through the keyhole. They were father figures and we would rather assume they were celibates.

Blame it on the spy cameras and YouTubes (not to mention a certain blue pill) for changing the rules of the game. Now the keyhole has come tantalisingly close. Sanjay Joshi, ND Tiwari and Abhishek Manu Singhvi have been victims of a trend that is only going to increase in the years to come. In these years, internet survey will find more and more Indians watching online porn but more and the same Indians would force politicians to go for indulging in a bit of hanky-panky in their privacy.

In these years, either people will learn to calibrate their expectations or politicians will learn to be careful. In any case, the notion of morality in public life is bound to change slightly.