So, what are the real issues? Certainly not Jagat Singh or his cousin Andaleeb Sehgal or who stayed in which hotel in Baghdad. The real issues are bijli, sadak and pani, the triumvirate which felled our beloved Laloo. I am not mocking the Great Indian Middle Class and its concerns. Their priorities are absolutely right. No dispute about that. I am merely trying to indicate the gulf between genuine concerns and voyeuristic thrills.
It is the Great Indian Middle Class which has given corruption, of which Volcker is just a single manifestation, such criticality. It is the Great Indian Middle Class which gets a huge high when a politician or public figure is caught with his hand in the till. It is the Great Indian Middle Class whose anger is enlivened each time a neta is defrocked. It is the Great Indian Middle Class which sustains and relishes bad-tempered political bickering over who is corrupt and who is clean. Alongside, the same class pays lip service to the real issues but is generally turned off by serious discussion on dams, roads, public health and primary education. It expects bijli, sadak and pani to materialise miraculously, but they are reluctant to place these issues on top of the national agenda. Neither do they want to actively participate in movements and programmes which promote these worthy concerns.
Until the Great Indian Middle Class stops enjoying Volcker-type politics, the real issues debate will never take place.
