CPI(M) leaders eloquently quote Marx and Lenin. On the other end, BJP leaders spew Vivekananda and Hindu scriptures. The poor voter is in a dilemma. Whom to choose?
The poor sap doesn't realise it matters little who gets his vote. The CPI(M), BJP, Congress and all the rest are the same. None of them will quit a government house in Lutyen's Delhi however long he overstays. Four hundred and sixty-five squatters illegally occupying VIP residences belong to India's political elite cutting across all parties. Forget the ideological wisdom that various parties spout. Together they comprise the single party that rules us. It is the class that lectures us. It is the class that people love. Love for it turned Delhi into a graveyard. Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram—whoever died in harness never quit his residence. They left their abodes for their children to occupy or for making a memoriam that permanently occupied the national capital's most valued property. That is not all. Their ashes adorn the prime land on the banks of the Yamuna. After the Mahatma, Nehru, Shastri, Indira, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi—they all have their burial memorials around Rajghat.
Is it unpatriotic to recall all this? Were not all these personalities decent leaders loved by the people? Are not the illegal squatters occupying Delhi's finest official residences decent leaders loved by the people? Loved by the people they are! Decent? Hmm...
Who can be more decent than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? He is so decent and gentle that he can't even reprimand, let alone sack, central minister Jaiprakash Narain Yadav, who is dodging the police which is hunting him with a non-bailable warrant of arrest. And the President! Our dear, decent, kind and gentle President whose heart melts for killers seeking pardon, who loves nothing more than educating children, he who has sworn to protect the Constitution and law, even he will not chide the errant minister or the supine prime minister. Doubtless, with gentle patience he waits for the law to take its course.
As for the Volcker Report? Forget it. Didn't Indira Gandhi say that corruption is a worldwide phenomenon? Obviously, the UN must be corrupt.
It is out of pure love that the public, ruled by these decent and gentle souls, pays fortunes to ensconce them in their palaces and makes sure they live in full comfort and security. Mera Bharat mahaan!
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
