What is going on in our country makes even the most cynical Cassandra sound like an unrealistic optimist. The government claims helplessness in dealing with ill-gotten wealth stashed away abroad by Indian politicians, on account of various treaty commitments. Pranab Mukherjee cries himself hoarse that our "credibility" in the comity of nations will suffer an irreparable loss if we violate our "commitments" and even name the persons who maintain accounts abroad. How scrupulous !
Enters Baba Ramdev who demands that the corrupt who are hoarding their money abroad be hanged to death. A group of ministers dashes to the Baba, seeks his blessings and negotiates. The assurances already given by the government to Anna Hazare are swiftly consigned to the back burner. The government gives the impression that it will not act against the illegal foreign deposit accounts on its own and whenever there is a popular demand that the government should act, the government pretends to become serious only to laze away once the pressure subsides.
The schizophrenic Congress party makes a spectacle of itself frequently enough to ensure that people do not forget its devious clownishness. Even as some ministers belonging to the Congress party are reverentially pleading with Ramdev to give up his plan to fast, another Congress worthy questions the Baba's bonafides and discovers the latter's ulterior motives. When ochre-robed celebrities start sharing the dais with the Baba, the Congress party begins to breathe fire and brimstone.
We begin to wonder what kind of democracy we are having . Even ochlocracy would be more representative of the populace.
Enters Baba Ramdev who demands that the corrupt who are hoarding their money abroad be hanged to death. A group of ministers dashes to the Baba, seeks his blessings and negotiates. The assurances already given by the government to Anna Hazare are swiftly consigned to the back burner. The government gives the impression that it will not act against the illegal foreign deposit accounts on its own and whenever there is a popular demand that the government should act, the government pretends to become serious only to laze away once the pressure subsides.
The schizophrenic Congress party makes a spectacle of itself frequently enough to ensure that people do not forget its devious clownishness. Even as some ministers belonging to the Congress party are reverentially pleading with Ramdev to give up his plan to fast, another Congress worthy questions the Baba's bonafides and discovers the latter's ulterior motives. When ochre-robed celebrities start sharing the dais with the Baba, the Congress party begins to breathe fire and brimstone.
We begin to wonder what kind of democracy we are having . Even ochlocracy would be more representative of the populace.
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