Khurshid, Veerbhadra, et al., are helping to change society

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:51 pm

A few months ago, when people were discussing corruption in India, they were thinking of A raja, Kanimozhi, etc. Now that the media is showing that almost everyone in government is corrupt, A Raja and Kanimozhi don't stand out any more. DKhead K'nidhi looks relieved. Today, when someone was asking him about the legal case against his grandson, he was saying, "I don't know why Dorai Dayanidhi is hiding"!!! I suppose, soon grandfathers will start having heart attacks when they hear that their grandchildren are straightforward!!!

by Merlot Daruwala Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:10 am

Much as I want a corruption-free India, the current socio-political environment has become too vitiated by these trial-by-media witchhunts. Anyone can make any kind of accusation against anyone, brandish a few affidavits and our 24x7 media will lap it up gratefully and whip up a hysteria. Most damaging is this whole notion that all politicians are corrupt and the corrupt system will shield them. Every government agency is thought of as compromised. Every inquiry is suspect. There is this overarching cynicism which rules out any avenue for redemption and any solution.

The country has gone into a negativist spiral of hopelessness, derailing what should have been our finest hour - a huge economy growing in leaps and bounds, leveraging its demographic dividend, fueled by domestic consumption, drawing investments from across the world. What a tragedy. What a missed opportunity.

So as the economy goes down the tube while the politicians are busy trading (and ducking) accusations and the talking heads camp out 24x7 in TV studios, busy screaming at each other, the first father of the nation, that anti-industry, anti-modern votary of village-living and khadi-wearing, the original Mahatma Gandhi is having the last laugh. No matter how hard we try, his curse draws us back to the rustic life we're destined to live for eternity.

Thank you for listening. *End of rant*

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:34 am

Yeah, that is indeed a shame.

Shaw of Iran was trying to build the economy before he was shunted out!

The problem in India is that the govt. has been indecisive. MMS took a long time to respond to the economic indicators. Meanwhile, the opposition started to take advantage of the situation. Mamata and MT also share the blame.

by garam_kuta Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:01 am

Merlot Daruwala wrote:Much as I want a corruption-free India, the current socio-political environment has become too vitiated by these trial-by-media witchhunts. Anyone can make any kind of accusation against anyone, brandish a few affidavits and our 24x7 media will lap it up gratefully and whip up a hysteria. Most damaging is this whole notion that all politicians are corrupt and the corrupt system will shield them. Every government agency is thought of as compromised. Every inquiry is suspect. There is this overarching cynicism which rules out any avenue for redemption and any solution.

The country has gone into a negativist spiral of hopelessness, derailing what should have been our finest hour - a huge economy growing in leaps and bounds, leveraging its demographic dividend, fueled by domestic consumption, drawing investments from across the world. What a tragedy. What a missed opportunity.

So as the economy goes down the tube while the politicians are busy trading (and ducking) accusations and the talking heads camp out 24x7 in TV studios, busy screaming at each other, the first father of the nation, that anti-industry, anti-modern votary of village-living and khadi-wearing, the original Mahatma Gandhi is having the last laugh. No matter how hard we try, his curse draws us back to the rustic life we're destined to live for eternity.

Thank you for listening. *End of rant*

wow - well said and very visceral ! "his curse draws us back to the rustic life we're destined to live for eternity" so dangerous.. reminded of Naipaul's "the baracoon is overcrowded' except that the escape routes are not yet closed

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Tue Oct 16, 2012 11:07 am

To MD:

I was watching the "rant" of the Haryana IAS officer. The corrupt gang isolated and transferred him left and right whenever he opposed their corrupt wishes, his corrupt colleagues who were giving in to their political bosses made him look like a difficult person to deal with and isolated him...... He says, he started to wonder if there is something wrong with him!

This is not an isolated story. These days, so many honest and efficient IAS officers are harassed by politicians and corrupt IAS officers. The ambiance is such that new IAS officers take to corruption and join the crowd rather than fight it.

Look at the bigger picture. Corruption is a malaise that is eating away at the societal fabric. If there is a way to foster the economy while addressing corruption, CONartists should explore it. Instead, they are trying to protect the corrupt. Vadra-ji is right, CONwallahs in govt. are turning India into a banana republic.

Garibi Hatao!

by Merlot Daruwala Wed Oct 17, 2012 2:05 am

Yes, there is extreme corruption in India, aided by the total lack of accountability at every level. This has been going on for decades, irrespective of the party in power. Yes, political sycphancy is a fact of life here and yes, honest individuals who challenge the system get victimized. But that does not make the whole system rotten and beyond redemption.

There is a need for some nuance here. A Robert Vadra or a Raja is not the same as a Salman Khurshid. A Mulayam Singh is not the same as a Manmohan Singh. But that is what the Annas and Kejriwals of the world want us to believe. They paint every politician with the same brush and make them all out to be thieves, that the parliament is full of rougues and that every arm of the government is corrupt. And conversely, that anyone who challenges the government or accuses it of malfesance is automatically an infallible saint. That kind of cynicism sets us up for an autocracy (aka Mahatma-cracy).

The immediate trigger to my rant was the unhappy sight of one of the more decent politicians of our times, Salman Khurshid, being dragged in the mud by wannabe-Mahatma Kejriwal and the media while nary a finger is pointed at the really large sharks - Sharad Pawar and his merry band of plunderers in the NCP. Or at Nitin Gadkari who has a finger in every scam - from coalgate to the irrigation scam in MH, and yet presides over a party which is jumping up and down about corruption while its own Southern operations are all funded by illegal miners.

As for corruption as a malaise etc, my point is that the cleansing process - which is investigation into the accusations and prosecution of the guilty - should not distract us from the task at hand: to seize the window of opportunity and grow the economy so that the vast majority of Indians who live in pathetic conditions can get a better life. Instead, an impotent, inept government finds itself tied up in knots every day over some scam or the other and the parliament is held to ransom by a hypocritical, opportunistic opposition.

by Guest Wed Oct 17, 2012 2:13 am

+1 to above post.

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