Monday, September 15, 2008

Solution? Where is it?

Shivraj Patil is no small fry in politics. He assumed the office of Minister of State for defence in Smt Indira Gandhi's cabinet in 1981-82, was the speaker of Lok Sabha and has won his seat in the Lok Sabha seven consecutive times.

Throughout his political career he stood by the Gandhi dynasty and today, he is considered an important cog of the Congress wheel. The way this septugenarian carries himself really makes you wonder sometimes, how some people succeed in defying age.

Oh, one thing i forgot to mention above is that Mr. Patil is also our current Home Minister. Pardon me for this gaffe, for, it is not my fault that i am still unable to picture this man as our Home Minister. I echo the sentiments of innumerable Indians who also would have viewed the despicable blasts that shook New Delhi (Proper) last week.

Delhi burned, delhi'waasis' wailed, security personnel worked for more than 36 hours on the trot to ensure that the remainder of the Nation's capital was free of any more hazard. Amidst all this, our suave septugenarian 'Mantriji' , in his usual stylish demeanour came out in front of the cameras. Anxious eyes were set on him; not expecting some a'la Winston Churchill words of inspiration that would prep the affected people in Delhi and the demoralized citizens in rest of India but hoping that he would utter something befitting of the Union Home Minister. Belying all expectations, our Minister came up with nothing that would infuse any confidence in the nation's administration.

I feel our news channels have definitely gone way overboard in criticizing the poor chap for 'changing his attire' each time he addressed the media and also for his apparent attention to 'matching clothes and shoes' when the nation was reeling under the inflictions imposed by the terrorists. I do not care whether Shivraj Patil takes time out to choose his shoes from his 'tax-payer' sponsored wardrobe to look presentable when he opens his mouth in front of the shutterbugs. It hardly affects me if he expends his 'valuable' bandwidth in carefully dyeing, gelling and coiffuring his hair before he addresses the people who brought him to Rajya Sabha. Age adds a number of priorities to every aging person's ever increasing priotity-list and so we need to show some restraint and maturity here in acknowledging the same phenomenon in Mr Patil's case.

What does affect me very greatly about this issue is the utter nonchalance with which it was handled. I re-iterate : Sir, we do not expect any a'la Winston Churchill inspirational quotations from you but pray, do not come up with such mind numbingly obvious statements like "the terrorists shall receive stringent punishment as per the law".

Your statement, in addition to dissapointing millions within the country has also raised a huge inconsequential debate. And this debate has again dragged many of our camera friendly politicians into the news rooms of the leading television channels in the country. We do not want to hear about what the then Congress government had done to stem the Sikh riots. We, the citizens of this country are fed up of hearing what mistakes each of the political parties did during their tenure at the helm. We just want to know what initiatives are going to be taken to ensure our safety. Whether these initiatives are going to be taken by the incumbent government in isolation or by taking the opposition in confidence/in conjunction with them, it does not matter to us.

I can go on with this 'Morcha' of mine but these are sensible arguments and I find that i am arguing with a bunch of idiots who are more occupied in tearing each others' hair than reach a common ground and do something to nip the problem of terrorism. Ultimately I too, like all other citizens of this country, am compelled to throw the towel and accept their arguments and flow on as a blind witness to their ever increasing internal bickerings.

Cant do much as they say, "You can't argue with idiots. They bring you down to their level and then defeat you at it. They have the wealth of experience, you see"

3 comments:

Pagan Winter said...

I too was planning a post on today's news items. But this was one that I was planning on leaving out.... :)
What's the use, I say...

skunk said...

probably because power came cheap to him this time..he wasn't elected this time around.. rajya sabha..makes me wonder what was ambedkar thinking when he decreed that the government could select a few illustrious men to be directly gracing the rajya sabha with their presence!not that the elected ones are doing a great job, i say.

Nikhil said...

true, power came a lot cheaper to him this time around. How can just a brown-nose get you into the cabinet!! ?