Thoughts from the spectacle

I watched with great amusement the (in)famous trust vote in Parliament on live TV. Must say it was more engrossing than any of the K-soaps (not that I have, or ever would want to watch the damn things). It had all the elements - drama, suspense, passion, intrigue.

At the end of it all, the primary thought that struck me was that there is a silver lining in all this muck - no, I was not at all disgusted by the sight of wads of money being waved around - lets face it, how surprising was it? Everyone - bar none - knew that large scale buying of votes is pretty common in our polity - it has happened before, and will happen again. So why go all hypocritical and apoplectic about the 'sanctity' of Parliament or the 'damage to the integrity of the nation'? In fact I think this is a good thing because it at least lays out the rules of the game clearly - jiske note uska vote.

But to return to the silver lining - and that was that among all the cacophony and noise, the speeches by Rahul Gandhi and by Omar Abdullah stood out - for being sensible, rational, and (dare I add?) ethical. I was an ardent opponent of Sonia Gandhi being offered the PM's post, but I have revised my opinion about Mr. Gandhi Jr. For one, the guy spends a lot of time actually visiting far flung places and seeing how things are happening on the ground. For the other, even for his (incorrect?) prescriptions to problems - remember the famous Rs. 70,000 crore farm loan waiver? - at least he has in his target the correct problems. Not stupid cliches like 'communalism' or 'communism' but a much more real and practical war against poverty. That is the real scourge that needs to be eradicated, and that is what our esteemed lawmakers should spend their time thinking about. Whether you choose Medicine A (i.e. fiscal grants, loan waivers etc.) or Medicine B (i.e. spreading education, enabling entrepreneurship, upholding basic human rights and restoring individual dignity through capitalism) is the next step. But the basic step is to recognize the problem.

I have hope that Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah and their like have recognized this problem. The King is dead - long live the King!!