Sense & Senility

“If a poor child does not have any means for education, then how will Lokpal bill help? If a poor man needs help for medical services then he will call up a politician. How will the Lokpal bill help”? That is a statement attributed to Kapil Sibal (TOI April 12). That is profound wisdom for you! I cannot fathom how the Lokpal bill is in any way connected to education or medical services. More, what stops the government from ensuring education for the poor is free and medical services are made available too. The real Gandhi would rot in hell if he sees the state of affairs of the present Congress. And there cannot be any further doubt that Sibal and some more Congressmen have not only lost their senses but are now bordering senility.

Anna Hazare’s campaign has been called a comic revolution (Manu Joseph of Open magazine) and ‘rule of the unelected’ by many media persons. Nothing wrong with the first statement. Every revolution has a comic side to it. How else does one explain the presence of Swami Agnivesh in this campaign?  Hazare had made it clear that no politician will share the stage with him. Agnivesh was, is and will be a politician. There’s the irony. And then like most stupid politicians even after his victory Hazare goes around giving interviews to the media. The man hasn’t learnt in all of his 71 years that the media exists to destroy and poke holes into every action and word of any leader. So the question the media now happily raises: ‘Is this rule by the unelected’.

The answer to the question of ‘rule by the unelected’ can partly be answered by another constitution, one of the USA. The second amendment of the US constitution allows people to bear arms. The words in that amendment have been interpreted in many forms but here is a very common interpretation: “The Constitution aside, bearing arms is a fundamental human right. It is the only means the American people have to reclaim control of their government, should it one day become irredeemably corrupt”. Arms aside, it is the duty of the unelected to reclaim their government should it become irredeemably corrupt. Is our government irredeemably corrupt? Make a wild guess!

Now, there is this lot in the Maharashtra Assembly which has moved a privilege motion against actor Anupam Kher for supposedly stating “throw out the constitution”. Kher, of course, has denied making that statement and there is no evidence that he has. But what even if he did make that statement. What is so damn wrong about that? Why don’t these same people move a posthumous privilege motion against Babasaheb Ambedkar? He is known as the architect of the constitution and he himself is on record stating he would be the first one to burn it.(Read the post Ambedkar wanted to burnthe constitution.. And he should have ! ) Again a case of the Congress+NCP losing its senses. After all, Sharad Pawar was accused by Hazare as the most corrupt in the Lokpal bill draft committee. And the NCP is the protector of the constitution. If anything, politicians have subverted the constitution many times over. Does that make sense?

Senility is now spreading across the Congress. Just the other day Sonia Gandhi was reported to seek votes for the LDF in Kerala. That’s the alliance the Congress is fighting the elections against. Well, it might just be a slip of tongue, but she sought votes for the LDF more than once. And who do they blame? The speech writers. That’s a good one. Even a badly written speech is always dealt with skilfully by a speaker with presence of mind. That says a lot for Sonia Gandhi’s general awareness levels. I wonder who will hang for her silly mistake now.

Finally, I couldn’t resist responding to my favourite politician – Rahul ‘The Duh’ Gandhi! Whenever he opens his mouth there is bound to be at least one great gem of wisdom. He finally seems to have got basic arithmetic right and learnt to count. Achutanandan, the CM of Kerala, would be 93 he said if he finishes another term in power. Hmmmm! He is 87, so plus 5 makes it 93 according to Rahul Gandhi. And then Abhishek Manu Singhvi cries and complains at Rahul being called an ‘Amul baby’ by Achutanandan. That’s more comedy for you. The Congress’ TN alliance chief, Karunanidhi, is almost 90. Manmohan Singh will be into his eighties and Rahul Gandhi, the sage, will be 400 before he becomes PM. The ghost who walks! That’s Congress sense and senility for everyone.