Manmohan Singh & Caesar’s Wife

When you see a doctor, you trust him with your body and life. When you board a flight, you trust the commander of the flight. When it comes to the nation, wouldn’t you trust your Prime Minister?  The answer to all three questions has to be a resounding ‘Yes’. But it’s also a fact that accidents can happen, lives can be lost, nations can be harmed.  Personally, I have no doubts that Dr. Manmohan Singh is an upright, clean statesman but he has failed in his job as the prime minister. The nation has been subjected to grave harm and serious danger and he indulges in his favourite theme of ‘Caesar’s wife being above suspicion’. This is to his own Congress (I) members. If you have to make bold statements, make it to the nation and not to your party-men who will neither challenge you nor debate your utterances. If you have to be bold, face a JPC.

Firstly, it is as good as a Flight Commander saying he did everything right but his co-pilots screwed up. It’s like a doctor blaming the nurse for having given him the wrong knife. Most importantly, it reflects an utter lack of a sense of responsibility for his government’s and ministers’ deeds. MMS is offering to prove he is innocent, when no one is accusing him of guilt. People are merely seeking the truth. Despite the scams most people have unfailingly given him a ‘clean’ certificate. It’s the failure as the Prime Minister that he should accept and act upon and not on whether he should prove his innocence where corruption is concerned. Silence on various other issues is equally damning. It is for this very reason I call him the ‘head in sand’ prime minister and equally criminally culpable for the misdeeds of his government. If your dog bites someone, you are liable. Some of the prime minister’s cabinet ‘dogs’ have bitten the entire nation and left it bleeding. The PM is answerable and equally liable for those dogs.

Head In Sand Prime Minister

As for Caesar’s wife, MMS uses it as a convenient line frequently for his own benefit. Here is  what a critical analysis of his career has to say: “When advised by admirers to leave the Congress in 1996 and concentrate again on propounding economic philosophies, he had dismissed the plea with his signature feeble voice, thus, "But I am in politics!" It seems somewhere in his subconscious he fancied his chances in a possible second innings in the future. Soon after the 1996 elections at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, he quoted the "Caesar's wife" proverb. the insinuation was clear; he was distancing himself from Narasimha Rao.” (Read the full article here.)

What MMS does hide is the fact that Caesar made that statement to explain why he divorced his wife and not as proof of his wife’s innocence. The story behind that proverb can be searched anywhere on the net. The prime minster failed to divorce his cabinet wives who should have been above suspicion. If he himself, like Caesar’s wife, is above suspicion then he should divorce the Congress (I) or divorce himself from the responsible position he holds, because he has been clearly suspected of shielding corrupt ministers and covering up misdeeds of his government. For a change, the media is telling him these facts and are showing him why Caesar made that statement.

Far from the Caesar’s wife proverb, I would like to ask MMS “Et Tu Brutus”? That would be a more appropriate line for him.

Parliament Blockade: NDTV's Dorab Sopariwala Gets It Wrong Again..

“Dorab is someone who studies elections on a daily basis and makes predictions based on them and for his efforts gets paid by NDTV 24/7 and NDTV 12/3 and a half. If Dorab says that the Congress party will win an election then I immediately prepare for a BJP victory. If Dorab says that the BJP will win then I prepare for a CONGRESS victory. In simple words, when Dorab says that something will happen I prepare for the EXACT OPPOSITE....that way I’m never wrong..... There is a word to describe people like Dorab and it’s a combination of two words which are ASS and HOLE.”  That is stock market wiz Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on his blog.  Here’s another piece, which clearly shows how NDTV makes a mockery of polls. 

Well, it’s not all poor Dorab Sopariwala’s fault. That NDTV is a Congress puppet must have a bearing on everything it peddles. Last night (December 2) on NDTV Dorab strongly castigated the Opposition for stalling parliament and stated that the “minority” in parliament cannot dictate the course of parliamentary transactions or actions of the government, and that it is the "majority” that must have the final say. Technically, he is correct.  What Dorab does forget, of course, is that in his profession of election observing and exit polls there is something called the “people’s mood”. This does not have some scientific measure but can be gauged with an ear to the ground. Dorab in this particular situation doesn’t seem to have his ear to the ground, like in most of NDTVs exit polls.

Let me digress a bit. Many in the USA are in favour of gun-control. But there is an underlying reason for this freedom under the 2^nd Amendment  to the US Constitution:  “The 2nd Amendment provides an interesting insight into the Founding Fathers' attitude toward government. The new nation had recently freed itself from a government controlled by others, not themselves. They saw themselves as a people, and government as a separate, sometimes despotic and oppressive entity. If they could not have arms, they would be helpless before this other entity; they would be like slaves. They also feared that despotic forces might usurp whatever government they established, and they would be at the mercy of those forces.....The most important reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, if necessary, at (as a) last resort to protect themselves from tyranny in government". This can be referenced anywhere but specifically here.

This season of scams is not a normal situation and therefore suggesting that parliament should function normally as if nothing disastrous has happened is inept to say the least. Dorab just doesn’t seem to appropriately measure the deep sense of anguish and betrayal inflicted upon the people of this nation by the ruling Congress and its allies. To hell with parliament for the moment. If parliament has to be suspended for a few months, so be it. To hell with all the bills that are pending, those can wait. This nation is at war! At war with the severest of corruption and plundering of the country. It’s the people’s emergency and people should not rest until the scamsters are in jail. There is going to be no transaction in parliament that is going to be worth over 1.76 lakh crores that has been stolen from the people. Once again NDTV’s Dorab doesn’t seem to have his ear to the ground.

Media morons cannot stop telling us how much it costs us everyday when parliament is disrupted. A few 100 crores now looks like small change when compared to the daylight looting and plundering of the nation. We are not worried about peanuts anymore. People first and foremost want to see the crooks brought to justice. In any case what does our parliament do? As much mental masturbation our media does.  Passing bills and laws that they neither respect nor implement or ones that are meant for appeasement of a section of the society or for corporate lobbyists. Enough of this nonsense.

There is a reason why Americans are allowed to carry guns. It is not for just protection against criminals and intruders. It is for protection against the tyranny of their own government. Of course, since 1791 US voters are far more sophisticated and Indian democracy is yet to reach that stage. A revolt by the Indian public in the current context would be very justified and is warranted.The Opposition is doing the right thing by staging this revolt as did Jayprakash Narayan against a tyrant called Indira Gandhi. Learn some history, Dorab. If the opposition cannot get the government to budge on the JPC they should now lead a people's revolt on the streets. Nothing short of a complete disclosure of the truth behind all the scams will do.

Constant and consistent looting of public money, ignoring concerns of ordinary people is nothing short of tyranny. To that end some days of parliament lost should be the least of anyone’s concern right now. Shut down parliament till the next budget session and sort out the whole scam mess and put people in jail, and get the people's money back. That is what people of India want to see. As for the media, some of their crooks need to serve time as well.  I may have picked out Dorab Sopariwala because of his strident position against the stalling of parliament, but this goes for all the mediacrooks who’ve been shedding crocodile tears over the economic loss arising out of this.

The worst joke has to be Congressmen sacrificing their “parliamentary allowance”. That is like tyrants dropping a coin in the ‘begging bowl’ of the people, after having looted 1.76 lakh crores of their money. Get after the scamsters, parliament can wait! A JPC is now an absolute must, and the opposition shouldn't budge.