1) Before the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement (not “deal”, as Pranab Mukherjee pointed out) lights up a single 60-watt bulb, it has caused a tectonic change in our politics. There is rancour, there is mistrust, there is suspicion. As the sociologist Dipankar Gupta writes, there has been “a wholesale structural adjustment of our polity.” And the ‘laxman rekha’ of political morality hasn’t been crossed; it has been wiped out.
2) There is nothing very national about “The National Interest”. There aren’t enough Hindutwits or Commutwits (to use Ashok Desai’s delightful portmanteau) who have bought into it yet. And the 275-256 margin suggests that neither will become its sole proprietor any time soon. It requires some really dodgy characters and even more dodgy tactics to keep the flame burning. It’s not a pretty sight but what is after 22 July 2008?
3) The Congress is “tainted” in victory, of course, but make no mistake, so is the BJP in defeat and the Left in defeat. ‘Hamaam mein sab tainted hain.’ Only the naive will believe this hadn’t happened before because the TV cameras weren’t around. The 19-vote margin may make it a “numerical victory” or a “pyrrhic victory” for the opposition, but even a one-vote defeat for the government would have had them proclaiming a total rejection.
4) Of course, Manmohan Singh doesn’t come out smelling of roses, but the next time some lawyer in spokesman’s clothes, whether of the Congress or the BJP, clears his throat in the comforts of an air-conditioned television studio and exudes fragrantly about the media sowing cynicism about politics and politicians, tell him or her to take a long, lonely walk in Effingham.
5) It is impossible to compute human daftness, of course, but it requires mind-numbing daftness, or arrogance in equivalent measure, in the post-Bangaru Laxman era for a politician/fixer to be giving or taking money when the OB vans are parked around the corner of their drawing rooms flashing the latest rates as classified by A.B. Bardhan and Munawar Hasan.
6) The fear of losing the nearest election is the only thing that motivates our netas. There is no higher, no greater, no nobler objective. And that applies to the Left to the Right and every shade of centre. Which is why so little of the two-day debate was about the intricacies of the agreement, and so much of it was about making the most out of now.
7) If this is how our distinguished parliamentarians behave when they know that the whole country is watching them, when such an important issue is up before them, how must they be behaving when they know we are probably gawking at Sai Baba opening his left eye on India TV, or Amitabh Bachchan catching a cold on Aaj Tak?
8) Rahul Gandhi may be the best thing since sliced bread for Congressmen looking for their rozi-roti, but he is no Obama. Heck, he is not even Omar or Owaisi. Talking extempore may make for better viewing than reading from a prepared text as he did the last time round, but Rahul baba‘s public speaking skills suggest that he has a long way to go before he even utters “hame yeh banana hain” like papa Rajiv.
And this half-point:
We are a nation that seems to be living reality as lived on the ‘Truman Show’. If it is not IPL, it is Aarushi. If it is not Aarushi, it is the no-trust vote. If it’s not the trust-vote it is the cash for votes. We want our reality to be played out real time in front of our eyes and we want it now.
So, what do we do from today?
This piece also appears on rediff.com
And Manmohan Singh’s economic reforms are on. The 2008 version:
Nuclear Deal Tax: Rs 3 crore per MP. ;-)
Will India survive or disintegrate like the USSR, after all this turmoil?
Well, Mayawati is the next big thing – have you not read :)
@Mohan
You mean to say the 3 crore+Ministerships+greedy promises given by bjp,yeddi ,cheddi brothers to buy congress and jds MLA’s few weeks back.
Even I was disappointed that Manmohan lost the opportunity to make a compelling case (if there is one) on nuclear power/fuel/agreement. But on second thoughts, I reasoned that had he embarked on that, the opposition, the media and in deed every other person would have said he should have spoken about his administration, inflation, poverty alleviation, farmers’ programmes as it the Trust vote was about non-governance mainly.
Anyway, I was witness to a kitty-party of sorts with pot luck also thrown in at my Apartment, while the TV blared loud all day. Housewives clad in finery were going up and down the stairs with steaming dishes as they assembled in one flat –there was much giggling and gung-ho kind of atmosphere through the day. I don’t think it had anything to do with curent affairs, national pride or political consciouness. But the group of women may have (I suspect) got their money’s worth when Laloo spoke and the money bag was opened up. Lok Sabha TV=Live Entertainment.
I think all the lessons will be contained in a soon to be released book by the BJP entitled:
“How to lose momentum after winning 9 state assembly elections by losing a trust vote AND losing face by acting as the sorest of sore losers about it.”
It will be probably be followed by:
“How we handed Mayawati the PM’s post on a platter”
Alok, nice comment:) That’s what happened.
cheddi-less-Dama,
apparently u wear your panty with great pride
@Alok, DB
All is not lost for BJP. They can still recover from this if they just stick to their roots and concentrate on the economy and the majority ;) But first they need to behead the analysts that came up with the current strategy.
Afterall the frigtards at kaangi are hell bent on giving BJP a chance..
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/oh-lord-now-govt-says-ram-destroyed-setu/69436-3.html
We are a nation that seems to be living reality as lived on the ‘Truman Show’. If it is not IPL, it is Aarushi. If it is not Aarushi, it is the no-trust vote. If it’s not the trust-vote it is the cash for votes. We want our reality to be played out real time in front of our eyes and we want it now.
how is this?
what control does the “nation” have in what is shown and said on tv and what is printed in the papers? doesn’t the media “educate” us on our reality.
i would be surprised if news channels have more ratings than other channels.
HDK & HDD’s new anthem post deification of Mayavati.
Anisutide yaako indu
Neenene Nannavalendu
Mayada lokadinda
Namagage bandavalendu
Manmohan Singh is an honourable man
# Break from Bias Says:
23 July 2008 at 10:47 pm
cheddi-less-Dama,
apparently u wear your panty with great pride.
————————————————————
I bet you go around naked better change your username to nanga-mama in future.