What Do You Say?

Once upon a time, there used to be a common man. He was always proud of calling himself a common man and the people would identify him as one of them.  It was a happy situation.

One day, the CM (common man) happened to jump a red light. It is not clear whether it was accidental or intentional; but when he was stopped by the traffic cop, he termed it as unintentional and apologised for his carelessness. His innocent face and apparently genuine plea had the desired effect and the traffic cop let him go with a simple warning and a word of advice. 

This incident emboldened the CM to start taking advantage of his innocent looks and convincing oratory skills. Twice again, he was able to manage the traffic cops effectively.

However, next time he ran out of luck and the cop on duty turned out to be a tough guy. The CM pleaded with all sort of reasons which did not cut much ice with the cop. Now, the CM got angry, refused to pay the fine and was not even apologetic.  The cop sent the matter to the court in a routine manner as a part of his duty.

The CM, though not very happy with the developments, decided to oblige and appeared in the court. His plea was simple – he was let off without any fine in earlier cases, so why should he be treated differently now? The judge didn’t want to be tough and to avoid any further waste of time, asked the CM to just give an undertaking that he would not repeat it in future, and go; but the CM recalling earlier cases, insisted that he should be allowed to go on the basis of his verbal assurance. Citing the procedure, the judge said that a written assurance was the least he could allow. The CM was very curt in his reply, “OK. You can send me to jail.”

The judge tried to convince the CM by recalling the instance of another associate of the CM, who had paid fine a day before for jumping a red light. The CM argued that his case was different as he had jumped the signal on a normal road. The CM had jumped a red light on a highway, which was as good as a freeway. So, the two incidents cannot be compared. The judge was spell-bound!

At this stage, a very senior lawyer intervened to educate the judge, “I will tell you what the law is. You don’t understand even English. The law states that a person who jumps a red light may be prosecuted. It does not say that he will be prosecuted. It is MAY, MAY, MAY.... it is not WILL, WILL, WILL. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”, he shouted.

The judge was calm. Coolly, he replied, “Yes, it is MAY... and I may or may not. Who will decide that? ME only. It is my judgement, not yours! ”

The CM jumped in, “Common people are supreme. You cannot be biased against them.  You send me to jail. Let the people decide who is right.”

Out goes the message – “What is happening in this country? A common man is jailed for jumping a red light, whereas who make such draconian laws are relaxing at their homes. Come out in the streets and protest against discrimination.”

So, thus starts another movement for the common people!

Poor judge cannot even resort to such tactics! What should he do?

The biggest democratic event of the world is going to start - Make your OWN decision !

The biggest democratic event of the world is going to start, and expectedly the temperatures are rising – unfortunately to the burning levels!  

Do you see any reason for the politicians not doing anything worthwhile; but continue talking of 1984, 1992 and 2002 events, especially during election time? When the courts exonerate someone from the opposite camp, they say that the evidence has been tempered with.  At the same time if there is some adverse ruling against their leaders, they say that the court has erred.  After all, judges are also human beings. They can commit mistakes! Isn’t it the height of hypocrisy? 

Why the hell do we talk of Muslim vote, Hindu vote, Sikh vote, Yadav vote, Jaat vote....?  Are we human beings or vote banks? Really sad! Every political party deplores the acts of miscreants indulging into manhandling; but rewards such people with tickets to fight elections.  What is the logic of nominating “shoe throwers” to fight election?  Our leaders forget that such people do not subscribe to any ideology. Today if a person has attacked my opponent, tomorrow he can attack me. Encouraging such elements never pays in the long run; but sadly the vision of our politicians is short-term only. We, the people, must understand this.

While lesser known entities are cashing in to steal some lime light by creating sensational stories, even established and well-known media does not want to lag behind. In this highly charged scenario, what do these people in news channels and print media need? Your attention... and for this reason, they dig out or even create sensational stories that sell. Ethics do not mean anything for them. They are certainly not enemies of the country; but do not realize the kind of disservice they are doing to the nation just in their effort to increase their presence and ratings. This may be sad, but true.

Latest, “The Economist” has come out with their own story to join the bandwagon and say that they do not recommend Narendra Modi for the reasons XYZ. Reading the same, I wondered whether it was the kind of “Stock Buy” recommendation!  Do we need their “recommendation” to make our choice? 

Undoubtedly, we need a strong opposition; but if there is no strong government, a strong opposition can only bring in instability and chaos. This is what was witnessed in Delhi very recently. Whatever one may say about AAP, the fact is that the things would have been far better if they had a clear majority. Whether they would have been able to deliver or not; or whether it would have been better to have a BJP or Congress government is a separate issue altogether. I am only talking about the need of a strong and stable government. 

Let us think what the need of the hour is and what is in the best interest of our country. Let us not react to what others say. Let us exercise our right considering the interest of our country; because that is in our interest. We, the people!

Just Think... What Does The Country Need Today.

Strange things are happening in Indian politics. Of course, I am talking about the Anna / TMC Delhi rally on the 12^th March 2014. It does not really make any difference whether it was the show of TMC or Anna Hazare. I am also not much concerned about the number of people who attended the rally. Still I have to make some observations.

Yes, I am wondering about the reasons of Anna Hazare supporting Mamta Banerjee and her TMC.  With nothing against that since it is his personal choice; I would have been happier had Anna decided to support any candidate irrespective of the label. Why restrict to a single party if your aim is to promote probity in public life? It would perhaps be better to put your volunteers to scan all the candidates in a constituency and recommend one. Then you can canvass for that particular candidate even if he belongs to the Congress, BJP or AAP. In that case, there will be many people who would be there to listen, appreciate and support your act.

If we talk of simple living, Mamta Banerjee, Manohar Parrikar and Manik Sarkar are excellent examples, because they are actually living the life that Arvind Kejriwal pretends to. And see, they all belong to different political parties. None of them has made their simple living a publicity point and this aspect of theirs is worth appreciating. Still, I don’t think that alone should earn them votes. Certainly we need simple and honest people; but governance has to be the bottom line. If you are able to spot such clean, capable AND performing candidates and support them, how does their label matter and how does it matter whether there are 1,000 people or 100,000 in a rally? The fight would be for the principles.

Now this has not happened.... And I think the most important point today is to have stability at the Centre. We can hardly afford to push our Parliament to the same state what we have witnessed lately in Delhi Assembly.

Make your choice keeping that in mind!

"I am right" does not mean that "Everybody else is wrong!"

Years ago, when I was interviewing a candidate for a job in our organization, I asked him a very common question, “What are your strengths?” His reply was that he was an honest person. Not very convinced , I remarked that it was not something very great as far as performance on the job is concerned and that there are many honest persons over here. He said, “No, people are not honest. I am the only one.”  Taken aback, I came down very straight, “Do you mean to say, you are the only honest person in this world?” Apt came the reply “Yes!” Not willing to give up, I continued, “How can you say that?” and the bouncer came back, “Since I know it.”

I had to withdraw from the match, since I had no chance to win the argument… and I had no desire to. My job was to assess the candidate and I had done that. Of course, I never met the guy again and just wondered how can people have such bizarre thinking.

Over a period of time, I had forgotten this incident till Arvind Kejariwal showed up. Today, I wish I had the contact details of that guy. Then I could have introduced them to each other and let them fight it out because according to them there can be only one honest person on this earth. There is no space for two.

I personally feel there is nothing wrong in claiming what you are; but you have no copyright over those traits or qualities. I personally had very high hopes from Kejariwal government and was looking for a refreshing change in the governance. But the way he resigned over the so-called principled stand, was highly disappointing. I have been wondering about the future scenario. If the fresh elections bring back AAP with clear majority, naturally they will be able to introduce Jan Lokpal Bill  in spite of LG’s or others’ objections. Fine! Then the bill will have to go to the LG or President. It will not be okayed due to procedural shortcomings or being not in line with the one passed in the parliament. Then Mr Kejariwal, will you resign again? 

Can anyone help me with an answer?