01-15-2006, 09:53 AM
<span style='color:blue'><span style='font-family:Times'>The thread â<i>Natwar Singh and The Hindu Parallax</i>â was started mainly to highlight the biases in the Indian media establishment. It may sound cynical but stories about political corruption are passé. Although the Natwar Singh story was a provocation, you would have observed that <i>the Bofor</i>âs saga occupied a large part of the article. None expected that the next instalment of the <i>soap opera</i> would unfold so soon.
The Indian public was shocked by the unfolding <i>Bofor</i>âs story when it did, as, in 1987, the sum of Rs 64 Cr (64 followed by seven zeroes) was beyond the ken of ordinary peopleâs imagination. Today, in hindsight, it appears minuscule in the light of other scams. For e.g., it pales into insignificance before the Rs 900 Cr (i.e. 900 followed by seven zeroes) worth of <i>fodder</i> (<i>fodder </i>here is not used as a metaphor as in <i>cannon fodder</i> but literally to mean <i>fodder</i>) which, one of the messiahs of social justice gobbled to <i>hatao </i>his own <i>garibi</i>.
<span style='color:red'>But the anxiety with which the dynastyâs courtiers (euphemism for psychophants and guttersnipes) rush up to protect the <i>Italian dowager</i>âs family and friends unerringly points the needle of suspicion! If a foreign minister was used as an errand boy earlier, the law minister is the tool this time. He knows better than the CBI. <i>Quattrochi</i> should not be inconvenienced. His acquittal takes time but donât you worry. It will be done. It will be done! For what use is the government if it does not protect the<i> famiglia</i>?
The <i>dynasty</i> follows time-honoured conventions in rewarding loyalty nay doglike devotion of its <i>domestic help </i>while consigning others that fail to measure up in - doglike devotion - to the doghouse! The late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao forfeited his privilege of a cremation or a monument in the capital to which even the <i>dynasty</i>âs puppies are entitled to as he failed to pay obeisance in the court of the <i>Italian dowager</i>.
As you will doubtless remember the LM was rewarded, true to the <i>dynasty</i>âs code of honour, for his committed judicial pronouncements. Just as an election commissioner was rewarded for delaying the <i>Kargil </i>election with a <i>Rajya Sabha</i> seat.
If you feel there is an urgent need to evolve a convention or the enactment of a law barring high constitutional functionaries like judges and members of the election commission from accepting elective office, post retirement - forget it. The function of parliament is to undo resolutions against the <i>dynasty</i>.
All this makes fodder - not of the social justice variety - but for good old <i>Geoffrey</i>âs fiction factory. Again it may sound cynical, but it makes interesting bedtime reading, for nothing changes. So enjoy reading it again!</span></span></span>
The Indian public was shocked by the unfolding <i>Bofor</i>âs story when it did, as, in 1987, the sum of Rs 64 Cr (64 followed by seven zeroes) was beyond the ken of ordinary peopleâs imagination. Today, in hindsight, it appears minuscule in the light of other scams. For e.g., it pales into insignificance before the Rs 900 Cr (i.e. 900 followed by seven zeroes) worth of <i>fodder</i> (<i>fodder </i>here is not used as a metaphor as in <i>cannon fodder</i> but literally to mean <i>fodder</i>) which, one of the messiahs of social justice gobbled to <i>hatao </i>his own <i>garibi</i>.
<span style='color:red'>But the anxiety with which the dynastyâs courtiers (euphemism for psychophants and guttersnipes) rush up to protect the <i>Italian dowager</i>âs family and friends unerringly points the needle of suspicion! If a foreign minister was used as an errand boy earlier, the law minister is the tool this time. He knows better than the CBI. <i>Quattrochi</i> should not be inconvenienced. His acquittal takes time but donât you worry. It will be done. It will be done! For what use is the government if it does not protect the<i> famiglia</i>?
The <i>dynasty</i> follows time-honoured conventions in rewarding loyalty nay doglike devotion of its <i>domestic help </i>while consigning others that fail to measure up in - doglike devotion - to the doghouse! The late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao forfeited his privilege of a cremation or a monument in the capital to which even the <i>dynasty</i>âs puppies are entitled to as he failed to pay obeisance in the court of the <i>Italian dowager</i>.
As you will doubtless remember the LM was rewarded, true to the <i>dynasty</i>âs code of honour, for his committed judicial pronouncements. Just as an election commissioner was rewarded for delaying the <i>Kargil </i>election with a <i>Rajya Sabha</i> seat.
If you feel there is an urgent need to evolve a convention or the enactment of a law barring high constitutional functionaries like judges and members of the election commission from accepting elective office, post retirement - forget it. The function of parliament is to undo resolutions against the <i>dynasty</i>.
All this makes fodder - not of the social justice variety - but for good old <i>Geoffrey</i>âs fiction factory. Again it may sound cynical, but it makes interesting bedtime reading, for nothing changes. So enjoy reading it again!</span></span></span>