Being Cynical�

If something good that has happened in last week or so (apart from India barely managing to win the test series) has to be the emerging of a Bihari Babu. In the chaos of scams, shams and nepotism amounting to thousands or even lakhs of crores, Nitish Kumar’s flamboyance in the last Bihar legislative election is for sure a rare spark of light at the end of the tunnel. More than the win it is the hope that we are finally moving away from the dirty caste based and mafia dominated politics is refreshing. But before we should uncork the bottle, let’s think again – are we celebrating a little too early? Are our joys a little premature? Are we satisfied with the change in Bihar or want the same to get replicated in our national politics also? A small analysis of Nitish’s achievements of last half decade might just give us a clue, if not the answers.

I am not sure of the Biharis but for others, going to a world war to fight was always a better option than going to Bihar to peruse their jobs. Forget about settling there; even the thought of driving or a train journey through Bihar was good enough to bring a shiver to the last possible nerves. This was the Bihar we used to know and perceive when Lalu Yadav and company were at the helm of affairs. Governance was out of the window with gun wielding goons roaming the streets and calling the shots in the political circles of Patna. Women were protected more strategically inside their homes than gold ornaments once the clock hits the 7 P.M mark. A mere purchase of Maruti 800 brought about an extortion letter along with the RC book. No one was sure when he would get kidnapped – while going to office, during a morning walk or even while addressing the nature’s call in the nearby paddy field. Extortion and ransom was at all time high with instances of individuals getting kidnapped multiple times with ransoms being negotiated at the nearest police stations. Not to mention a handsome part of this unethical booty going to the bank accounts of the political powers that be – starting with Lalu Yadav and down.

This phenomenon of lawlessness was a matter of humiliation for thousands of Biharis outside the state. I still remember a friend (during my engineering days) of mine was ashamed to the core to divulge his state in public. Did you just say you belong to Bihar? There goes the squeezing of the nostrils and eyebrows rose. I am not blaming the strange facial expressions of the recipient party. The whole lawlessness has made all to believe – A Bihari is always a Bihari. Full with nonsense and uncultured to the bottom and as rogue as one can get. More than anything Nitish to some extent has successfully managed to change such outrageous perception. If not proud, the Biharis are not ashamed anymore, at least while divulging their mother state.

Now we see a revamped Bihar. Law has taken its due position. Goons promptly tucked away behind bars. Women roaming around freely on Patna or elsewhere streets well into the mid of the night. Girls riding the bicycles to their schools. A growth rate of 11%, a good 3% more than the country’s growth rate. No more hijacking of brand new cars from showrooms to felicitate some minister’s political campaign or son’s barat. No extortion calls if your passport gets stamped for a USA Visa. Rapes on hourly basis made a strict nose dive. Food on the plates of the poorest of the poor. No caste or religion bakery left for buffoons like Lalu Yadav or Pashwan to bake their breads. Crooks and thugs cutting party lines are promptly shown the door and advised to pursue a different career. On the face value, even if these changes seem very rudimentary and fundamental one, for a Bihari it is nothing less than a hell lot achieved within 5 years.

More than dashing cast based election out of the way, Nitish Kumar proved another vital point – Let’s not always blame our system for corruption. When the guy at the top is clean, the system responds. Perhaps in the history of Indian democracy, for the first time people have voted for development, good governance and clean society. If this is not good enough a reason to cheer our throat out then I am not sure what could be. Hope this gets re-produced in all elections to follow where people en-mass come forward and vote for development and governance.

I remember one Nana Patekar’s dialogue in some movie – ‘Dus main se nau beimaan, phir bhi mera Bharat mahan’. Couldn’t agree more Nana. We know it. The Babus and politicians who are the so called law makers and custodian of law know it as well. Of late we made the whole world know, how our country is full with big Beimaans and rascals through our spectacular mis-management of CWG. But the irony is - nothing is done to get rid of these beimaans. Worse no one has a clue (not that they wanted to have a clue though) on how we should get rid of this. No sooner we are ashamed with one scam and about to cope with the situation another bigger and sinner scam pops up, making the previous one look nothing in comparison. This is precisely the trend of the scams for last decade or so.

If you are not from a banana republic (which we Indians are hopefully not) then it is the law that forbids you from crossing the line. More than the law it is the enforcement that matters a great deal. But look at what and how far we have enforced our laws. A seasoned crook like A.Raja, with a heavy pocket of 60000 crore of tax payers money is sitting pretty in his office desk. It is one year since this scam was exposed and an over reluctant and lethargic department like CBI was asked to investigate. Let’s not talk about what and at which rate these good for nothing CBI sleuths investigated, which is evident from the dissatisfaction of our Apex court on the whole thing. No doubt rascals like Raja are all at ease as they very well aware that nothing going to happen. Look at Kalmadi and team. They smartly pocketed a huge lot of public money but still continuing with their position and power and laughing at us Indians. Isn’t it insult-to-injury? A lot of hot air was blown after the scoundrels of the CWG mess were caught with their pants as well as underwear down. An uncountable number of official agencies were thrown into action to do an eyewash act. But at the end – the crooks are there where they were before. No action taken and certainly doesn’t look like any action would be taken against them ever.

I once remember a railway police Havildar mercilessly beating a local vendor for entering the A/C boggy. Asked him the reason, he might just read out few railway acts as an eye-opener. But the same guy wouldn’t question the chap who was seen smoking nearby. All those acts go out of the window when actually it should have been implemented first. One certainly doesn’t need too many examples to realize that – in India the law is only applicable to poor and down trodden. The moment you carry a thick wallet you can easily break few of these laws, depending on your wallet size and still can go scot-free. A pickpocket is beaten, till he is almost dead but highway robbers are let loose to accomplish their nefarious dreams. Petty crimes committed out of back-breaking poverty attracts merciless beating and a good year or two behind bars, but scoundrels like A. Raja and Kalmadi are made sure to remain untouched.

Greed has taken over humanity in India for sure. Look at what our able politicians, Babus and few of the retired armed force officers have achieved out of their greed. They even didn't spared the dead from their nepotism. People who gave their life for the wellbeing of the nation were ashamed by their own men – by people for whom they laid down their lives. Their own high ranking officials didn’t think twice before baking their bread on their dead bodies. The widows of the martyrs for whom the Adarsh Housing society was formulated were promptly overlooked with kith and keens of the politicians and Babus running away with the flats in the posh area. Ask the skunks involved in the scam – you will hear exiting answers to say the least. Few will behave as innocent and ignorant as kids to let you convince that they were never aware of the said flats are meant for war widows. Few other master thieves like Ashok Chavan would try to suggest how clean they are how unaware they are of the mess that was going around for years together in their neighborhood. These are the precise master acts of our beloved politicians who even would put up a brave and innocent face (all at the same time) even if they are caught with money stuffed in their Dhotis.

Now where one should go from here? CWG scam was put in the back burner (by the media) due to this latest Kargil for profit scam. No wonder buffoons like Kalmadi would be smirking and thanking the new scam to emerge right at the nick of time. Not that anything would happen to the culprits of this latest scam. After few days a new scam would emerge and bigger rascals would be unearthed and scoundrels of the Kargil scam would be left smirking along side Kalmadi and team. More than these disturbing realities Mrs. Sonia Gandhi find Babri Masque demolition and RSS-SIMIMera Bharat Mahan”. comparison more important to discuss in the AICC meeting. This shows that nothing is going to happen to these latest set of rogues. Things would continue as it is. Guys would produce some hot air from their backside for sometime and then the crooks would be seen going to their banks laughing and we Tax payers would be running all around for answers. In true sense – “