Many years ago, there used to be a video newsmagazine called Newstrack. One episode was on interviewing Devi Lal. Interview began, and the interviewer asked him why he had made his son, Om Prakash Chautala, the chief minister of Haryana. Devi Lal replied:
”Tho kya Bhajan Lal ke chhore ko banaaoo?”
–cannot match the rustic delight of it. I loved that riposte, and remember it still, because it was a rare moment of honesty from an Indian politician.
Devi Lal could have said that his son was a fine leader, and had served the people of Haryana. He could have said that it was a democratic decision by the party. But his statement made no pretence of denying what we all already know: Politicians are motivated by nothing other than a lust to power, and once they acquire it, they want to pass it on, like a material possession, to their progeny.
Now imagine Sonia Gandhi, asked why Rahul Gandhi has been elevated in the Congress Party, saying: “Tho kya LK Advani ke chhori ko banaaoo?”
Young Rahul has received many fulsome tributes recently, but has no political achievements to his credit, and hasn’t come up in the party the hard way. (Unless waiting is considered hard, as it might well be for a crown prince.) But no one in the Congress Party will have the cojones to admit that Gandhi’s position comes from Gandhi’s name, and nothing else.
RE:The Hypocrisy of Indian Politics
by Piyush Gupta on Jul 23, 2008 03:03 PM Permalink
Rahul Baba has really waited for quite some time. This must have been a torture for this poor child. In fact the whole country was tortured by making them tolerate a puppet PM only to ensure that rajtilak of Baba does not face any opponent.
