IDIOT BOX - not anymore

Whatever we watched on our TV sets, was great fun the other day.

I am sorry these are no more idiot boxes showing some idiotic stuff, compared to the show in the Lower & Upper Houses. The actors on the show played real life acts. Some acted on their own scripts without any director’s hints, where as some played to the tunes and scripts written and directed by their masters. All in all it was really a MAD – MAD World, with best of idiots playing their parts.

The ruling party succeeded in getting past the hurdle of simple majority, forget absolute majority in today’s context, through the help of boycott by SP & RJD & support of Trinamul Congress. How simple is the mathematics of Politics in our country ? You may not enjoy majority in any of the houses, but still you could not only rule the country but pass legislations. “ Power Corrupts & Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely ” !! How very true that is? And how very ironical was it because the matter on hands was none other than ANTI CORRUPTION BILL.

Could it have been possible without money flowing freely across the board or assurances of power sharing etc? Any Manipulation is corruption in my opinion, and should not be tolerated.

When it came to the Upper House, the ruling party realized by the end of the day that they would not be able to get past the stiff opposition, they stage managed the closure of proceedings. Even the opposition played the supporting game by putting up 187 amendments. But, I cannot understand why the house could not be continued and the amendments be heard and voted for or against? OR why top leaders could not meet separately and agree upon some major amendments and arrive at a consensus?

The ruling party should have also shown some flexibility and heard the voices of other parties and also shown empathy towards the voice of the PEOPLE. What is the point in thrusting a policy which has no takers?

The funniest part was that every party said they wanted a STRONG LOK PAL BILL, Even Team Anna Says that, but everybody was out proving how what they said was STRONG and not the other was not?  And to decide what that is, we have the mechanism of voting by voice or division by the MPs. We saw in both houses, what happens when it boils down to that.

I feel that a committee / commission of people from the judiciary, lawyers, NGOs fighting for this cause etc should have formed to come out with a final recommendation with a condition that it would be adopted in TOTO once it reaches the parliament. I think they would still have done a much better job, if the politicians were kept out of the loop. I seriously think that only specialists should decide what the best solution is, and then it should be formalized as a policy.

If you do not agree to this point of view, then see what is happening for all such matters, like Metro ( Underground or Over Ground in Pune ), Reservation in education, then in jobs, in politics and now for Lokpals & Lokayuktas, Permission for setting up NANO Plant ? How an issue which is bad for one state becomes good for the other and vice- versa?