Ring, a ring o' roses, Pocket full of Posies...

This nursery rhyme seems to be the current political anthem in India. It has something to do with February having so few days, the receding winter or the approaching budget sessions. The politicians have been falling over each other to fall lower than the others.

The leaders in this race (based on media coverage) are the Karnataka legislators discovered watching porn on their cell phones. Forget what the news channels say, I find their commitment to parliamentary ethos creditable. With umpteen cases of parliamentarians & legislators playing truant while the house is in session as a precedent & when they could have watched a steamier film on a larger screen, these gentlemen made it a point to attend the legislature proceedings. 

That they were distracted enough to play with their cellphones (they claim to have accidentally clicked a link), is a testimony to the fallen standards of parliamentary debate. Had the discussions in the august house been more interesting & participative, these gentleman would have been a part of it. Why blame them? How many of you actually watch the live telecast from Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha?

Of course, the Karnataka assembly took immediate steps to prevent recurrence of such events. It has banned TV cameras when the house is in session! (http://www.ndtv.com/) 

The assembly also plans to equip all MLA's with iPads (http://expressbuzz.com/). The fruits of electoral toil are certainly sweet! The journo's would now have to work hard to get stories & sweat it out to fill the pages & airtime. 

While this constitutional authority was taking control of things, there was another one which witnessed its authority being repeatedly undermined. The election commission (EC) is being challenged by the congress leaders in UP over the issue of quota within quota within quota. Had it not been busy covering up the statues of Mayawati AND elephants in UP, perhaps the EC would have had enough energy left to exert its power over these errant politicians.

Unfortunately this time, the EC was too busy in non-core activities. Even before the campaign started, the EC was already on the job - confiscating liquor bottles, supposedly meant to be distributed to the electorate. Just imagine, had all this liquor actually reached the intended recipients, the voting percentage would have been so much higher. Perhaps, even in Mumbai! India would then have been an even bigger democracy!

Unfortunately, confiscation of liquor by EC had another fallout. The colour red is vanishing from Kolkata. Not the left front, stupid. Its leadership is in the able hands of nonagenarians, who hope to regain power from Didi in not too distant a future. Today's news is about Kingfisher Airlines suspending operations in Kolkata. (Dr. Mallya being a parliamentarian is coincidental.) Grounding the fleet is a small price to pay to keep the spirits high. Let's hope it is only the skies, & not the watering holes, that are deprived of the King of Good Times.

When a battle was being fought to drive away/protect the north Indians in Mumbai/Maharashtra, a marathi manoos fell. Of all the places, in UP, North India! I am speaking about Nitin Gadkari who remained unhurt when the stage he was sitting on collapsed. (watch it on http://www.youtube.com/)

It may be hilarious but I am amazed this is the first time such a mishap has occurred. We have many leaders who are heavyweights politically as well as physically... the likes of Jayalalitha, Mayawati. These high profile leaders spend a large amount of time atop (temporarily erected) stages, much larger than Gadkari. They also have a more active public life than Gadkari. So, why only Gadkari? Perhaps, these leaders have already fallen lower (in their political life) than Gadkari & cannot fall further.

But such a fall is not totally unexpected. Once upon a time Indian leaders undertook padyatras to communicate with a larger audience. Beginning with respected leaders like Gandhi & Vinoba Bhave to poltical stalwarts like Chandrashekhar (who later went to be the Prime Minister), all resorted to a padyatra. But things changed after the very succesful Rathyatra by LK Advani (who is still in the race to be the PM). The success of Advani signaled the demise of padyatra as a political weapon. The result is for all to see - overweight politicians. Had they kept walking, they would have been leaner & fitter. Unfortunately, they favour only their Johny Walkers, not the message.  

Elsewhere, a fitter politician was lost his anger, finally. The long weeks out in the heat & dust of the countryside made Rahul angry enough to tear apart the SP manifesto. One hopes for his sake that he is able to do the same in the mandate too!

Amidst all this there was one leader who kept his cool. MSD, down under, has again started finishing matches & Team India has rediscovered the winning ways, today's loss notwithstanding.