The games people play….

I am sure most were delighted with Michelle Obama and her gregarious attitude on Indian soil. Charming to say the least. Michelle played hopscotch and danced her way through our hearts with her spontaneity. Michelle matched every step and she was in perfect tandem with the school girls of Mumbai from Holy Name High School while dancing to a Koli fisherfolk song. It was a pleasure to see the first lady display this kind of attitude, now a rarity in India which is getting used to seeing more poker faces on display than not. I have hardly witnessed our leading “political” ladies or the ladies of our leading netas bewitching us in this manner in the recent past. The game of hopscotch ended fair and square when the Obamas left, especially after the initial crying of foul accusing the US of not keeping up to our expectations.More games were played out in the last few days. One more notorious than the other and included variations of the popular hide and seek, catch me if you can, dumb charade and even pinning the donkey’s tail.

Another game was the recent hide and seek around the Adarsh housing society. What a game this one turned out to be. Housing meant for widows of our brave men from the forces have been allocated to living politicians and very much alive and kicking senior officers from the armed forces. These men were hiding under their lamentable and deplorable actions till their lids were blown off recently. Surely the senior officers involved in the scam along with our Netas must be probed by the CBI?But lately even the highest investigative agency in this country appears to be highly dysfunctional and maligned in its investigations and there is little hope that investigation will yield an adequate outcome.Several serving and retired senior officers that included two former Army Chiefs Nirmal Vij and Deepak Kapoor and former Navy Chief Madhvender Singh were allotted flats in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai. The grotty actions by the highest ranking officers of the country are nothing short of being disastrous to the morale of the nation which largely holds the forces in the highest of esteem. The Environment Minister Mr Jairam Ramesh is planning to raze the structure which has violated environmental regulations. Raze he must and not entertain any form of regularization. The land is meant for war widows and nobody else must be granted ownership to it and it is only then will justice prevail. Yes, we had Mr Ashok Chavan resign, but what happens to Chavan and his relatives now that he has resigned? He will continue to hide along with his clan and other scheming bureaucrats and no one will seek them out.

Throughout the entire time the one who has mastered the game of “dumb charade” is Mr Manmohan Singh. Time and over he is labeled as “Mr Clean”. But what use is it to have a Prime Minister who sounds, walks and talks like a household disinfectant when the Ministers serving in his cabinet are reeking and their stench is suffocating the nation. Take the case of A Raja, the honorable Telecom Minister. Raja still continues to sit on his telecom throne with not an iota of shame. Raja has made it amply clear that despite all and sundry ( including a damning report from CAG ) pinning his ( the donkey’s ) tail he merrily wishes to behave like a jackass. Raja, the donkey is spurned by Karunanidhi who wears the darkest of blinkers to the staggering INR 1.8 lakh crores that has been siphoned off from the ex chequers coffers. Amounts such as these are so dumbfounded that it would take only a genius Mathematician like Shakuntala Devi to write down the amount in numbers without batting an eyelid! In this whole scam, I quite enjoyed Jayalalitha’s deft move where she the offered support of her eighteen party members on live television in the event of the DMK pulling out support from the coalition. So a bit of chess is now introduced to a combo deal of dumb charade and pinning the donkey’s tail.Delightful. And if Sonia allows Rajas head to be on the chopping block , therein begins the tug of war!The so called clean Congress has it in them to dispel its erring members so long as there is public pressure especially via a vociferous media. But Congress cannot touch anyone else with its little finger bar its own. The coalition have them on a tight leash.

The Congress may pride themselves in the sacking of Kalmadi but there is little point in booting Kalmadi after he successfully played Boostrap Bill sucking on to even microscopic bacteria that came his way. Kalmadi has handed the booty to those he was meant to within the party and Sonia played damsel in utmost distress thereafter. After looting as much as he has Kalmadi will be on a honeymoon and continue playing truant. Congress cannot do much about stopping corruption at the outset but gloats about paper sacking thereafter.

It was equally atrocious to witness a smiling Rathore get into his car yesterday and walking away without a care in the world on a bail that was granted to him. In this country the biggest of scams are just waiting to be served to the CBI and it is surely getting more fashionable to let the biggest scums off. Shame on the CBI for making a mockery of Ruchika’s case. The former DGP of Haryana played with the life of a child and abetted her death. There is every likelihood of many such child molesting “Rathores” who hide behind a charade of high-mindedness and even higher authority. The CBI appears like a travel agency that creates a hasty getaway for scoundrels such as Rathore. Would punishing Rathore lead to many more skeletons falling out from the closet? The games our Netas, bureaucrats and even senior officers from the honorable forces play continues to sicken this nation.