State of the State

Reaching Kol on Dday! 'The city is tense already', they say. 'Why?', I ask. 'Elections happen across states. Why create tensions? Why do citizens put up with it? Why is it that the so called 'city of intellectuals' allows for the rule of a minority bunch of hooligans?'

For my part, I am still unsure which is the better party to win. Each shows equal probability for growth as well as disrepair. Once the heart of prosperity, Kolkata today, has not just fallen behind by atleast 15 years, but also reduced to being categorised as a tier two city! Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad are now added to Tier 1!!!

My well wishers say I am an idealist. Well I say, it is better than being a pacifist. They say you need to be the change you want to see. I haven't done much for my state, I agree. So starting now, it begins. I will not change my plans and reach Kolkata on 13th come what may (despite what my well wishers say). Bring it on you 'social maggots'. Let's see what you have got.

Don't cower down to these vandals. I request the masses to stand up on their feet and protest for a safe and balanced Kolkata. Say no to bandhs. Say no to the mockery of democracy (in a socialist state). If you don't change now, you never will.

What were they thinking?

Well...the media did a good job on the CWG expose. It was quite a brilliant coup. They did deserve their TRP's. I watched in fascination all the gory details of the alleged transactions that had taken place. Hoping against hope that they would persist until the wrong doers were prosecuted. CWG happened and the all forgiving... oops sorry 'forgetting' nature of the Indian masses took over. I was left wondering how much of the $3000 toilet paper was left and what it would feel to use the same.

Very conveniently, the Radia tapes were released. Those pursuing the CWG case became the pursued and all for what? For exercising their democratic right of freedom of expression? For being human? Overnight, lobbying became a black word!!! There is nothing wrong with shifting allegiances. Happens to the best of us! Happens all the time! Only the hypocrites would say that they have never shifted allegiances or lobbied for the wrong person in their own sphere of influence.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not lobbying for the accused media persons. They are just pawns who got caught in a splendid master plan. Do you really think that the tapes were leaked by accident and that they are the only tapes the IT department has? I am sure our IT department is much more competent than that. The congress party has mastered the art of political chess playing (aka confidential leaks). Every time it is pushed to a corner, they churn out a totally unrelated buried corpse that is sure to stink. Remember the rise in sugar prices and the (almost immediate) Liberhan report leak? Oh! of course not....

The scope of the CWG scam is simply enormous. The star of the scam (the honcho, so to speak), if pronounced guilty, will certainly sing like a canary. The canary's song has the power to topple the entire government as well as the bureaucratic system ('literally'). He will never be touched. The CBI (a body without a backbone) will continue to make lame excuses and dilly dally on tracking evidence and serving notices.

Sadly, the media held a myopic view of things despite early warnings such as Manish Tiwari's statement that the money lost because of alleged corruption in Queen's Baton Relay was only a fraction of the total expense. Which in literal terms translated to some tens of crores if not hundreds. The beneficiaries of which have safely and carefully stashed it all away like they have been doing for years. As proof, the WDR report showed how the Swiss inward remittances shot through the roof all through the years of CWG preparations.

Here's hoping that wikileaks will turn up something more interesting soon :-). And of course we Indians will forget it all in a while. We have of course forgotten all about the Indian (unaccounted for) money stashed in Swiss accounts too. A thumbs up to all the corrupt Indians out there. You have certainly chosen the right country to cheat.