You are already getting bombarded by bad news coming out of the CWG. I will not add to your miseries. Instead, I will focus on the selfishness of our leaders. For a politician, it is all about self preservation and self propagation. Any unfortunate being happens to be on the way, well, too bad for the being. But sometimes, even from this breed of vampires, rises someone who after sating his own thirst does something for the people or the country. Those are what we would like to call, leaders. Fortunate nations have a fair share of those. Even an unscrupulous leader like Vladimir Putin, whom I have come to admire since, has brought back Russia from the abyss and made the country relevant in the world again.
I don't know what sins India and Indians have committed in the past that we have been cursed with the more than our share of bad leaders. Leaders, for whom, the only conviction is winning the election. I am not even going to talk about regional politicians who are a step below a criminal. National leaders are supposed to do the right thing after all the wrongs committed on the campaign trail. These leaders are not supposed to make Faustian pacts to save their "kursi". Sheela Bhatt writes in the following article:
"Before the general election of 2009, Rahul Gandhi's popularity was ascending. He was going to home of Kalawatis and other Dalits as well as many college campuses around India. He was rediscovering India and searching for suitable issues. Then, rediff.com had asked two senior members of the Congress Working Committee why Rahul Gandhi was not taking up the leadership of CWG as his father Rajiv Gandhi, who provided leadership to the Asian Games in 1982? It would have helped the country and would have helped Rahul launch himself as an efficient administrator. The response for the two leaders was similar. They said that CWG was much behind schedule and in a mess. Kalamadi's control over the OC was total and he was difficult to replace. The senior leaders also said that "it's risky to jeopardise Rahul Gandhi's prestige by providing leadership to the CWG."
At the risk of sounding petulant, I am going to refrain from asking "what prestige?” However, I am going to ask is if someone cannot be trusted with CWG which is nothing but a large project with no conflicting interests then how can he be trusted with managing a complex organization like a country?. He should have been able to take on that mess and make a name for himself. It seems that his handlers would rather have him drink tea once in a while with the poor and make him look like the second coming of the Mahatma! Rahul Gandhi has the clout in his party and could have lit fire under incompetent buffoons but he chose to take a safe way out. We know that this man lacks the ability and the intellect. Now we know that he even lacks the spirit. What gives him the right to the PM's kursi?
Let me paraphrase a popular proverb and say that a person who is in position of power who condones corruption IS corrupt even though he himself may be clean. Since the last election, even with as good a mandate as can be won in India, Manmohan Singh has put up with corruption (A Raja), treason (Mamta Bannerjee joining hands with the Maoists), inaction (too many to mention), naïveté (repeated talks with Pakistanis) and cowardice (getting bullied by China). How long is this man going to get a pass?
Even the party I support has selfish and arrogant leaders. How else could they have missed looking at real India where people were suffering and mounted the self-congratulatory "India Shining" campaign? How could they have proposed to hold CWG, knowing full well that the money could have been better spent elsewhere? Even today, they are cutting a Faustian pact to form a government in Jharkhand. Being Hindu Conservatives, better things are expected from them.
An ancient civilization and culture like India can certainly do better than these guys. India and Indians deserve better.
Analysis: Why the CWG has gone horribly wrong
The article can be read at:
http://news.rediff.com/special/2010/sep/22/analysis-why-the-cwg-has-gone-horribly-wrong.htm
I don't know what sins India and Indians have committed in the past that we have been cursed with the more than our share of bad leaders. Leaders, for whom, the only conviction is winning the election. I am not even going to talk about regional politicians who are a step below a criminal. National leaders are supposed to do the right thing after all the wrongs committed on the campaign trail. These leaders are not supposed to make Faustian pacts to save their "kursi". Sheela Bhatt writes in the following article:
"Before the general election of 2009, Rahul Gandhi's popularity was ascending. He was going to home of Kalawatis and other Dalits as well as many college campuses around India. He was rediscovering India and searching for suitable issues. Then, rediff.com had asked two senior members of the Congress Working Committee why Rahul Gandhi was not taking up the leadership of CWG as his father Rajiv Gandhi, who provided leadership to the Asian Games in 1982? It would have helped the country and would have helped Rahul launch himself as an efficient administrator. The response for the two leaders was similar. They said that CWG was much behind schedule and in a mess. Kalamadi's control over the OC was total and he was difficult to replace. The senior leaders also said that "it's risky to jeopardise Rahul Gandhi's prestige by providing leadership to the CWG."
At the risk of sounding petulant, I am going to refrain from asking "what prestige?” However, I am going to ask is if someone cannot be trusted with CWG which is nothing but a large project with no conflicting interests then how can he be trusted with managing a complex organization like a country?. He should have been able to take on that mess and make a name for himself. It seems that his handlers would rather have him drink tea once in a while with the poor and make him look like the second coming of the Mahatma! Rahul Gandhi has the clout in his party and could have lit fire under incompetent buffoons but he chose to take a safe way out. We know that this man lacks the ability and the intellect. Now we know that he even lacks the spirit. What gives him the right to the PM's kursi?
Let me paraphrase a popular proverb and say that a person who is in position of power who condones corruption IS corrupt even though he himself may be clean. Since the last election, even with as good a mandate as can be won in India, Manmohan Singh has put up with corruption (A Raja), treason (Mamta Bannerjee joining hands with the Maoists), inaction (too many to mention), naïveté (repeated talks with Pakistanis) and cowardice (getting bullied by China). How long is this man going to get a pass?
Even the party I support has selfish and arrogant leaders. How else could they have missed looking at real India where people were suffering and mounted the self-congratulatory "India Shining" campaign? How could they have proposed to hold CWG, knowing full well that the money could have been better spent elsewhere? Even today, they are cutting a Faustian pact to form a government in Jharkhand. Being Hindu Conservatives, better things are expected from them.
An ancient civilization and culture like India can certainly do better than these guys. India and Indians deserve better.
Analysis: Why the CWG has gone horribly wrong
The article can be read at:
http://news.rediff.com/special/2010/sep/22/analysis-why-the-cwg-has-gone-horribly-wrong.htm
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