INDIA's PESTILENTIAL POLITICIANS
Politicians are a class unto themselves. This is true of all democratic countries. US had Nixon of Watergate fame; Bill Clinton in the Oval House having sex with Monica.
In India the scandals which attract the media and which are never proved relate to political corruption.
Remember Rajiv Gandhi for the guns scandal and Italian connection? Jayalalithaa for loot and scoot? Narasimha Rao for several scams none which could be proved?
And now comes, with India's ex-Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, the Oil-for-food scam in the Iraq of Saddam's dispensation? After the scam broke out Natwar Singh was first made Minister without Portfolio, and then forced to resign. Does it really matter? He is an old man. If the scam is true his son is the beneficiary and he is young enough to enjoy the benefits.But the oil-for-food scam has brought with it a lot of other scam names.
The pity with Indian scams is they temporarily unseat politicians from power, the investigation teams spend precious resources of the state, the judiciary spends its precious time which should otherwise be available to ordinary citizens, but nothing ever gets proved, and no one ever gets punished. The beneficiaries, if the scams are true continue to enjoy the benefits of their loot.
The column by TJS George in The New Sunday Express of December 11, 2005, titled Fathers and sons; let scandals flourish, is a telltale.
George in his inimitable style looks at Indian scams and in the end speaks for the people. That is, Indian politicians have made a disgraceful mess of our country. They have become a menace. May their tribe not increase. May they roam the earth for 3000 years, shunned by society, tormented by all the diseases on earth, suffering pestilences that will make Aswathama's accursed wanderings look like a picnic.
Well said Georgie!