Ravi Shankar Etteth
Express News Service
First Published : 23 Apr 2011 11:33:00 PM IST
Last Updated : 24 Apr 2011 03:25:55 AM IST
Power corrupts the hard disk. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wiring seems to have short-circuited completely; otherwise how do you explain his memory wipeout?
Waxing Gujralesque, Manmohan’s grandiloquence made it clear that his work would be done if relations with Pakistan are normalised. Has he forgotten he is heading a Government whose relationship with its allies is far worse than things have ever been with Pakistan? A Government that is unable to lift foodgrain to reach the hungry in spite of the Supreme Court questioning its failure to prevent starvation deaths in many parts of the country? A Government that is sandbagged with scams in which the political-corporate nexus is so busy stealing public money that the GDP now stands for Government Dacoit Product? A Government that raises the tax burden on the middle class but is unable to retrieve billions of dollars of black money? What is left for Manmohan, then, to govern? Pakistan?
Manmohan can’t hope to be prime minister again even if the UPA entertains a wild dream of coming back to power in 2014—he will be 82 years old. In a Parliament which has 79 Lok Sabha MPs under 40 years of age, and an average age of 53.03 years, a geriatric prime minister would be a case of pouring stale bathwater back into a retirement home. In what can be easily called the worst reign of any elected government in Indian history, Manmohan seeks his final, shining moment. Peace with Pakistan.
Why do all Indian politicians see solving the Pak problem as the crowning glory of an illustrious career? L K Advani, Rajiv Gandhi, I K Gujral, A B Vajpayee and now Manmohan? What drives Indian leaders to experience this Jesus moment instead of a Sputnik moment? Is Pakistan the last refuge of the retard? Does Manmohan see himself as Anwar Sadat or Menachem Begin, inking a famous peace treaty at Camp David—in this case, it would be Tiger Hill, Kargil—watched over by a benevolent American President who is surreptitiously polishing undeserved Swedish silver in his side pocket? True, the Nobel Academy has lost much of its sheen over the years, having become a political lobby of Left-leaning neo-Europeans without a birth certificate like President Barack Obama. Yet, the Nobel Prize is still the Nobel Prize like Manmohan is still the prime minister. Since Camp David, never mind that the Israelis have been regularly bombing Gaza and the Hamas has been launching missiles against Jerusalem. It’s always a good pitch for political glory to mix public relations with peace, when all else fails.
So, in Pakistan, it seems Manmohan has found the Final Solution. The hubris of a statesman lies in the cradle of his ambition to be canonised as a Pope of everlasting peace. In reality, the cathedral of subcontinental harmony is an ossuary of 1947. No hymns are sung there, only quawalis of expediency. Manmohan would be well advised to start work putting India and his Government back together. Or else Anna Hazare’s Magsaysay Prize will gleam brighter than the Swedish ego massage in the prime minister’s dreams.
ravi.shankar@newindianexpress.com
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