…and Laloo, Rabri and all their cattle lived happily ever after. Of course, inside their official residence which housed them in whatever space was left after stocking all the haystack, cottonseed, oil cakes and sundry other bovine accessories. Thus ended a tragic-comedy show last week, though the original script intended by the author went haywire owing to too many cooks spoiling the fodder.
Never mind, because at least democracy was salvaged, besides a few bowls of good cow dung and pots of milk, which would have all gone to waste had Rabri and Co been thrown out. A democracy as propagated by the first couple of Bihar, Rabri Prasad and Laloo Devi, for their people, cows and their calves and of their clan, which includes the couple’s innumerous off-springs and other kin and lest I forget, the aforementioned cattle too.
Good, Danish breed I am told. No, not democracy, I meant their cattle. Even the President has given his seal of approval for..no not the cows, but democracy. Where was I? Ah, yes, democracy was saved and incidentally so was Rabri Yadav, the CM and Laloo Devi, the first gentleman, sorry, lady…er gentleman it is. Pardon, if I sound a bit dazed. There is something about Laloo and Bihar that makes you feel dizzy and you get all mixed up. It is as if you had sent all your rationality and common sense to graze somewhere, along with the cattle..hell.
Of course, democracy was saved by the very good President’s extraordinary sense of constitutional propriety. But he would still have served and saved democracy much more if he had shown the door to this horde. Come to think of it, besides democracy, the President would have even saved a few hundred crores of public money if the corrupt, inept, incompetent, lawless and absolutely incorrigible rulers were given the boot.
But alas, they continue to remain at the helm, and as if the authority vested in them is not enough, they have now gained an aura, too, as upholders of democracy and justice. Look what Laloo has to say now: The President has protected democracy…It is a victory of the people…The struggle against communalism has to be intensified…
He is now the torch-bearer of the anti-BJP campaign, the most secular of the secular, and the righteous crusader for democratic values. He now plans to fight the communal elements, protest rising prices, oppose formation of Vananchal, take on divisive forces etc, etc. Given the time, he is now game for anything, ready to discuss any issue be it Clinton’s sexcapades, Monica’s blue dress or CTBT, nukes and the like, or even our own Cauvery trouble.
Like a starved cow released from hungerous captivity, every pasture looks very green to his eye, every political issue a platform for his never ending sermons. As this bull from the Patna shop goes berserk, trampling upon all norms of decency and decorum and strutting around like a paragon of virtues under the new found garb of Presidential ‘pardon’, the nation is left wringing the arms in despair and dismay, a mute spectator to all this outrage, something it has wrought upon itself through this double edged sword called democracy. It is even more pathetic to see several national parties and so called intellectuals of the red hue, throwing their lot and surrendering their initiative and goodsense to this audacious politician, verymuch like the meek cattle in Laloo’s shed.
The nation has no choice now but be a willing witness to the man’s theatrics as he goes about on his lunatic binge, with official sanction. What a price to pay for democracy and constitutional correctness?
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