Power personified is ever the politicians’ perpetual Valentine. It is their first love, rather their only one. You may ask where then, money figures in their scheme of things as they chase it with as much eagerness as they pursue power. Well, pelf is the natural off-spring of the unholy communion between power and politicians, a real love child, which the latter love as much as they do their mate.
And it is inevitably a very rewarding affair for the politicos, as we have seen at our expense, be it for just thirteen days or thirteen years. But for a bleeding nation like ours, the love affairs between the politicians and power have been a very costly exercise and the people certainly are in no mood to be humoured by their escapades. Rather, one only hopes that the romance ends soon, preferably as a tragedy.
The things politicians do to achieve power and the extent to which they are ready to go, even if it is just a one-night-stand with power, is simply mind boggling. They kill, kidnap and hijack, are ever ready to crawl, fawn and croon and are game for any act of villainy, or even buffoonery, without remorse or shame, just to attain power.
They court power with the gusto of a youthful romantic, a ruthless one at that, as they bring to fore all their despicable faculties to seduce power. Their yearning and single minded pursuit of power is an unseemly amalgam of hatred, greed, avarice and self-aggrandisement, and things like morals, decency and decorum disappear from their lexicon. Their eyes see, their noses smell and their ears hear nothing else other than the call and vibrations of that irresistible damsel. And once they attain it they give vent to all their love, which most often is nothing but pure lust.
As their heart-throb which is now in their grip, begins to let loose her charms on them, the politicians willingly allow themselves to be guided by its wily ways. The seducer becomes the seduced, as the much-woed Valentine gains control of their mind, body and soul. They kill more, kidnap more and of course, loot more.
Their darling makes them heady, keeps them in a permanent state of intoxication, whispering in their ears that nothing can happen to them so long as she is around. The politicians, foolishly believe every word and throw caution and discretion to the winds.
Then one fine day, their Valentine is gone. Only to land in the arms of another. For, fidelity is not a virtue of this Valentine, as the politicians stupidly believe. With the path to power itself being full of slush and littered with immorality, there is little chance for the Valentine Power to remain pure and pristine.
After all, when dirty hands and dirtier minds handle it, much of the muck is bound to stick on. So, power too has become as immoral, or shall we say,’ politicised’, as the politicians; somewhat similar to the way AIDS spreads among the promiscuous. Power, these days, changes its lovers as easily as the politicians themselves change their parties and ideologies.
If it was Rao, three Valentine Days ago, Gowda and Gujral have come and gone, with the current bachelor at the helm also counting his days of courtship with power. And we are not sure who will hold this much sought after Valentine in his( or is it her?) ‘hand’ same time next year.
For the people at large, this is no affair to remember and cherish. It has only left the nation despondent and depleted, even as the politicians have prospered while power itself remains diluted, diminished and dishevelled owing to the relentless gang-rape by its custodians.
It is high time we probably played the filmy spoil-sport parents and bring the curtains down on the seemingly never ending affair by telling the politicians that they have had their fill and it is now time for them to behave. The sooner the sordid romance ends, the better it is for the nation.
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