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THE Iraqi elections were the ultimate in knavery that the Anglo-American combine has come to practice so brazenly. No matter what spin Christiane Amanpour & Co. give to this perversion of democracy it was starkly clear that while Iraqi expats in Europe and the USA exercised their franchise waving V gestures towards obliging cameras – and Kurd-dominated areas of Iraq too voted – Shias and Sunnis sulked albeit for different reasons. The cratered roads, bombed out buildings, bloodied bodies and blazing vehicles tellingly revealed that the Arab nation’s tryst with democracy was anything but authentic. Violence-ridden polls are not unique to Iraq. It’s a familiar feature in India especially Laloo’s Bihar where abductions for revenge and ransom are a common feature. The poll-eve kidnappings of school children have left Laloo and Rabri unfazed. "It’s a conspiracy" thundered Laloo on Aaj Tak. Citing various instances when Barkha Dutt (We, The People, NDTV) described Bihar as India’s crime capital Lalooji took umbrage: "phew kidnappinz sud not" be used to label Bihar so. Cameras can be brutally blunt, especially where political duplicity needs to be exposed – aim the lens on the politicos’ face and ask some straight questions and watch them tie themselves in knots of lies, darned lies as witnessed in the cantata played out in the three states that went to polls in February. With an eye on votebanks, politicos were singing tunes punctuated with false notes, convoluted lyrics and loud music. Cynical finger-pointing was witnessed even while dealing with human tragedy on a big scale. On the Big Fight, Jayanthi Natarajan valiantly tried to defend the poll eve release of UC Bannerjee’s interim report on Godhra claiming that similar tactics were used by the NDA, when it was in power, to attract voters. Pramod Mahajan did his best to stir up passions by resorting to the rhetoric that the saffron brigade is so good at. Political subterfuge and maze of half-truths have become potent propaganda ploys. Or, is it a case of exploiting human tragedy with national ramifications for scoring brownie points? "We are not a casteist party!" growled BSP’s Mayawati even as she declared war on manuwadis (nom de plume for upper castes in her lexicon). In similar vein, Om Prakash Chautala declared both BJP and Congress as casteist and his own INLD as secular and caste-neutral. Chautala went on to fling aspersions at Congressmen for financial improprieties even as he parried all questions regarding the Haryana government’s profligacy vis-à-vis promoting Devi Lal as the state’s politico-cultural deity. On Star News Laloo blamed the NDA government for starving Bihar of funds thus ruining its economy. Nitish Kumar merely spluttered and fumed in response to the brazen doublespeak. In a tête-à-tête with Rajdeep Sardesai (NDTV) Laloo averred that he had never promoted his "phamily" pointing out that his two sons were cricketers, a daughter was a doctor etc. But what about Rabri Debi? "Oh, she ij there on her own merit!" and his two brothers-in-law? They are not "my phamily"! Period. |
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