Of overflowing coffers and empty conscience

There is a children’s short story in Hindi about a tight-fisted king whose subjects seek his help during a famine. His matter-of-fact reply is, “Today it is famine, tomorrow, it could be an earthquake, the day after, people would be dying of poverty. If I go around helping them, what will happen to me and my treasury?” [Striking resemblance to our politicians].
When his subjects request him to part with some money from his overflowing coffers, the king retorts that it is his money and he would do what he wanted with it: boil it and drink or even fry it. It was none of the business of his subjects.
Seeing people in distress, an old monk decides to help them by tricking the king. He approaches the king with false praises and asks him for some offering, saying he would take a rupee on the first day and its double the next day, and a double of what he took the second day on the third and go on with the double of the previous day for 20 days. The king was only too eager to part with what he thought was a tiny amount from his treasury. But mathematics beat the king as he realised he had parted with Rs 10,48,575 at the end of 20 days.
I wish we had a monk in our midst to fool our Kalmadis and Rajas. What else is the solution to dissolve our corrupt rajas in white? For starters, the ruling Congress sacked Ashok Chavan as Maharashtra chief minister and Suresh Kalmadi as Congress Parliamentary Party secretary as soon as the Obamas punched their return ticket. However, the main course of action remains to be seen. Suresh Kalmadi retains his position in the Indian Olympics Association as well as his MP status.
The next storm brewing over the capital is the 2G spectrum scam. The Manmohan Singh government is caught between the Supreme Court questioning the continuation of the telecom minister, A. Raja, in the Union Cabinet in the wake of the Rs 1.7 lakh crore scam and keeping its key ally, the DMK, in good humour. The Supreme Court has slammed the CBI for “dragging its feet” on the 2G spectrum scam and called its investigation “slipshod”. It also questioned the continuation of A. Raja as telecom minister.
The DMK, will not tolerate the removal of its minister, A. Raja, as it would be seen as admission of guilt. This will not work well for Karunanidhi’s DMK, in view of its image in the Assembly elections in six months’ time. Karunanidhi has carefully polished the chief ministerial chair for his son, M.K. Stalin, and wants no curtains on his Dravidian drama. But, he is also carefully treading his path. Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to mobilise the youth in Tamil Nadu might fracture the DMK’s base and the doting father does not want to ruin the dynasty after having carefully worked on it. So the choice of guilt, UPA alliance and Assembly elections hang heavily on Karunanidhi’s old shoulders. That could be the reason the DMK fired a cracker this Diwali season, using the Dalit wick. It said sacking Raja might not bode well for the UPA as he is the Dalit face of the alliance. This salvo might work, as both the parties hope to cash in on the Dalit votebank in the Tamil Nadu Assemble elections.
A good friend pointed out that Suresh Kalmadi belonged to his “home state” and, he was, therefore, ashamed of his deeds. Do not worry, my friend. All our Indian friends will have some reason to be ashamed. Every state has its own share of ministers who have mopped up money. In other words, every state has corrupt politicians. Jai Hind. We are all in a Sorry State.