Whodunnit

     Curtains it is, after the month long Maharashtra potboiler.

     It had all the makings of a Bollywood thriller with intrigue, kidnapping, ransom, court cases and espionage woven into the plot.

     At times it seemed like an IPL T-20 match which promised to go down to the wire but fizzled out midway as some of the characters decided to throw away their wickets. Did it smell of match fixing? Maybe it did, but we would never know.

     Did any one of the characters in the drama spare a thought for the voter? Or for the farmers who committed suicide or for their families that had lost their bread winner? Or for the pot holed, flooded Mumbai roads that killed or injured people every monsoon season?

     The eager citizens sat through the spectacle hoping that a government would soon take shape. Instead we witnessed episodes day after day, where elected legislators were shepherded, whisked, frisked and sequestered at 5-star hotels apparently to protect them from preying predators!

     The allegiance swearing oaths and pageant like shows where the legislators were seated, counted and paraded were abhorrent.

     We are all aware that these exotic hotels charge exorbitant rents for a night's stay, unaffordable for a common man. As tax paying and law abiding citizens, we plan our holidays and hotel stays by watching out for offers and discounts and finally choose the least expensive option. It is mind boggling how such astronomical sums are coughed up overnight to fund these extravaganzas where the herded legislators are wined, dined and indulged for days together.

     We have heard of tigers and elephants and endangered species of wildlife being poached. These are the days of legislator poaching.They must be invaluable!

     'Secularism' is forgotten, 'communalism' is embraced and all the so-called ideologies are flung out of the window for the lure of power and the throne!

     Maybe there is still a super over that will be played out between the two conglomerates, a la World cup cricket final 2019 between the Kiwis and the English. The winner may yet be declared by the umpire on the basis of highest number of boundaries scored!

     Were we tricked into believing all that transpired in the last month? Was it a plot that was scripted, produced and directed by a wily patriarch for reasons that were best known to him and his kin? Only time will tell!

Latha Raghuram.

   

   

   

 

   

1 comment:

K.R.PRITHVI RAJ said...

Excellent analysis of the scenario - a complete fraud committed on the electorate. After watching the 3-Ring Circus with such adept Trapeze Artists & Clowns our family & friends have decided to continue to cast our votes but in favour of the faceless, secular 'NOTA'. Prithvi Raj.