Indian politics
has entered the most bizarre stage on show since the last two years thanks
mainly to two crucial factors. First, a series of unprecedented scams terribly
undermined the ruling coalition government and the opposition political parties
saw a godsend opportunity in this to corner the government for lucrative gains
or power in the next General Elections in 2014. Second, the anti-corruption
movement by Anna Hazare and party that made the skeletons cascade out of the
cupboard affecting one and all in politics irrespective of ideologies or party
affiliations. Politicians and upstarts created out of the anti-corruption fight
made the scenario worse.
Endless
allegations, charges and counter-charges, litigation and mushrooming court
cases, character assassinations, personal banalities and a gleefully indulgent media ushered India
into its most sordid era of politics. Maybe the nip of uncertainty in the
atmosphere and a haunting apprehension made the politicians psychic and
unbalanced. They uttered what they should never have, did what they should
never have and kept or left companies that they should never have.
Finally it had
to boil down to the IQ levels on display all around. None other than the
President of the main national opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
Nitin Gadkari, found himself neck-deep in an IQ controversy. Finding another
opportunity in the anti-corruption movement to corner the government Gadkari
and his party initially shared the ideology and the platforms with Anna Hazare and other anti-corruption activists. But he and his party reeled when some
activists-turned-politicians pounced on him and his party for corrupt
practices. The BJP had hardly any option but to defend its President stoutly.
Still under
attack and investigations Gadkari created another huge controversy when he
wanted to show his eloquent and scholarly articulation so unnecessarily. In a
public function he compared the IQ levels of Swami Vivekananda and underworld
fugitive Don Dawood Ibrahim. Assuming the role of an astute psychologist Nitin
Gadkari said that basically the IQ levels of these persons could have been the
same, but one used it for noble and spiritual reasons and the other used it for
criminal and destructive purposes. It was a nationwide rage.
His party
defended him again overcoming friction within with key party functionaries either resigning or criticizing bitterly. Charges and denials chased each other
endlessly. Gadkari insisted he meant only a basic point that people with
similar intelligence or brains do not necessarily follow the same noble way.
Now to the moot
point. If the Indian politicians are so concerned about IQ levels and their
uses why not they themselves use theirs for the right cause? Why they do not
see good reasons in simple good reasons? Why their IQ levels or brains or
intelligence always fail to determine what is right for the country? Why even
the ‘Left’ part of the brains so hopelessly clueless?
India stands to
benefit immensely if its politicians strike the right IQ level!
