No More Singhing

The 65th Independence Day is round the corner. Dr. Singh will make yet another speech at the Red Fort in the capital. The point of which is almost always lost on me. Except when Rajiv Gandhi claimed that his government will 'nani yaad dila denge' (will remind the terrorists; their maternal grand mothers!) and when Vajpayee got out of the car with one shoe. Maybe somebody should have proclaimed 'joote yaad dila denge'!

It amazes me how our country, each year is almost always younger than people to stand behind that AIR mic every 15th August. We are a nation catching up with our obsolete politicians, when it should be the other way around. Like every year, this year too we will hear about the many children who will faint while listening to the PM speak. Fortunately for them, they pass out somewhere towards the start of the speech as they are made to wait many hours in the open; in not so comfortable Delhi weather. Which makes me think, why pick children as your audience on i-day? They are always from junior school, too young to vote, too naive to understand political hyperbole and always too smart to feign sickness at the start of the speech. Not only that why does the govt. choose to broadcast the speech on Doordarshan, when exactly five people watch the channel (you know who you are, might know each other as well).

I really do not see any point in this annual tamasha, especially when things not only not improve each passing year, they actually get worse. The last year has seen record scams being unearthed, almost as if politicans wanted to mark the 65th i-day in a special way. Well they succeeded! The scams along with other political happenings have made this truly a special year. Just to name a few of those, lest we forget,  

• 2G
• Adarsh Group Housing
• Aircel Scam
• Bellary Mining
• BMC Road Scam
• Commonwealth Games (the name has a new meaning now)
• Lavassa Scam
• The entire one year of Mayawati's rule
• IPL 3 & 4 (it was always politics!)
• Yeddyurappa & Family Scam
• Greater Noida
• Mamta winning in Bengal
• Jayalalitha winning

The list is endless.

The names change every year, but the promises remain the same. This year however I think, Dr. Singh can really shake things up a bit. I have a suggestion for him which I hope he accepts. He should keep it short, spare everybody the one and a half hour of bullcrap. In fact, here it is. He should get up to the podium, look straight into the camera, the Indian flag flying in the background, and say " I QUIT". Not only will it make it to guinness book for the shortest speech ever, it will also be the perfect thing to do. No promises, no schemes, no reminiscing.

About time we used that massive stage for something momentous.