TEN, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two one… shouts the referee and the whole nation watches in heightened anticipation and bated breath, whether the one who’s been floored will rise. Then sit up as he does, and gives the same deadly punch back to his opponent and the referee’s count starts all over again.
There’s a boxing match going on in the country! You, don’t believe it? Open today’s papers and see for yourself: Page 1 of the Times shout, ‘ED hunts ‘money changer’ in case linked to CM’s kin’
And the referee starts counting as the Maharashtra chief minister is hit by this direct punch. ‘Ten, nine, eight, seven, six..’ and then we the people watch as the floored chief minister gets up and hits back, right there on Page 2, of the Times, ‘‘Building where BJP leader stays inspected by BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation).’ The blow was fast and swift. Municipal men urged by the state government inspected the four flats owned by a BJP member and allegedly found illegal construction and encroachments and booked him.
And for the last year or so, these boxing matches twixt Centre and States continue. Which begs the question, is this good or bad? Is it a waste of tax payers money? Are the spectators being taken for a ride? I don’t think so.
Look closely at the punch as it is being delivered. A straight, lethal, body blow, to the vulnerable parts of the opponent. And what exactly are those weak spots? Tax evasion, encroachment, drug trafficking, and a host of other illegal activities, which we least expect national leaders to be involved in.
By default, this match is a match to expose dishonesty and finally, though, it may not happen in any one of these solitary matches, honesty and integrity win. “How?” you exclaim angrily, “This is all about blackmail!”
Yes, for many years this was about blackmail. Any party coming to power, using government agencies and equipment, found enough secrets about their opponents to keep them quiet, under threat of exposure. And due to this we generally had a weak opposition until the next election day.
Today the gloves are off and body blows are being struck. No doubt we’ll have politicians with tainted hands running from the fight, fearing exposure, but slowly and surely, those with nothing to hide, and with clean slates will start standing for elections.
‘Throw a punch at me!’ these new men and women will say fearlessly, and this ongoing match we see today, will hopefully be a cleansing our country desperately needs.
Just like economic competition helps the consumer get a good and fair priced product, these ‘dishonesty revealing matches’ I strongly believe, will finally get us ‘match winning’ honest politicians. Meanwhile listen to the referee shouting, ‘ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…!’
