Governance without goodness,
People seething with discontent...
It's this injustice, not the enemy,
That'll vanquish us in our own territory.
From Parashuram ki Pratiksha — Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
Tireless Hope queues up to vote for good governance yet again. But even Hope dare not expect 'goodness' in governance when it comes to India's ballot boxes. Twelve general elections have taught us that electoral politics is mostly about caste, corruption, convenient coalitions, and worse. Mostly about choosing the least unacceptable among the vote scroungers. Contenders who'd barter ideology for a ticket. Values for votes...
...And India elects 543 from among them to its House of the People. And almost expectedly, once there, they are quick to forget those who elected them. Till the next polls. When people elect them, or others like them, as their leaders. Yet again.
People, an adage goes, get the leaders they deserve. Surely, we deserve better. An opinion poll, conducted by a daily recently, placed the politician below smugglers in a...
