Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Sting Operation

on politicians seems to be the scoop of the week. Duh..so what else is new? I always knew Indian politicians could be bought anyway; its an open secret.

Typically, Mr. A needs Mr. Khadi to have a quiet word in somebody's ear, about allocating some kind of permit, or removing a stay, or something else in the same street. Mr. Khadi lets it be known that a 'small contribution' would go a long way in getting this done. As per current rates, an out-of-parliament politican would probably 'charge' 4-5L (hey, these people have a lot of clout at the state level), while any of the current prima donnas would have 'floating' rates. Unfortunately, that is the way the cookie crumbles.

Pretty cynical, huh? Perhaps, but then I haven't seen too many honest politicians either. Power does corrupt, folks (I thought this was pretty well depicted in Gulzar's Hu Tu Tu, where Suhasini Mulay gave an excellent performance as the idealistic politician who gradually succumbs to the system).

Well, look at the good side. Unlike the Tehelka episode, at least the corrupt bastards got suspended this time. Here's to more and more sting operations !!

2 comments:

Pradeep Nair said...

Here was sting-op which was done with some purpose rather than sensationalism. A week back or so, TV correspondents disguised themselves as hospital staff and got into the ICU where Amitabh was recovering. It left a bad taste on everyone, since no one understood what the objective was. When these things are done far too many times, it loses its sting. Such sting operations should be resorted to only when there is an issue of larger national or public interest is involved.

Ranjit Nair said...

Pradeep, abs agree with you - the AB episode reeked of bad taste. But any sting involving corruption, and they have my whole-hearted support. At least the fear of getting caught through such sting ops would make our greedy politicians hesitate before demanding and accepting bribes.