The Business of Politicians: Priyanka Gandhi and the Dhingra Panel Report in Haryana Land Scam

The market economy of India is probably the best in the world. Here anything and everything has a price. Be it the loyalty of a person or his plot of agricultural land. But the upper hand is always going to be that of a politician. The Gandhi family has proved it time and again that they are the best in the business of politics and leveraging their influence, people joined to them or even remotely in coalition with them. 

Robert Vadra and his companies might have had a major growth during the 10 year period of the UPA government and might be because of efficient people working in the company. But many skeletons coming out of the ground reveal a different business. The Dhingra panel is now onto Priyanka Gandhi and this precipitated a knee-jerk reaction from her who gave a pre-emptive statement that she was never connected to any dealings with Vadra. 

Considering she is still an 'Adarsh Indian Bahu' she would obviously try to make a statement that will cover her husband. Another take would be that she is trying to avoid any false allegations by coming out with an explanation herself. But this is just unbelievable that a family and all of its members are combined in any scams that are rocking the nation and have the stomach to stand without a shame. They still put up with their drama and consider the people of the Congress Party and the nation to be fools who will buy anything. This is not a shopping spree that you market your product and the customer is going to buy the best looking package.

And never to forget that she is saying this about her husband that she has no connections with him. This sounds like a standard tantrum for any person who is trying to cover up the obvious. But unfortunately the Congress Party’s leaders refrain from reading between the lines. They are obeying the rules of the family and playing their part in the grand scheme. But is the grand scheme power of India or the wealth of India? Surely this is the question of the hour.

Road Romeos or Acid Throwers, Who’re the Real Culprits

It is not even a week from the time that the UP government started. From the Yogi government is already on its way to prove to the people that it is different from the previous governments of UP. And some of the notable directives that have been brought into force are quite interesting. One among them is ban on tobacco and gutkha products and paan products inside government buildings. And it doesn’t end there. The police has taken up a task of punishing road romeos. The initiative was taken up and many videos showing the punishing techniques have been uploaded on Youtube. In fact even national TV celebrated it by showing these funny punishments. 

The police could easily raise their collars for these initiatives, but hold on this is no Rowdy Rathore moment for them. These videos were a testament that women will not be tolerating any attacks on their freedom anymore, but just by punishing few teenagers is not going to end this madness. The real crime that we are talking about is acid attack.

Not soon after these videos started to show on headlines, than the news of an acid attack in Meerut came up. Now what is the use of punishing a few teenagers in one lane when a girl is being attacked by a scorned lover just a lane away. These punishments don’t serve the basic purpose of making the criminal feel guilty. The acid throwers are the culprits who don’t like when their ego is hurt. And when it is hurt they turn into a snake, spitting venom on its enemies. And then there is a phone call from ‘above’ and they are let loose because they happened to be the family or family-like of the police.

The problem is that the criminal system makes discrimination between a person who is not the family of a policeman and one who is. They are tried by different laws apparently and that makes all the unfair advantage. And since the perpetrators know they are going to get away with it they enjoy the thrill again and again.

I think it might be a good time if Yogi Adityanath thinks about computerizing the entire law system as such and eliminates all humans from it. Perhaps that is the only solution for the system to be crack-proof. Because time and again these things happen and then we have some minister sitting on his chair and explaining that it was the girl’s fault. And then we will have women’s rights commission gaining publicity on the issue by dragging the poor girl in and out of government offices. Or perhaps there should be a separate commission for handling this all together, like a Molestation and Allied Offences Redressal Commission.

The system will never change itself, it will only try to add a new body in the government and that is the end of it. In the evening news, the so called thinkers and experts will be called on a news channel and India will be reminded of its heritage and diverse culture and then asked to adjust for everybody’s survival.

Possibly one way to deal with it might be allowing the girl/woman and a group of women of the same age and lifestyle to have a prime say in the case proceeding. The group could say where they feel the system is failing and particularly the girl can say if she is satisfied with the process. A lawyer from the Higher Court can make sure that the girl is not influenced and in a matter of 10 days the process should be finished.

There are many alternatives to think about and the sky is the limit for one who thinks. But when we see our history the Nanavati case reminds us that even if the system shows itself to be impregnable our own instincts betray us. Maybe we need introspection whether we are the real culprits or the acid-throwers. Perhaps imagine ourselves walking down the street and have somebody throw acid on our face. But the burn will not be real in this case.