CHANDA KA DHANDA

 CHANDA KA DHANDA

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

10/VI/2022

 

These days one has stopped commenting on political issues on purpose. Though as a citizen one has all the right to air his views but there is no point keeping your point infront of the ‘Blind men and women of Hindoostan’. But today I shall vent my feelings having served the Tri colour and shouted ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ from deep inside my heart.

 

It has been a few years that one has been noticing that political parties herding their public representatives to resorts. They are taken to the venue of voting directly from that resort, just in case he or she changes their mind.

 

Isn’t it shocking and appalling? The representatives we voted for are so worthless that they can ‘cross vote’ or be sold in a way called ‘Horse trading’. Are these leaders or ‘gaya-guzras’ that they have to be enticed and lured in such a manner?

 

Don’t we know how these elected representatives woo voters before elections? They can prostrate on the floor for a vote. Stand with folded hands for that seat. Accept garlands, brickbats, ink smears, shoes and even slaps without an ‘ufff’. Then suddenly they belong to that clan which never returns to the public who elected them.

 

With the button being in my hand and brain in my head, if there is some left, can I vote for somebody else except what my conscience and rationality says. If I cross vote or defect, there has to be a reason behind it. Those reasons could be disgruntledness, revenge, personal conviction, vengeance, vendetta and so many others. Basically, being dissatisfied in an organisation. Why so?

 

To somehow entice him, you take him to a resort, where the angel of wisdom descends and opens his ‘fourth eye’ through palak paneer, a dip in the resort pool, a massage in a spa to motivate him or her to buy loyalty. My foot!

 

By the way, Corporates do the same. They send you to outdoor workshops, preferably to a so-called ‘HR trainer’, who will make you clap your hands, make you rise early in the morning, confiscate your cell phones, make you climb a rope, jump through tyres and do some silly tasks. With no WhatsApp, twitter or LinkedIn, above all no senseless emails from the boss, you feel it is good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

You attain ‘Nirvana’. Your company pays for that ‘training’ in a hope to retain you. A feedback is taken by the company HR. You recommend that such training is a must every quarter. Then, before the next quarter ends, you jump to the next company which offers you a better packet. That’s how it is with these politicians.

 

Who pays for their ‘aiyaashi’ in this resort? Of course, the party pays. I would rather say it is paid by someone who ‘needs a seat’ based on this favour. Where does this money come from? Party funds is the answer? Who gives it to the party fund? No way I shall reveal the secret. Shhhhhh!

 

Whose money is it? It is the common citizen's money. This money could be utilised in a much better manner for sure. It may be a ‘Chanda’ of twenty rupees, do we realise how it goes?

 

Let me just say what an elected member of parliament does when he sits on the ‘opposition benches’. Zilch!! Shouting slogans, putting spokes, dharnas & pradarshans, the end result is Zilch. When they were in government, they did what they did and got booted out rather wiped out or rather eliminated like you eliminate the ‘tiddy dal’ (locust swarm). Still, you want to sit on a plant and eat away its leaves.

 

It was an awful revelation to me, while staying in the most underdeveloped area of India. Ten days of chicken biryani, a 500 Rs note, an insecticide spray on two mango trees, and a few tiles on the floor were enough to buy a vote. This went from ‘panchayat elections’ upwards.

 

Now I see this ‘tamasha’ for the Rajya Sabha. Who is sitting and watching from the side lines? It is the bureaucracy. Janta doesn’t know what to do but someone knows very well how to take advantage of what’s happening. ‘Tum bhi khush, hum bhi khush’.

 

Real issues are no more breaking news. Live reporting includes the colour of the ‘AC’ bus and menu served in that resort to the elected representatives. As if by eating porridge from an a-la-carte menu, deep wisdom would dawn upon them. Later they realise it is ‘dalia’ which they dislike.

 

All said and done, this ‘Chanda ka Dhanda’ has to be made ‘Manda”. If our “elected representatives” can be sold for ‘monkey-nuts’ as freebies, what would be the price of a common man? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS