O J’s Corner

The system remains the same,
Only players change

History of nations espouses despots, tyrants, totalitarians, monarchs, king-emperors leaving place to democratic entities of different hues, even as the system intrinsically remained almost the same vis-à-vis people’s lot. The players would be loquacious about their intent to serve the people, but they serve themselves first before even paying lip service to the common people.

Cash, land, movable and immovable assets make one the powerful force in the society. Don’t think that these alone are the ones being counted. Connections are more important than physical assets. True physical assets offer a lot for acquiring high-falutin connections. Sometimes Godfathers would be able to bestow all the blessings in one form or the other.

Take the case in point about K R Narayanan. He was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru by Harold Laski. That introduction letter did the trick. Nehru had arranged a special test, conducted by the entity which later became the Union Public Service Commission. Lo, Narayanan found his place in the Foreign Service. Think about a hypothetical situation where Manmohan Singh does something like this now. All hell would break lose.

Now many people have risen to top positions in television channels owing to their connection with people in high places. Some of them can get positions offering large sums as equity or otherwise. Even some newspaper barons are drafting people who can offer huge investments. At least their father or in-laws should be able to cough up money for the management. Then they can call the shots.

Mediocre people at the helm of affairs would not like people of depth to work under them. For, the “omniscient” top-brass would expose themselves as sub-standard stuff. Who wants excellence? In the eyes of mediocrity, no one else should excel.

Coming to stardom and politics, Chiranjeevi, the super-star who saves damsels in distress in the tinsel world, wants to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh a la N T Rama Rao style. NTR was not the natural creation. Media baron Ramoji Rao had declared, “Let there be NTR”. Instantly, NTR became an icon, to be left like an ass in his last days. Now someone wants Chandrababu Naidu out of Andhra Pradesh. He would be offered some place at the Centre. Here comes Chiranjeevi who would flap his wings around for a while. People remain where they are, almost. Telengana issue, Naxal menace, income less than a dollar a day for the common man even as windfall billionaires are not roaming the streets but flying around the world in their own private jets. The majority are beating their breasts for buying their ration.

True, no leader can do the magic trick and offer everything to the people on a platter. But the pity is that there is not even sincerity of purpose in their pronouncements.