Mr T V R Shenoy, who contributed columns to Rediff.com from its birth, passed into the ages on Tuesday evening. As we grieve and mourning his passing, Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar bids adieu to an unusual human being, a sage for our times.
'Vilasrao Deshmukh is not the last victim. Ashok Gehlot is almost certainly going to be asked to put his head on the chopping block sooner or later...' says T V R Shenoy.
Arvind Kejriwal accused Robert Vadra of participating in questionable land deals. Those were just allegations, but so are the crimes supposedly committed by Gurunath Meiyappan. But one is a businessman's son-in-law and the other is a politician's son-in-law. And so, predictably, they were treated differently by the politicians, says T V R Shenoy.
This mess is not limited to Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, but has spread to include other, more famous and better connected, both cricketers and non-cricketers. If so, we may never unearth all the facts. But in all seriousness we have to ask if match-fixing in cricket truly deserves this level of attention, asks T V R Shenoy.
Did the principal secretary to the prime minister authorise the controversial meeting a joint secretary at the PMO had at the CBI headquarters to discuss the coal scam report, asks T V R Shenoy.
Nitish Kumar expected to benefit handsomely after taking a hardline position against Narendra Modi. Opinion polls tell a different story, with the JD-U losing seats while the BJP gains from the break-up. Is this because voters like Narendra Modi, wonders T V R Shenoy.
'We seem to be reliving the sleaziest days of the 1980s,' says T V R Shenoy. 'Defence purchases are made under controversial circumstances, and nobody is held accountable... Shoddy staffwork leads to suspects leaving India, and it is virtually impossible to lay hands on them again once they are out... The same shabby acts of commission and omission. The same stale excuses...'
'Nitish Kumar has reverted to the 1990s model. The besetting sin of this type of ministry formation was a fundamental insult to democracy,' argues T V R Shenoy. 'Not only did it not inform the voter who the prime ministerial candidate was, but it also gloried in keeping out the largest party in the Lok Sabha.'
'If the activities of the BJP government in Karnataka fostered dissidence, the Gadkari era saw the same sin crop up elsewhere, notably in Uttarakhand. (Both states would see multiple chief ministers in the course of five years.) Gadkari's leadership saw the BJP drift away from its moral moorings,' says TVR Shenoy.
'On April 30, the Supreme Court spoke on the need to further insulate the CBI from political interference. Come May 8, perhaps their Lordships could also extend protection to the law officers too -- simultaneously sending out the message that the Attorney General is much more than a professional doing his duty to the ministry of the day, that he owes a higher duty as an officer of the court,' says T V R Shenoy.
Mamata Banerjee has announced a Rs 500 crore relief package to assuage those who lost their money to the Saradha chit fund. As West Bengal is dancing on the edge of bankruptcy, this money will be raised from taxes on tobacco. Having already seen their savings go up in smoke the people of West Bengal must now puff away whatever is left, says T V R Shenoy.
In over 47 years as a journalist in Delhi I have never seen a Union Cabinet that is scared of the CBI, it has always been the other way. But whether by happenstance or through deliberate design, the CBI now has the Manmohan Singh ministry at its mercy, reveals T V R Shenoy.
The Saudi leaders were willing to walk the extra mile to solve India's problem, but the external affairs ministry in New Delhi wanted to dawdle. Why did External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid not find time for his Saudi counterparts, and that too on a matter that is of great interest to Indians, asks T V R Shenoy.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party saved Dr Manmohan Singh's chair today; will they tug it away from under him tomorrow, asks T V R Shenoy.
The state of the economy which is in a far worse condition than the government wants us to know; the UPA's instability and the Robert Vadra factor may force a Lok Sabha election this winter, predicts T V R Shenoy
'The Gadkari issue is not about staying on the right side of the law, it is about public perception. How does the public perceive Nitin Gadkari?' asks T V R Shenoy.
'Once again we have a case where a European armaments manufacturer apparently paid bribes to win a contract from India. Once again we have an honest man in the ministry of defence. Once again there is talk of contracts being cancelled to wring the truth. As a student of history,' says T V R Shenoy, 'I can only draw parallels.'
If a party is indecisive while in the Opposition, what does it say about its capacity to govern effectively, asks T V R Shenoy.
The decline of the two national parties is palpable. Neither can hope to reach the mark of 272 on its own. One can only hope that India is spared another 1996-1998 experiment where the prime minister's party has fewer than one-tenth of the seats in the Lok Sabha, says TVR Shenoy.
The rape of the young woman on a Delhi bus has effectively halted all discussion of corruption. The talk of mistreatment of women has pushed the massive economic mismanagement, particularly of inflation, into a remote corner, says T V R Shenoy.
Unlike Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Giani Zail Singh, one hopes Pranab Mukherjee will do a better job when asked to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution', says T V R Shenoy.
'We need to celebrate those that buck the stereotype, such as Malala, Toorpekai, and Ziauddin Yousufzai in Pakistan. But, by the same token, we also need to condemn blind adherence to tradition in the urban, civilised areas of the West as in the case of Savita Halappanavar,' says T V R Shenoy.
The Opposition says Pranab Mukherjee, who was the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute Council, did not quit that office before filing the papers for his Presidential run. Mukherjee knows exactly how tricky these details can be, and how they can trip up even the most seasoned politician, says T V R Shenoy.
G Madhavan Nair is punished by being barred from all government jobs. P Chidambaram continues to hold one of the most powerful offices in the government. Is that equal treatment? asks T V R Shenoy.
T V R Shenoy explains the likely reasons behind the West Bengal chief minister's seemingly bizarre political behaviour.
'Governments have no business running temples. Governments certainly have no business deciding who is a Hindu and who is not a Hindu.'
We should not judge the Congress or the BJP by a Robert Vadra or a Nitin Gadkari. We must measure them by the standards set -- or claimed -- by the top leadership, namely the RSS and Sonia Gandhi. If one claims to be a moral exemplar, the other is the chief political leader in this country, says T V R Shenoy.
Various people have admitted -- off the record -- that the BJP had the same 'Vadra File'. Why did the BJP not speak out, asks T V R Shenoy.
Did an Indian agency place a 'mole' within the Tatra subsidiary in Britain? Did powerful forces in India snuff out a life before anything emerged?T V R Shenoy asks some uncomfortable questions about the Tatra case.
Why is the UPA seemingly bent on pumping the oxygen of publicity to its critics? If you judge the result of an action by the results you must admit that the UPA has scored some spectacular own goals.
Is it time to grant more powers to individual Indian states to detect, obstruct, and capture illegal immigrants?
'Rahul Gandhi is one of the few in the UPA with the political clout to carry out those much-needed reforms in the railway and power ministries, even if it means bruising a lot of egos in the short-term. Becoming a minister without portfolio is undoubtedly the safer option, but if there is no pitfall neither is there the opportunity of solid achievement.'
If there is one lesson that should be heard by every political party it is that both candidates and campaigners need something more than a famous surname to push them over the winning line. T V R Shenoy lists the lessons of Election 2012.
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