INDIA & U.S FOLLOW SIMILAR FAMILY TRADITIONS

You pick up any random Indian newspaper over the last two weeks, the first thing that hits you is the ‘MUD SLINGING’ campaign by the opposition party against the leading party’s presidential candidate.

To sum it up in brief, everyone thinks Pratibha Patil Shekhawat is going to be a ‘rubber stamp’ president. WHY?? Cause of her alleged link to the (note) Gandhi-Nehru family. After all she cooked food in Indira Gandhi’s kitchen, when her son Rajiv Gandhi was killed. Now you may ask, what is it to any of us if she cooks, sweeps or swops (read sob too!)? No business, just that the whole scenario shows a very domestic scene. The Rashtrapati that we all strive for is not to be painted in such a picture, even though majority of the Indian women are portrayed to be home-makers!

But then again Sonia Gandhi being an Italian but now an Indian by choice (15yrs late!), has finally understood the “loyalty” that we Indians upho0ld ourselves for. Blood is thicker than water, but FAMILY LOYALISTS are rarer than that.

The first family of United States follows or I think it did be more appropriate to say “shares” (after all we wouldn’t want to offend Bush Jr by calling him our follower, he did feel more empowered if it was the other way round. Tssk tssk, I wouldn’t want to be the cause for Indo-US nuke deal fall-out! ), the same family traditions as India’s first family (the GANDHI’S). First it was BUSH SR who showed that a party loyalist comes before any other. He pardoned Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully withholding information from the Congress in the Iran-contra affair. Bush Jr follows his fathers principles by pardoning Lewis “scooter” Libby Jr who was found guilty of committing perjury. After all, Bush Jr had promised “to take care of anyone who violated the law in his administration”. Must say he has set a fantastic example of how to take care of such “law-abiding” people. To top it all, he employed Elliott Abrams as a deputy national security adviser. Not only does the President follow his dads tradition but also upholds them in every way possible.

Its no wonder that India’s first family and the U.S first family find a common ground that upholds all principles, similar and unethical. A lot of people crying foul play, these leaders think they can play GOD and get away with it until the next election, which is just around the corner for both countries(weird coincidence again!!).

Like Paul Krugman rightly said “Obstruction of justice when it gets too close to home is a family tradition. And being a loyal Bushie means never having to say you are sorry.” It goes the same for the Gandhi’s.

So sit up and get your act together before the curtain falls onto you, strangling you in its layers of (scaf)folds.