THE SLAP THAT MADE NEWS
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THE SLAP THAT MADE NEWS

Some insane Sardar attempted manhandling Sukhram when he was sentenced to 5 yeas RI in a long drawn suit for alleged bribe taking for awarding a government contract. Pandit Sukhram started the mess in telecom which later on became a milch cow for which ever party was in power at the centre and which has brought to centre stage the issue of institutional corruption. It found a passing mention because Pandit Sukhram has already been condemned by the media. A couple of days later Sharad Pawar the maverick maratha leader faced the Sardar's ire. Sharad Pawar is perhaps the most tainted of all our politician but he has a huge fan following and enormous clout as a regional satrap, cricket administrator and a man with the guile as to befriend all across political spectrum. He proclaims himself to be a symbol of maratha pride that even maratha manoos like Bal Thackery and his nephew Raj always respect him. His alleged links to D company, his alleged complicity in the serial bomb blasts, his alleged links with now tainted Shahid Balwa and Goenka, his espousing the cause of high profile polluter and land grabbers in his home town of Pune are all forgotten and suddenly everyone condemns unequivocally the slap on his face by the insande sardar who claims to be upset about the issue of corruption. The self styled crusader against corruption Anna Hazare could not conceal his glee on hearing the news when he asked whether it is only one slap enough to ignite Pawar supporters who stormed Relagaon Siddhi. Later on spin doctors of the so called team Anna politely advised him to beat a retreat.

Resorting to violent methods of protests is certainly uncalled for. Parallels were drawn in a TV debate about the kicking of black flag demonstrators at the helipad by Jiten Prasada, Union Minister of State and retaliatory attacks by Digvijay Singh to justify the slap. In the later case, it was a breach of security to a SPG protectee which resulted in the unnecessary incident. But equating that with the Pawar slap is to reduce the seriousness. Kiran Bedi said that how could one vent his anger against the rising prices and failing of governance? She was a Police officer duty bound to enforce law. Another Anna team member made light of the incident saying media blew it out of proportion. Yet another participant warned such protestors to keep in mind that politicians they attack have a wider group of supporter and could retaliate. Civilised society whom these members claim to represent will not tolerate under any circumstances such attempts to intimidate people by physical assaults. Any one could draw their own conclusions about how civilised these people are. When Prashant Bhushan was attacked for  his objectionable comments on Kashmir and when  some attempted to attack Kejriwal, these people cried foul.

Shoes were hurled at Omar abdullah and Chidambaram which were relatively treated a minor incidents. In the case of Home Minister, Akali Dal infact toasted the attacker. The falling standards in morals and the resorting to violence to vent angst are against our democractic foundations and require to be condemned outright. Those who support such aberrations including Yashwant Sinha and Kiran Bedi should be booked for inciting violence.

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