Naming Laws


Shashi Tharoor’s proposal to name whetever new law might (or more likely, might not) come up after the recent rape victim and the reaction from political quarters got me thinking.

Forget for a minute whether or not this was just a publicity stunt by Tharoor. Instead focus on the statement itself: isn’t it the sort of comment that many influenced by the West, urban Indians would have voiced? In other words, isn’t it the way “people like us” think?

Next, look how our politicians shot his proposal down saying there is no provision to name laws after people. Since when did politicians know or care about any provisions or laws? Apparently it is OK to name every money draining scheme after Queen Sonia’s dead hubby, but hey, naming a law after the person who might be the trigger for that very change? That’s outrageous!

Competent or not, sincere or not, this incident shows that people like Tharoor who is much more similar to people like us than the Laloo’s and Mayawati’s of this country will always be misfits in politics and governance.

And then they ask why people like us don’t join politics.

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