Viswanathan K's Thoughts

When Rajiv Gandhi overturned the Shah Bano verdict, he was just reaffirming that a uniform civil code need not be a part of the way we run our country. Turns out he has opened the doors for every group to say they can pick and choose which laws should be applied to them. It’s kind of ironical that the same “different laws for different people” policy is now attempting to be extended to require that his killers be left alive because they are Tamilians! Maybe we should amend the laws to state that Tamils and LTTE members cannot be executed. And while we’re at it, let’s extend the “death penalty not applicable” list to Punjabis and let that other guy on death roll, Bhullar, live as well. Omar Abdullah is right: how can it be fair to allow the persecution of Muslim women to continue (which is what overturning the Shah Bano verdict was all about) and at the same time, go ahead with the killing of a Muslim man, Afzal Guru? So let’s add Muslims too to the groups that are exempt from the de...

Every time people like us complain about the kind of politicians we have or doesn’t bother to cast our vote, we’ll find a bunch of media commentators and politicians criticizing the middle class. For not participating. For not caring. For just complaining and not doing anything about it. That seems kind of dumb. After all, if someone doesn’t like the medical services they get, we don’t tell them to become doctors or come up with new drugs. Nor do we tell people who complain about the quality of construction of their houses to become architects or engineers! Other than the fact that we have jobs, the other reason “people like us” don’t care is that it seems like all our MP’s or ministers come from political families. And that’s not just a perception. In his book, India: A Portrait, Patrick French pulls up some statistics on the hereditary nature of Indian politics. Take these for example: - Every MP in the Lok Sabha under the age of 30 had inherited a seat. - More than t...