LUST FOR GREENER PASTURES

Since the first general election of free India, when I was just a middle school student, I have seen the politics from very close quarters. Hardly any representative of the freedom struggle is alive today. Even the succeeding generation of politicians is also disappearing from the scene. Only the third and fourth generation politicians are in the arena today. Seeing them, two trends are very evident. Firstly, politics being a better business without any investment, the leaders are encouraging their wards to inherit their political fortune. You see at RJD, LJSP, DMK, NCP, Akali Dal, SP and several leading families of Congress and some other parties, the leaders have anointed their own sons and daughters.

Secondly, there are some known faces in the Indian politics, nurturing a strong greed for greener pastures. For them power and not ideology carries any meaning. In this connection, the first name that strikes my mind is Choudhary Ajit Singh. Since the death of his father, ch Charan Singh, he has been heading a separate faction of Lok Dal, where also his son is second in command. The areas around Baghpat of Western UP, cultivated by his father, is still supporting him and giving victory in about half a dozen Lok Sabha seats. With this bargaining asset he has been managing ministership at the Centre since last over two decades. There is hardly any party with which he has not shared power. Strangely enough, he has no reservation in joining hands with any political party.

The second name is that of Rram Vilas Paswan of Bihar. He started his political career with the JP movement of 1974. He remained quite active and in the 1977 parliamentary election won with the maximum number of votes finding inclusion in the record books. After the collapse of the Janata Party, he has been changing colours without any compunction to grab power. He joined the Janata Dal. Then he came under the flag of the RJD. After that he formed his separate political party named Lok Jan Shakti Party. All these changes were intended to enjoy power. The Lohiite movement was intended to uproot congress, but for Lalu and Paswan it was no consideration as the chair was more important. The latest entrant in the list is Shoeb Iqbal, New Delhi. He became an independent MLA to start with. Then he joined the LJSP. At the time of the last assembly election of Delhi, he came to the JDU camp. All alone, and without any power, he is feeling frustrated. He has already held a meeting with AarvindK Kejriwal and expressed his decision to join the AAP. After he put off his coat in the House and declared that he was the biggest goonda, even AAP is hesitant to welcome him.

It is high time that the people at large should recognize these greedy elements ready to go to any extent in search of greener pastures, so that in future they were shown the door.