Not That Sane. V Lakshman. Every Wednesday.

The Silver Lining (Mar. 25, '98)

Every time some one tells me how horrible the Slick Willey sex scandals are, I can't help thinking that these are troubles most nations in the world would die to have. Really. Take India for instance.

India has had its fifth prime minister in two years. The government was formed only after hectic horsetrading among basically corrupt politicians. The reasons behind the politicking were saddening. The largest party elected as its leader, Sonia Gandhi, who is in politics only to ensure that the official investigations into bribes that her late husband may have taken get scotched. The second largest party, which formed the government, managed to get into power only by appeasing a corrupt politician who was voted out of office last year in a landslide -- only one member of her party got elected in an election for 200+ seats! She is the subject of several bribery and ethical violation investigations and the defendant in several corruption cases. The price for her support may have been that those investigations get stopped. Nobody knows because the prime minister won't tell.

If only the sins of Indian politicians were confined to adultery!


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