The week that started from 20th of July 2008 surely deserves to be the worst week in the history of India. The start of the week wasn’t as bad as the end though. It started with news of the UPA government trying to buy MPs to gain majority in the crucial trust vote scheduled on Tuesday the 22nd. All the news channels had a busy Sunday hosting Seniors Political leaders for debates on the contemporary issues like Indo-US Nuclear Deal, The trust vote etc etc…… Then there was news of BSP leader Mayawati emerging as a strong contender for the post of PM. There were never expected handshakes, between many political biggies including Maya-Chandrababu Naidu, Maya-KCR, Maya-Left, etc etc….. The telangana leader KCR suddenly became the most important person. At the other end the government was busy pleasing small parties with crucial 2-3 MP votes. In this process, government was trying to do the ugliest thing it had ever done. Manmohan Singh & Co were flattering a Criminal…… JMM leader Shibhu Soren, who was removed from Union Cabinet for being convicted in a Murder case. Unbelievably the Manmohan Singh & Co were ready to give back the Criminal his Cabinet ministry in exchange of his some 4-5 MP votes. Now don’t you call it Ugly, Hmmm?.... That was how horrible the Sunday was.
Coming to the 2nd day of the week…. The Parliament was scheduled for a debate on that day, prior to the crucial trust vote on the next day. That debate in the Parliament was more or less same as the other previous debates. BJP leader L.K. Advani left no stone unturned in pointing out inabilities of the government in solving several public issues. There were also other small MPs, not missing this chance and putting their point in the Biggest Temple of Democracy, the Indian Parliament. It was another busy day at the office for the Speaker of the Parliament, Somnath Chatterjee. He was at his best, stopping MPs from interrupting their colleagues and using his trade mark humour to stop them. Though there was also a small good news for India, as it witnessed the entry of its youngest MP into Parliament. Ajanta Sangma, at 27 took oath as MP, following footsteps of her father, P.A.Sangma. And that was the 2nd day of the week.
Here comes the most dramatic day of the week. I woke up by reading the newspaper headlines saying “WHERE’S THE PARTY TONIGHT”. The historic trust vote took place was scheduled on this day. The voting was after completion of the debate though. The speakers in debate today included the Congress’s young and dynamic Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s Shanawaz Hussain with his “shayaris”, Yerran Naidu from TDP and more. There were few “special” MPs from different jails of India. Trust vote gave a Delhi tour for jailed MPs like Pappu Yadav, Shahabuddin, Atik Ahmed and more. Then in the afternoon while debate was going on, came the shameful part of the day. Three MPs from BJP showed the currency notes claiming that they were given to them by SP leader Amar Singh to vote in favour of the government. They also accused a Congress leader Ahmed Patel for attempting to buy them. Flashing of currency notes by them was shown in all news channels and it was viewed by whole India bringing shame to the Parliament. Some opposition leaders then demanded to cancel the trust vote, but they weren’t successful in doing that. So the trust vote took place as per schedule and the results were out. Manmohan Singh emerged as a winner. Leaving the citizens of India confused, not sure about the “fairness” of the voting process. The day ended with celebrations in the UPA camp and with highly embarrassed Parliament.
Wednesday saw speculations by many political analysts and economists predicting economic reforms by the government after the departure of Left parties from the government. BJP and other opposition parties took actions against all those MPs who cross voted in favour of the government. TDP found two culprits in its own party. The SENSEX finally went up with the speculations of economic growth. The speaker ordered probe into the “Cash for vote” scandal which showed MPs flashing money in the Parliament. Opposition parties demanded a thorough enquiry in that issue while Mayawati and Left parties were busy discussing the formation of the Third Front.
Thursday was more or less same as Wednesday. Apart from the political bad news, India was facing many other problems during this period. Many South Indian states were facing the fear of drought with no sign of monsoon even in the month of July. Hyderabad witnessed power cuts of about 4 hour per day during this period. The Hindu Saints performed ‘Yagna’ and Islamic clerics conducted prayers on the river bed both with the same aim but different methods.
Friday saw the Silicon city, Bangalore witnessing a terror attack by some unknown terrorist organization. There were altogether about 8 low intensity blasts occurring within a span of just 12 minutes. It was just another attack where innocent Indians were targeted by coward terrorists. The blasts killed 2 people and several other were injured. It came as a shock to all citizens of Bangalore. The Home Minister Shivraj Patil was ready with his same old after attack speech regretting the incident showing no signs of a strict action.
The Cowards struck again on Saturday. This time the target was Ahmedabad. There were about 16 coordinated serial explosions. The blasts killed about 45 people and injuring several others. Cowards again targeted innocent woman and children. The city of businessmen came to a stand still. Intentions of the terrorists were to repeat riots similar to the “Godhra riots”. But their efforts were too small in front of the courage shown by Ahmedabadis……. Kudos to the spirit of both Banglorians and Ahmedabadis…… in short kudos to spirit of Indians. But that wasn’t the end of bad news for India. This time it came from something different from the previous ones. The much loved Indian Cricket team gave the finishing touches to a bad week. They shamefully lost to Srilankans….let me put it this way…… Indian batsmen, best players of spin in the world, lost to two spinners from their neighbouring country. The Ahmedabad Blasts overshadowed this shameful loss and this helped them avoiding the anger of the Indians.
Hmmm……… I didn’t knew I would end up writing so much about a single week. So, thanks to Politicians and Terrorists, this has to be “The Worst Week in the History of India”………. If not worst …… it deserves to be one of the worst……..
No comments:
Post a Comment