May 24, 2009

A youthful, vibrant India ushers in 5 more years of geriatric, nepotistic, dynastic rule

I guess I am not entirely unhappy with the outcome of last month's elections. It is quite commendable that the electorate was discriminating enough to choose the lesser of the two evils - a supremely tough decision.  

But now we have a cabinet whose average age (66) is more than twice the median age (25) of the population. Half the population of India is less than half the age of the youngest cabinet minister (54). 

And both the cabinet and the parliament are stacked with sons, daughters, nieces and nephews of corrupt old coots that swindled the people and led the nation down a disgustingly deteriorating path in the past. What's more stunning is that there is absolutely no public reaction to this blatant and sickening nepotism. I see no outrage at the fact that Karunanidi is openly bargaining for cabinet positions for his sons, daughter and grand-nephew in exchange for his support for Congress. The only thing that matters to this guy is that the fruit of his loin be raised to powerful positions. It doesn't matter what the policies of the ruling coalition will be - that is not the deciding proposition for his supporting or not supporting the Congress party. Whether he participates in the government depends solely on whether his family members get cabinet positions. This is nauseating.