Can this happen in India? Nope, never!
I live in Illinois and the Governor of Illinois – land of Linclon- has been arrested today (December 09, 2008) on corruption charges. He was actually put in custody (though later on released on bail, but his passport was forfeited). Read part of the story as narrated by CNN:

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared in court Tuesday afternoon to hear federal corruption charges against him. He was released on $4,500 bail.

The governor, who appeared in court in a blue jogging suit, also had to forfeit his passport.
FBI agents arrested Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, early Tuesday on federal corruption charges related in part to the selection of President-elect Barack Obama’s successor to the Senate, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declared Tuesday a “sad day for government.”
“Gov. Blagojevich has taken us to a new low,” he said. “This conduct would make [Abraham] Lincoln roll over in his grave.”
Lincoln was a congressman from Illinois before becoming president.
Fitzgerald said the government had bugged the governor’s campaign office and placed a tap on his home phone.
Each was charged with a count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and a count of solicitation of bribery, authorities said.

Charges are also that he tried to sell the senator seat vacated by the President -elect Obama (senator from Illinois). In USA constitution, if a senator seat is vacated, the Governor has the right to nominate a person for rest of the term.

In India, politicians cutting across party lines, ideology and of all sizes and shapes and gender indulge in blatant scandals, misappropriation of public funds. They are thick-skinned to whom no law authorities can touch. You touch a politician in India and huge roar and cry will be there! How dare you! Can a credible governance emerge in our counrty?
To read the whole story about Blagojevich, click on this link.

So the verdict is out for 2008 State Assembly elections (results our December 8):
Delhi remains with Congress, MP and Chattisgarh remain with BJP. BJP loses Rajasthan.

Congress despite the wins is the biggest threat to our national unity and security. It has shamlelessly indulged in divisive politics. It has not taken to set the home turf in order. One after another terrorist attack has been ignored.
And about BJP: Rediff has rightly observed: “The BJP has not only lost, but its entire stance on terrorism stands exposed. It will need many chintan baithaks (seminars) for party leaders to discover why the voters did not buy their serious and quite justifiable allegation of the Congress party being soft on terror”.

Lok Sabha elections are a few months away. Will the nation make a firm decision to press for national security?

Obviuosly this nation called Bharat- that has secular ethos in its roots- chose agains as if to restress the fact- in 1947 to be a secular country officially! Good step. But the official India has deviated from the path of secularism gradually over last 6 decades. What we see today is classification of Indians as Majority and Minority based upon the faith they practice. Hindu Citizens are treated as “Reserved class” and “Non-reserved class” based upon the caste they belong to. The Constitution allows special treatment of states (read Kashmir). This is divisive polity at its best. The nation has been bleeding since last 2 decades for sure becuase of Jehadi terrorism yet there is a debate – unduly prolonged debate- whether to call this terrorism as Jehadi terrorism! What else this is? Are we blind?

India is paying the price. Congress party has done the utmost dis-service to the nation in this regard. BJP has disappointed too. The current Government -headed by de facto Prime Minister Sonia Gandhi – is crying publically that they have the evidence that Pakistan is involved in the recent terrorist attack in Mumabi. US agency CIA has come out with a verdict towards that conclusion too. US Secretary of State – Ms Rice – is already here to cool the tempers: in actual pour water on something concrete action that India might be considering against Pakistan. What happened when we knew that LeT was involved in the Parliament attack in 2001. Is there something more sacrosanct than Parliament?
India has to first set its own house in order. I quote François Gautier here: “Under Sonia’s rule, Indian Muslims, too, have been used as electoral pawns. They have been encouraged to shun the Sufi streak, a blend of the best of Islam and Vedanta, for a hard-line Sunni brand imported from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Ok, may be the nation will get rid of Sonia regime in the next Lok sabha elections which are hardly 6 months away. Ok, may be L K Advaani will become the Prime Minister. Will he bring about a true secularism in practice? I doubt it. The division of citizens on the basis of majority and minority will continue. The demon of caste-based reservation will raise its head again and again. Kashmir would continue to be isolated because of the special attention it receives ( I call it discrimination with Kashmir itself!).

Now that the whole world is talking about Mumabi terrorist attack where more than 200 people were killed: Pakistan is in sharp focus. The needle of suspicion on Pakistan is stronger when CIA says that the suspects came from Karachi via sea route. Come what may, India will shout loudly about pakistan’s role, Pakistan is already deflecting those charges: in the end India will sit down quietly. This is nothing new.

Well, moreover this attack has exposed India’s security lapse. The western media is discussing the sensitive and timely warnings given to Indians by CIA about the possible attacks. Fox News reports: “Of greater concern for India was the apparent failure to act on multiple warnings ahead of the Mumbai attacks, which Indian navy chief Sureesh Mehta called “a systemic failure.”
India’s foreign intelligence agency also had warnings as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks on Mumbai, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter.”
Shamefully enough, when Indians commandos arrived in Hotel Taj and other hotels, their maps regarding the locations were not exact, whereas we hear that the terrorists had exact details of the place.
The government- a pack of non-efficient , unpatriotic ,corrupt and selfish politicians – has let us down again and again.

If you can not defend your own home-turf and boundaries: outsiders or by-standers will start giving you unsolicited advice! That is the case with my India which has just been humiliated by another terrorist attack.

On CNN, Campell Brown today asked Mr. Fareed Zakaria and another expert and both nodded that appointing an Observer for Kashmir would be a good idea ( as one may be aware, Obama -the President -elect had came up with this novel idea) and now we see Zakaria welcoming it! For what? I am dismayed that a person who has his roots in India- implying that he at least understands the Kashmir issue in depth- is sailing in the flow instead of trying to rationalize the issue!
This is also a lesson for India that if you can not act with diplomatic maturity, people (read other nations) will jump into the fray and come our with their own theories and solutions!

Another issue that has come into sharp focus after this Mumbai 2008 attack is the preparedness and readiness to face such emergencies. CNN today reveals that CIA had warned India almost a month back that sea route may be used to cause another terrorist attack in Mumbai. And foreign press is not mincing words how we dealt with this attack: the extra slowness with which commandos and army was summoned, that NSG was not even present in Mumbai, it had to be called from Delhi, and that once they landed in Mumbai, they were taken to the scene by local city buses (BEST service).
The world seems to buying the idea at least this time Pakistan’s role in these attacks on Indian land. The American media is even contemplating whether India will strike back? People across the world have taken a grim view of these attacks and Pakistan will have difficulty in deflecting the attention from this ‘accusation’!

Back home , heads are rolling. The inept Home Minister -Shiv Raj Patil- has resigned (made to resign, actually). His parameter for success as a Minister- had been how pleased his boss- Ms Sonia Gandhi – had been ! He had openly stated this in last few weeks. This is the work -ethics in our politics in India. It may be remembered that Shiv Raj Patil is one of those politicians who are well edcuated and have some substance. But it seems that Mr. Patil has lost his shine over last many years.