Darkness at Noon !

Some 70 years ago , when Italian scientist Enrico Fermi succeeded in exploding the first atom bomb ( Project Manhattan ) , the secret message sent to the President of America read ,

"  The Italian Navigator has landed  "

American government did not want its citizens to know that it has mastered the deadliest weapon ever invented

Yesterday , closer home , on the shores of India , another Italian Mariner landed

She did not want the people of India to know , how Telengana Bill got passed

So , the live telecast of Lok Sabha was " blacked out "

According to eye-witness , Dinesh Trivedi ( MP - TMC ) ,

>  Army was deployed all around Lok Sabha building

>  MPs had to park their cars outside and walk down

>  Everyone started shouting when bill got tabled

>  No MP could argue for or against the bill

>  18  Congress MPs ( from Andhra ) were suspended and prevented from

     participating

>  3 Congress Ministers ( from Andhra ) rushed into the well , shouting

>  Doors of Lok Sabha were closed shut ( - to prevent walk-out ? )

>  Live telecast was stopped

To top it all ,

>  Division did not take place using Voting Buttons on MP's seats

>  Speaker Meira Kumar suddenly turned a Maths-Wizard , and within a

     matter of seconds , counted how many of the 542 MPs stood up in favor

     of the bill - obviously many more than 272 , according to her maths !

All thru the pandemonium , Mauni Man Mohan Singhji and Madam Mariner ,

sat in stoic silence  !

Now , people of India know why , over the last 3 years , Kapil Sibal , Salman Khurshid etc kept telling Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal ,

"  Laws cannot be enacted on the streets . Lok Sabha is the proper forum "

Of course   !

If you enact the laws on the streets , how can you stop ,

>    People from watching the  " Riot of the Rotten Rats "  ?

>    People from asking you to resign  ?

Now we know why Arvind Kejriwal wanted to pass the Jan LokPal Bill in the Ram Lila Grounds - out in the open - in front of the people

Poor chap  !

He resigned because he could not pass the bill , even inside Vidhaan Sabha

No such compulsion for Man Mohan Singhji

For him , it was as easy as switching off the telecast to create ,

DARKNESS   AT   NOON 

No need to resign , Man Mohanji,

Lok Sabha elections are just around the corner

And , even if people cannot " See " , they are " Listening " !

One suggestion,

As a last straw ( on Democracy's  back  ? ) , in the next 6 days ( before Model Code of Conduct kicks in ) , get the President to sign Ordinances , covering those six , pet  anti-corruption bills of Rahulji

Although , I suspect , Pranabda will refuse to sign these  !

*   hemen   parekh  (  19  Feb  2014  /  Mumbai  )