Well, partly because the brazen manner in which Parliament was adjourned to enable the ordinance was breathtaking in its unsubtlety and partly because the opposition parties appear to believe five minutes of hullagulla is the essence of opposition. The way this government made it possible for Ottavio Quattrocchi to get his greedy fingers on his ill-gotten wealth is of far more concern than offices of profit-related issues, but we have already forgotten Quattrocchi. The reason for this is the inability of our opposition parties to spend more than five minutes of energy on anything.

If they paid serious attention to their duties in Parliament we would be rid of the loopholes and silly laws that make a career in politics an office of profit. The NDA’s own law minister, Ram Jethmalani, talked of nearly 1,500 laws that had become obsolete or irrelevant, but where has the opposition found time to force the Government to do something about this. It is only when politicians are themselves affected by something that a law gets changed, a la the Sonia Bachao ordinance.

The rest of us have to suffer outdated laws and procedures that seem designed in many cases to enable corruption. Why do we still allow MPs their local area development funds when we know that these are so brazenly misused that some political parties order their MPs to deposit a fixed amount into the party treasury? Why do we allow ministers to have such a plethora of discretionary powers that it’s easier to make money than not to? Most importantly, why do we allow our politicians to get away with their corrupt ways when it would be so easy to nail them?

... contd.