I won't bore you with the dreadful puns on the order of the boot, but is Suresh Kalmadi seriously out of it? I refer to the grin or smirk if you prefer and the stately royal wave that he treated the imagined multitudes to on the way to prison via court.
Obviously, poor Suresh was never the brightest bulb as he seems to be the only one paying the price for the rottenly corrupt Commonwealth Games. Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and M S Gill who are equally culpable seem to have even escaped a rap on the knuckles.
But, to return to Kalmadi and the Rhino armour plated hide of our sainted politicians. Did Kalmadi think he was on the promenade in his favourite vacation spot of Nice with a bunch of friends while his favorite chumps the tax payers were being gouged? Did he actually mistake the policemen accompanying for his free-loading friends or his private security?
Maybe in the delusional state common to the Indian politician otherwise called delusions of g
randeur, Kalmadi actually thought he was waving to his constituents in Pune while on his way to Tihar.
It was quite a display. We always knew our politicians thought that they were a law unto themselves, but to go so bravely to face the wrath of the law and that to when you have been chargesheeted in a case of corruption. It requires effrontery which only the Indian politician can rise to.
The smirk reminded me of his visits to the poo-infested CWG village in his Audi.
This time around he told a CBI official,''Can't you do this in the monsoon, you are interfering in my summer plans.'' Some dis-associative state this.
The CBI had to cool its heels while Kalmadi had a mini-break. And, we the suffering multitudes have to now ensure that Madame Dikshit and Mr Gill do not get away with the orgy of loot they also participated in.
As any denizen of Delhi will testify money was looted and nothing of any lasting value was created. Do not be satisfied with a eight day CBI custody of Kalmadi. That is what the canny politician is banking on. Kalmadi is thrown to the wolves and promptly expelled by the Congress so that the party lives to fight another day.
What about the others?
Fair-play and justice and above all accountability demand that they pay a price.
So that the next time a politician is marched off to jail, they do not delude themselves in thinking that it is a sign of overwhelming love and support.
I have to wonder. Maybe, Kalmadi knows something we don't. Maybe under his breath he was saying ''suckers''.
(The views expressed by the author are personal)