With the IPL controversy heating up one of my friends send me a link saying that my Role Model is in Trouble. And that was quite interesting as I did not consider Shashi Tharoor (diplomat turned politician) as my Role model in anyway.
But I have neither denied my liking towards the person as an intellectual, polished and good human being and above all him being a refreshing addition (the only one probably since a long time as I know) to Indian politics, whether people like it or not.
Again these are not about Role Models in trouble, It’s about how we see people and how we connect with them and the society we live in
If you ask me I am personally more connected to Shashi as an individual and leader and feel there is more good for society and the politics with him around. And by that I mean good for politics, and not necessarily for the congress party as all parties wish to be having politicians who can cover up better that opening up.
Shashi vs. Modi
What I feel bad is where the whole controversy becomes like a Shashi vs Modi battle. Simply because it is just not fair in the sense of the game. It should be a game of equals and they both are not in many respects. And here is my argument.
We know where Shashi comes from. If anyone doubts check UN credentials and some of his books and his columns over the years and we can understand his approach to humanity, politics, democracy and diplomacy.
To know where Lalit Modi comes from, I checked about him on the internet and I also read the news below
I am sure there might be more positive things about Lalit that I am personally unaware of, but for now I guess this news has a very strong impact on my thinking.
My take is that Shashi’s side is fair for now, at least for me, till I am proven otherwise and we will wait and see for that
But my appeal to all is that let us try weighing people in comparable scales and Lalit is not a comparison with Shashi.
Lalit should be thankful that for what ever reason he gets to stand on a scale balanced and calibrated to the credibility and intellectual ability of a person like Shashi. It should end there, not more.
I am not sure if Anti Shashi makes a person pro Lalit in this controversy, but surely pro Shashi makes you Anti Lalit for some time and hence my pointed comments at Lalit for now.
Having said that Shashi is also morally responsible to answer the issue as he is a Government Servant. It is democracy and politicians are servants of the democratic institution irrespective of where they come from and how they speak or look.
Then about the controversy, if Shashi had something to play in the whole deal, I would be personally hurt. More than his political ability, I was always banking on his integrity. And that sucks when such things are proven right. I am sure many of the people who like Shashi would share the same views as mine.
Shashi’s new lesson
I am sure coming from a diplomat’s life to wear the politician’s khadi, Shashi is learning much And I guess the biggest lesson Shashi would learn here is that like Indian politics the indian people are also quite different. Shashi has in his life probably seen more NRIs than Indians and this might be a new information.
Knowing more NRIs is not a bad thing, and I believe he would not have had a choice as his work demaded that he be away from India most of the time. But we should applaud him for coming to India at the first opportunity to do so.
And what should he learn about the Indians. He should learn that when we know of a person who claims to be fair, we all keep our eyes on him all the time and get quite paranoid at every instance of defection. So being scrutinized by indians is a good thing for we keep you in high regard.
But again it always goes without saying that we would take many things more seriously than you would imagine so, please do acknowledge our sentiments.
What if Shashi is at fault?
It would suck, no doubt, at least for me. Though the person in me would like to compare his crime to many other people in Indian politics who have amassed wealth and tread the mucky roads of corruption, deceit and hypocrisy, the Indian in me will be enraged for having played at my sentiments of nationalism.
Either way the pendulum swings, I will take it as a victory for Democracy. And that’s all we should care as we are all recipients in one way or other to the goodness of this system.
At the same time we should not stop here but show the same vigor at every single politician in india and bring them out. We are better being politicianless for some time till we restore the integrity needed in politics
Jai Hind
Categories: Opinions
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Vinod Narayan 
Hi Vinod,
I share most of your views and personally like Shashi Tharoor for bringing in that much needed fresh air and new dimension of openness into Indian politics.
But to give the devil his due, Lalit Modi has a great eye for noticing a huge profit-making opportunity and more importantly the ability to formulate and implement a business plan. He is a very quick decison-maker, doesn’t panic under pressure and knows how to convince and get the buy-in of important stake holders. The astonishing success of IPL in such a short time is testimony to his management skills.
But his attitude, arrogance and integrity will stand against him and as you rightly said, it is unfair to compare him with a person like Shashi Tharoor. (I mean Mr. Tharoor deserves better treatment than this).
Keep writing, really enjoyed reading your views.
Thanks Ziyad, I guess finally Lalit has also been shown his place 🙂