May 10, 2006
 

When in trouble, move the goalposts

After Jaya Bachchan was forced to resign her Rajya Sabha seat, Sonia Gandhi decided on a second "renunciation" - act I having taken place two years ago. She resigned her Lok Sabha seat as well as from the National Advisory Council. Congressmen were now split between whether to proclaim her as the true descendant of the likes of Ashoka, Rama etc. or to attack the opposition parties for having forced her hand.

Having contemplated legislation with retrospective effect, the government now reckons that it'd just get all parties together and come up with a list of posts which should be exempted from being considered as 'offices of profit'.

So all the parties will have a nice "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" session. Everyone comes out smiling, everyone is a winner.

This is very obviously an attempt to save their own backsides: When in trouble, move the goalposts. Where are the government's outside support offering 'conscience keepers' when you need them most to impose their presence?

Labels: communist, sonia gandhi