Page 130 - EducationWorld May 2022

Postscript

Greed blown dream West Bengal legislative assembly election, or that whereas
it won 66 seats to the Lok Sabha in 2004, that tally has
been reduced to three after General Election 2019. Yet de-
HE BRIDGERTON DREAM OF UPPER MIDDLE spite being totally marginalised, the party line has hardly
class and elite Indians enamoured with this OTT changed from the heyday of the CPM when it played a
Tserial broadcast on the streaming platform Netf- major role in pushing the Congress party ruinously left in
lix, is over. The Peter principle has caught up with Rishi the 1960-70s.
Sunak, the Winchester and Oxford educated son of Indian Just as well the party’s 23rd congress was held in
emigres from East Africa and husband of India-born heir- Kerala. Although highly rated on all development indices
ess Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys Technologies by left-liberals, Kerala in which the CPM has headed
Ltd prime founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. The principle several — including the incumbent — coalition govern-
expounds that everyone reaches the level of his incompe- ments, is a hollow shell. Its much lauded K-12 education
tence from which meridian, a downward spiral, begins. system is mainly driven by Christian missionary private
For the non-cognoscenti, the forty-something Sunak is schools arm-twisted into low-fees ‘aided’ schools. More-
currently Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) over because of CPM encouraged labour militancy, Kerala
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ire- (pop.32 million) has for long been blighted by investment
land, and lives bang next door to No.10 Downing Street, famine. Instead under CPM-Left rule, it has transformed
traditional ex officio address of prime minister of the into a human trafficker of low-cost labour. For several
sceptred isle. No individual of Indian origin has risen to decades, Kerala has remained heavily dependent upon
such high office in British history, and there was a good hard currency remittances of natives of the state forced to
chance that Sunak would replace beleaguered prime min- emigrate to oil-rich Middle East satrapies, where they suf-
ister Boris Johnson at No.10, which would have been the fer continuous humiliation and degradation because there
ultimate realisation of the Bridgerton fantasy. are no opportunities and jobs in their own state owing to
But this chance has been blown by greed, the deadly unchecked labour militancy.
sin to which most Indians are susceptible. The inquisitive Meanwhile, CPM delegates continue to pass ringing
British press has discovered that despite being ordinar- resolutions on esoteric subjects, unmindful that the world
ily resident in the UK for decades, Akshata, endowed a has moved on.
vast fortune by her uber rich parents, hasn’t been paying
income tax on her global income in the UK as she is ethi-
cally, if not legally, obliged to do. Worse, despite having Graft epidemic reflections
risen to the second highest position in the British govern-
ment, Sunak retained his US Green Card — which entitled VER THE PAST 75 YEARS SINCE independence,
him to work in the US — for 18 months after he was an amoral lumpen bourgeoisie with rural/small-
appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. This has raised Otown origins has risen to the very top of the estab-
questions about the Sunaks commitment to the UK their lishment and entrenched itself in the national and state
adopted country which has raised them so high. administrative capitals.
But love of the Green Card is pervasive in India’s po- How else can one explain the conduct of Karnataka’s
litical and business class. Three presidents of India, and rural development & panchayat raj minister K.S. Esh-
every second politician, bureaucrat and business tycoon warappa and his heartless reaction to death by suicide of
have children parked in the US. A telling commentary of Santhosh Patil, a civil contractor who took the extreme
their confidence in policies they devise for the nation.
step because the minister refused to clear his Rs.4 crore
bill unless paid a commission of 40 percent of the bill
Rip Van Winkle comrades amount? In a blatant falsehood, the minister claimed
he never met Patil. Yet a tarmac road has sprung up in
village Hindalga (Belagavi), constructed by Patil. Why
IKE THE FRENCH BOURBON DYNASTY (1589- would he do that unless he had a clear directive from the
1793) which forgot nothing and learned nothing, at minister? The presumptive evidence is overwhelming and
Lits 23rd party congress convened in Kannur (Kerala) the minister’s plea that there was no “written order” to
on April 6-10, leaders and delegates of the Communist execute the contract and claiming a frame-up is pathetic.
Party of India (Marxist) indulged in familiar anti-business This klepto who in Karnataka’s murky corruption-stewed
and privatisation rhetoric reminiscent of the 1960-70s politics had earlier risen to the position of deputy chief
when the comrades were a force to reckon with in Indian minister, must be prosecuted for abetment to suicide.
politics. Yet the deeper explanation behind this latest tragedy
At the recent party congress, the CPM passed ringing is the ingenuity with which Karnataka’s irredeemably
resolutions against the BJP government’s National As- corrupt neta-babu brotherhood has succeeded in devis-
sets Monetisation Pipeline, i.e, privatisation programme, ing the state’s cast-iron, official corruption system. Every
denounced crony capitalism and expressed solidarity public service has a well-advertised rate card. While
with the Palestinian people. Within the party’s leader- academics and media pundits proffer the seven deadly
ship and delegates, there was no evidence of awareness sins as the cause of the graft epidemic in this state, the
that during the past half century, the Soviet Union has root cause is deliberate and sustained neglect to reform
collapsed, communist China has taken the capitalist road, the education and legal systems. Reflect upon it. Enlight-
that the CPM itself which ruled West Bengal uninterrupt- enment will dawn.
edly for 34 years (1977-2011), was routed in the recent

130 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2022