Memo to Jayanti Natrajan

Over the past few days as I watched the media go into overdrive and make a mash of the post blast coverage, there is one particular incident which sums up a lot of things.

Shobha De, questioned the government and questioned Sonia Gandhi on one of NDTV's programs. Jayanti Natrajan was supposed to speak on behalf of the Congress.

Now, Ms. Natrajan's response, besides toeing the party line and having nothing to add to the discussion, also reveled the political class's attitude towards the country.

She said that "How can Shobha De question Sonia Gandhi?".

You know, while this statement although is of a single sentence, the tone it was said in reveals a lot about the speaker.

What Ms. Natrajan meant to say was "Oh, you're Shobha De. You write books which have awkward sex scenes and you drink alcohol. How can you question Sonia Gandhi, the personification of God Almighty, himself?"

This just in: We don't live in Iran and Ms. Gandhi is not the Ayotullah. She goes around every election time asking for our votes. Her party is "running" rather ruining our country's government. Shobha De is a tax paying citizen of this country. I may not agree with everything or anything she says, but she has every right to say it. Because we live in a democracy. Free speech is guaranteed by our constitution. Not only Shobha De can question Mrs G, her driver can question Mrs. G, the guy who cleans the toilets in the Taj can question Mrs G, Bhappi fucking Lahri can question Mrs. G. We, the people of this country can question anyone who runs for political office. Because you are answerable to us. Mrs G is answerable to us. Little G, Rahul is answerable to us. If we don't like the way things are run, we will question you. Just because we haven't done that for the past sixty one years, doesn't mean that you take us for granted.

We pay for Mrs. G security cover. She has been rightly granted Z security that because there was a death threat against her. Now, Ms Natrajan, every Indian has a death threat against them. We all need to feel secure. We can't make 500 black commandos following each and every citizen, but we need to know that one day when we step out to eat sushi, it shouldn't mean that we don't ever come back.

Another thing Ms Natrajan said was "Why doesn't Shobha De run for the Chief Minister"?

That's like pointing towards the sky. saying "Look there goes a bird" and running away.

This is not just about her attitude towards Shobha De. This sums up her attitude towards anybody who questions the government: How dare you?

Okay, I'll apply the same logic to you. Why don't you spend one day in our shoes? Why don't you and your ilk go around town without those 1900 gunmen?

I thought so. You wouldn't even last a minute.

So please go back to the fan club you call a national party.