Sonia, like Vajpayee,
is being guided by insensitive ex-Naukarshahs  like Manmohan Singh.

As a result the Congress Party continues to behave like a castrated donkey.

The main opposition party has failed miserably. Instead of taking up the issues on behalf of the people, it continues to raise technical points in the parliament, demanding things like JPC probes that yield nothing in the end. If they get really enthusiastic, they demand the resignation of this minister or that. Apart from this they have done nothing in the last three and half years. If they coninue on this path for the next one and half years, their seat tally in the parliament will fall below hundred.

What Sonia should have done about the US 64 issue? She should have demanded redemption of units at the old repurchase price even if it was going to cost this government a few thousand crores. This way she would have been seen as someone who fights for justice. Instead of this, the Congress party attacked the government about the functioning of the UTI. Did this really address the real concern of two crore adults whose investment got eroded overnight? No. It helped the government to get away with murder. One also got a feeling that the Congress Party colluded with the government in its brazen act of betrayal of people's trust.

Who would fight for people now when the government and the opposition, both, are working against the people's interest. They are industrialist friendly, and are in the grip of media savvy ex-Naukarshahs.

We can see the contrast between Indira and Sonia very clearly. Indira Gandhi worked with people's perspective to stay in power. This was the reason she remains the most popular PM of India. The Congress Party has lost that perspective and thus it is doddering and is failing to turn into a beacon of hope in the present state of helplessness and despair around us.

We have forgotten to smile.

In every area, from economy to foreign policy and security, we are witnessing total chaos. This country has not heard a single good news since this government has come to power. The Sensex, the much tom tommed index of economic prosperity and well being , has nose-dived. The hard earned savings of investors have been wiped away. We are nowhere in the reckoning as an economic power in spite of all the big talk by the likes of Yashwant Sinha and Pramod Mahajan. The so called information technology revolution has turned out to be a dud even before it could take off. The media bombasts have become experts in economic matters and are paid heed to by the persons in power. People of the country and their plight are inconsequential in the present scheme of things.

On external affairs front, we have retreated dishonourably. The US, in spite of what MEA claims, continues to sing the same tune. Kashmir issue is almost internationalized. Bush has started talking about the US role in Kosovo and Kashmir. China and Russia have come closer now and signed a deal. The Russians did not even discuss their impending treaty with China with Jaswant Singh. All attempts to put India at par with China, including the Pokharan blast,  have come to nothing. The world community has no respect for this country. The US diplomats keep issuing threats to us even on minor issues like Enron. Now, even a refugee like Dalai Lama has started opening his mouth a bit too wide. MEA's job is confined to doing some routine Cocktail Party PRbaazi with no results. None respects our leaders and our people.

Life of ordinary people counts for nothing in this country. It is still worse if you are a Hindu. None takes up your cause. Media too feels that an attack on a christian missionary is more shocking than well planned killings of Hindu missionaries in Tripura (which rarely finds a mention in the headlines). The home minister talks too much and does nothing. The PM talks of peace with killers and gives them legitimacy. It is for the first time after Nehru that we are seeing the phenomenon of a PM who is more worried about his image than the work he is supposed to do. The guy cannot look beyond his nose and the dream of getting a Nobel. He barters away India's interests in crucial summits. He blatantly refuses to tell the nation as to how did he do this in his one to one talk with a military dictator. He lacks a vision of his own, except the Nobel, and thus is guided by some self serving eunuchs around him in the royal traditions of Moghul Darbars.

What do we do now? Where do we seek solace for the country and its people? We are an exhausted lot. We have seen how every well meaning movement has finally been appropriated (or misappropriated) by politicians with dubious intentions.

It looks as if the best interest of this country lies in worsening of this chaos. This may get our backs up and we would be shaken out of our indifference.