An Idiot's Insight 1

From Kejriwal to Lokpal

“ I will vote for Kejriwal’s AAP party” said Mr. Idiot to his beloved wife of 24 years.

“Who’s Kejriwal? “ asked Mrs. Idiot innocently as she only watched detective serials and movies on her Tata sky connection and didn’t waste her time on news channels after she had seen one debate of Mr. Arnab Goswami.

“ You haven’t heard of Kejriwal, dear? He’s the new messiah of India, the guy who’s going to rid this country of corruption. He’s going to ensure that every big businessman from the Ambani’s to the Adani’s play by the book and no one can take advantage of the law” replied Mr.I

“But how’s that possible? My friend Mrs. Ahuja told me that there’s no corruption in our country at all” said Mrs. I

Mr. Idiot was angry at his wife’s juvenile remark and retorted, “That’s hogwash. India is one of the most corrupt countries on earth and it is a well established fact”

“How so? How many people have been convicted of corruption, dear?” Mrs. Idiot questioned.

“Not too many I agree, but...Kejriwal will change all that. He will bring in the Lokpal bill, which will send the corrupt straight to jail,” beamed Mr. I.

“ So basically you want to vote for Kejriwal because you want people to go to jail?” inquired Mrs. I

Mr. Idiot patiently explained, “Not all people, only corrupt people”

Mrs. Idiot sounded confused. She asked “ But why are people corrupt in India only? Are we Indians inherently a corrupt race or did we have corruption thrust upon us?”

“We are corrupt because people want to break our land’s laws for their own selfish benefit” said Mr. I

“Do people want to break laws or they can’t comply with the laws because there are too many of them” posed Mrs. I, intelligently.

Startled by this seemingly intelligent question from his naive wife, Mr. Idiot was immersed in thought.

After careful consideration he replied, “ I think you’re right, possibly we have too many complicated laws in India and these laws are continuously amended and changed too. 

It’s practically impossible for a common man, for that matter any man to keep a track, leave alone comply with all the laws of the land and therefore the only option is to give “something” and get on with life, when you haven’t complied”

“Exactly my point, my dear. If there are too many complicated laws and it’s impossible to keep a track, let alone comply with them, will enacting just another law like the Lokpal or whatever, kill corruption or make most of the citizenry of the country having offences against their name for not complying with the laws?” she reasoned.

Suddenly Mr. I realised what an intelligent comment his beloved wife had made. “You’re right my dear, we need simpler and fewer laws to eliminate corruption not another law. Possibly a Lokpal may be necessary as a deterrent for corruption in the higher echelons of power, but at the street level you need fewer, easy to understand, follow and stable laws, not more laws. In fact some of the laws in our country date back to 1857 (like the criminal procedure code or CrPC) or earlier and while not reviewing these archaic laws our legislators are happily making new laws every year and adding to the burden of compliance of the common man”

“Now you see, why watching detective serials is better than wactching Arnab Goswami and getting confused, my dear” smiled Mrs. I.