—
OffStumped For All Things Right of Center, Bringing a Right of Centre Reality Check to Indian Politics, News Media Reporting and Opinion now in Hindi अब आप के लिये हिंदी मे.
—

The campaigning has ended and the battle royal between the UPA, CPI-M, CPI Nominee and former Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil and the NDA Nominee and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is all set for 19th July 2007.  The Election Commission said today MPs and MLAs were free to abstain from voting in the Presidential election but held that political parties could not issue a whip to their members to vote or not to vote. There is now a new twist to the murder case against G N Patil, brother of UPA presidential candidate Pratibha Patil. A new CD presented to the Bombay High Court shows GN Patil, his murdered rival Vishram Patil and the alleged assassin Raju Mali all in the same frame. Meanwhile, on the other side of the political divide the UPA kept the charges against BS Shekhawat coming. This time the documents being circulated are about an ongoing case in the Jaipur CJM court.

Offstumped marks the culmination of this bitter battle for the Indian Presidency with some verse.

On this momentous Occasion

here goes an appeal to all electoral Collegians

as you mark that ballot with your considered Opinion

reflect you must on what sets apart this Election

Carry you must positive Identification

but you can leave behind that anachronism of a Conviction

the outcome, presumed, a foregone Conclusion

the contest, reduced, to a deferred Coronation

the sideshow, stagemanaged, to coerce Abstentions

but persist we must with this farcical Election

for it is important to preserve that Enumeration

to reassure if there still were a few, burdened of Convictions

to that odd elector who indulges in conscientious Flirtations

forget not how Pratibha Patil was thrust on you, by Elimination

to arrive at the Lowest Common Moral De-nomination,

Lest you end up looking yourself in the  mirror, day after the Election

the ache hanging over your head, with that dreaded Question

“What was it I bargained, trading my Convictions ? ”

“That Raisina Hill would see a long overdue Gender Correction”

Allow Offstumped to disabuse you of that flawed Notion

for Pratibha Patil in her Gubernatorial Habitation

while patronizing activism against Patriarchal Discrimination

avoided Taslima Nasreen, shying away from a Formal Introduction

So much so for Women’s Rights and Strength of Conviction

“That Maratha Pride would be served with her Elevation”

 Dont delude yourself with the Tiger’s Geriatric Fiction

Pratibha Tai aint no Muktabai, despite the sugar sweet Invocation

45 years of Public Service peddling a politically correct Identification

can someone explain this incredible Electoral Roll infraction

So much so for Maratha Pride and Strength of Conviction

“How sorry I am Kalam is not up for Re-Election”

Mr. President one last service to your beloved Nation

The Partisan Politics of the Country desperately need Rejuvenation

May we request you leave behind a little something at your Valediction

your Spirit, may just be the one for your gifted Successor to be in Communion

Lest history judge this election as one that heralded the Death of Conviction

NOTE: TO POST COMMENTS VISIT

http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2007/07/18/death-of-conviction-marks-this-presidential-election/#comments