The modern thinking Indian

Ever since Sonia Gandhi did her act of sacrifice many years ago by not accepting the post of Prime Minister, the rarely done act of denial and refusal (also known as sacrifice by the adulating supporters) has become one of the ultimate weapons of defence when pushed to the wall. On another note, Omar Abdullah was the junior external affairs Minister during the NDA rule, and hence would have come across all sorts of stuff including files of various horrible things that happen in this world of ours, and hence could not be accused of having a thin skin.
India also suffers from the problem of even the most severe of accusations and cases taking a very long time to progress in our courts, and if you remember the sex scandal that seared Srinagar in 2006, you would be surprised to learn that the case court related to that is making its way through a trial in Chandigarh (the Supreme Court had pulled the trial out of Kashmir and into Chandigarh). Prosecution witnesses are still being examined, and if you were to ask as to when the case would be decided, would be difficult to say. This was the case where an initial case of one girl exploded into a case that revealed how minor girls were pushed into a prostitution ring to service many of the rich and powerful in Kashmir.
All these facts came together in the Srinagar assembly a couple of days back when the young Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah was accused of being on the CBI list of accused (# 102). Taken aback, the Chief Minister announced a decision to resign claiming that such a charge will tar even an innocent man, and he wanted his vindication. Inspite of his partymen trying to stop him, he stormed to his home, wrote out a resignation letter and passed it onto the Governor. However, this was a conditional resignation, that if the Governor believed in the charges, he should accept the resignation. Now, a Governor in our system is but a stool of the central Government, and there was no way that the Congress would let such a Chief Minister go.
And so you had numerous media reports that the CBI did not name the Chief Minister, even though, under an investigation, the prosecuting agency is supposed to keep quiet. Of course, since the PDP is smarting at the loss of its Government, it would not accept this, and the PDP continued its direct action of protest (including physical action in the assembly).
The final act of the drama was when the Governor rejected the resignation, thus giving a small halo around the head of the Chief Minister, who can now claim that he was willing to sacrifice his seat and power rather than be tainted by a stain.

Labels: Case, CBI, Governor, Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, PDP, Resignation, Scandal, Sex