What will you do if somebody presents a bag of rotten apples? Looking for one or two lesser rotten ones would be the only logical course. And this is what I've been doing in elections in the post-Indira Gandhi period,'' says noted satirist and septuagenarian K.P. Saxena.Known for his sharp wit, K.P. admits that being a satirist, he perhaps speaks a little too harshly. However, pointing out the degeneration of democracy, ``in which muscle and money power have become a buzzword'', he adds: ``When you have to elect one among the blind, why not the one-eyed one?''K.P. has been voting since the first general election in 1952 and, much as he may hate politics and politicians, never misses to exercise his franchise. Or to get exercised by issues. ``See the height of indecency when Rajesh Khanna calls Atal Behari Vajpayee an unmarried father-in-law or Pramod Mahajan compares Sonia Gandhi with Monica Lewinsky or Romesh Sharma announces that he will contest against Atal in Lucknow!'' he says.Unlike this, thesatirist recalls, in earlier days, voting was almost a pious duty. According to him, this feeling lasted till 1984, but after the assassination of Indira, there was a steady degeneration.K.P. has also been disappointed by the Congress, a party his family always voted for till 1984. Earlier, he says, the party had stalwarts, now its leaders are sunk in corruption. ``The only clean and honest man is none other than Vajpayee. But it is a pity that a man of his stature had to face such charges from the likes of Rajesh Khanna and Sonia. This is nothing but intellectual bankruptcy,'' he says.For Sonia, he has a question. ``Why have you yet not quit your Italian citizenship?'' K.P. asks. ``Is it not because of your apprehension that a day will come when you will have to take asylum in Italy? Who denies that you are the bahu of an Indian family, but being the bahu of a family has nothing to do with politics. Forgive me for my gnawing comments, but I cannot swallow a tamarind for an apple.''However, K.P. hasnot lost hope. ``This will not go on for long. The time will come, surely within my lifetime or later, because things are getting shape. The era of alliances will end there will be one-party rule and stability because people are fed up of prolonged instability, which has ruined our economy,'' he says.
