The Joke Presidentship is

Finally tonight, I listened to a debate on how lack-lustre and controversy courting the tenure of Pratibha Patil was as president of India.

The Congress spokeswoman Renuka Choudhary exhibited her hallmark uninhibited eloquence as highlighting Ms Patil’s contribution to the nation by way of improving the gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This is India, and here, peoples’ expectations of their leaders is so abysmally low, that it takes eons for disillusionment to set in and even longer for political perdition to catch up with these politicians. So for a large portion of their active lives, their indiscretions, their improprieties and often brazen pursuit of personal priorities at the expense of public exchequer go unpunished and un-admonished.

In the US the lady governor of South Carolina was hauled up for her jaunt to Europe, which cost the exchequer USD 127,000 only. Compare it with the per capita GDP of the US. In stark contrast, look at the USD 40 mn that Pratibha Patil spends on her jaunts, and compare is to the less than a dollar a day on which most of India survives. But the ledger of public accountability is so weak, you can get away with murder. You are safe and will do your term as president till the time Sonia Gandhi is merciful.  

To add insult to injury, the congress spokeswoman Renuka called it a learning curve for the first woman president. Come on have a conscience.