The months from April to June are described as silly season for news. Summer vacations, politicians jaunting abroad, and journalists feeling the heat, where is the story, the refrain from most editors. Summer of 2007, though has been anything but silly. One after the other, we have seen constant BREAKING NEWS. The year began with elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand, peaking with Mayawati's sweep in UP. BJP's embarrasement in Goa and finally culminating in race for Rashtrapati Bhavan. But hold on we ain't done just yet. In just a few months, you will start reading and watching items related to Narendra Modi and Moditva and 5 crore Gujarati's pride.. So the year has been full of what we might call, top political stories.

Its in the maze of all these political stories, events, that I wonder, whats the state of our polity" What lies in future for the young Indians" Is there something that's changing now which will change the shape of our polity forever" We are celebrating 60 years of our Independence, this year, but do our netas give us a reason to celebrate"

Lets start first with the Presidential battle. What do you have, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the grand old man of the BJP, former chief minister of Rajasthan, present vice president, pitted against Pratibha tai patil, a known sonia acolyte, someone who was pulled out of political wilderness after the UPA came to power. And look at whats happened since these two leaders decided to slug it out. I was made to do enquire about cases which had happened even before I was born. Shekhawat, suspended from police in 1948, cried the congress. Pratibha tai was playing tricks thru the 70s, shouted the BJP. Come on, spare us this embarrassing duel of words taking place between two people who perhaps don't matter to more than half of this country. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has now declared an account of his financial wealth as well. What does he own, 26 lakh rupees in cash after 5 decades of public life. Compare that to Mayawati's 400% growth in personal wealth in 3 years of public life. From 2004 when she was a lakhpati..to 2007 when she became a multi crorepati. Her response was that all this was money given to her by her supporters in ten rupee and twenty rupee notes. Shekhawat's response is well, he never took money from party workers. Maybe the upper caste sentiments of Mr Shekhawat restrained him from doing anything publically. Who knows what happens behind the scenes.

What should Pratibha tai do" Should she too go ahead and let the country, of which in all probability she is going to be the first citizen soon, know of what kind of money she has" Her managers insist no need. Maybe they have a point. After all the President of our country has to be like ceasear's wife, beyond suspicion. Something which may not be acceptable in her case, considering the slew of charges which have been levelled against her. From helping her brother in a murder case, to misusing her MP funds meant for development of her constituency, to even grabbing land for her husband.

So what do we do" As a country, we have to live with the fact that despite all the charges and counter charges that have flown thick and fast in the last month, we will be getting our first woman president. Maybe she too like Kalam will get a mid night call from those who are catapulting her to Rashtrapati Bhavan, to give her assent on some decision. Then we will known whether she is a president of the country, or is she the representative of a particular political party.

And almost as soon as Pratibha tai will take the oath for being in rashtrapati bhavan, the other battle would be gaining steam. Who will be the vice president" Will he / she be a politician, or a non politician" Prakash Karat says, non politician. His comrade in arms, AB Bardhan says politician. Now why should the left parties insist on getting their way in all top political decisions. Poor Shivraj Patil, otherwise the country's home minister is still licking his wounds. Karat wanted a politician as a president. Sonia Gandhi wanted shivraj patil. In Mr Karat's books, Mr Patil doesn't even qualify to be a politician. What a joke played on our country. Our home minister, supposed to be incharge of our internal security, supposed to be the de facto number two of our government, is not a politician. Maybe because he lost the last lok sabha elections. We will know in the next couple of weeks, whether Gopal Gandhi, Irfan Habib, or Mushirul Hasan are non politicians for everyone in our political fraternity.

And finally we will see the mother of all battles in Gujarat. The great secular versus communal debate will be fought in tv studios all over again. Several hundred and thousand centimetres of print space will be allocated to determining whether Narendra Modi should be lynched publically for the pogroms of 2002. Activists will be beating their chests, asking people to throw out Modi. There may be some Modi supporters too who by then may have changed their tact, and would have started taking him on. Narendra bhai will be projecting himself as the CEO of Gujarat, the man who has taken the " theka " of being responsible for the pride of 5 crore gujaratis. So what if the world over, he will always be suspected of some foul play for what happened in 2002. I suspect Sonia Gandhi in her Italianised Hindi will be giving all of us lessons on what she thinks is the great secular tradition our country. I am also equally sure that people will continue to remind her of what happened in 1984..in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. Rahul baba, having failed to do anything in UP, after camping there for months, will also be using a trick or two to make some impact in Bapu's land.

By then, another significant development which may alter the political landscape would have happened. The justice Liberhan commission, set up to enquire who were the main conspirators in the demolition of the babri mosque, would have submitted its report. The one man commission headed by Justice MS Liberhan was set up ten days after the demolition on the 6th of December 1992. Justice Liberhaan was supposed to submit his report within 3 months, its been 15 years, still its not ready. If LK Advani and some other top BJP leaders indeed are indicted, then I suspect a repeat of something that you have seen in the presidential battle may happen again. There will be more charges, more accusations, and who knows yet another Yaatra by another politician.

And of course, in the background to all these great political events, we will be keep celebrating the 60th anniversary of India's independence. The great spirit of Indianness..Mera Bharat Mahan, Maa tujhe salaam. For only a truly great nation could have withstood the kind of political onslaught that has been inflicted upon itself over a prolonged period of time. As for the future, well watch this space for more.