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After all, he was only heeding the old adage, charity begins at home. And nothing matters more than quot;Iquot;, quot;Wequot; be damned. What difference does it make if government employees don8217;t get their salaries because some unobliging contractor is demanding his dues? Or if roads are potholed or hospitals don8217;t havebasic facilities? If your kursi goes, you can8217;t do much to tackle the fiscal crisis anyway.

So while the newcomers preen themselves in their new offices, and strut around with their hefty gunmen, the chief minister has succumbed to temporary amnesia, a child8217;s philosophy that if you try not to think about a problem, it will magically disappear. Poof! Apparently oblivious to the empty kitty, Punjab ministers too continue to make grand pronouncements about creating Silicon valleys and satellite cities. And then go running to Delhi with a begging bowl. After all, ki farak penda hai how does it matter?

Strange how opinions change in moments. Before the elections the media had been going hammer and tongs at the chief minister, simply because they thought he was on his way out. But when the indefatigable warrior clung on tenaciously, the tenor changed. Suddenly they are back on a quot;love me, love my CMquot; trip.

With their propensity for blowing minutiae out of proportion, the state8217;s Sikh clergy are scarcelybetter. All their leading lights too are fervent acolytes of the quot;Iquot; philosophy. They have been whipping themselves into a frenzy over dates of Sikh festivals. In yet another strident assertion of identity that8217;s just a grandiloquent description for conflicting egos they began the millennium on a suitably harmonious note. Much hot air and precious newspaper column space has been devoted to descriptions of a new Sikh calendar, which is different from the Hindu calendar and the Muslim one. So after hectic calculations and confabulations, they decided to celebrate the Tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh8217;s birthday on two different dates. Big deal. Of course, government employees will go laughing all the way home, for hopefully it will give them yet another holiday.

The result? There is gracious acceptance of the way things are. There is no furore over the fact that poor government employees get their salaries a month or more late because the government has badly bungled. No distress that marginal farmers are onthe verge of bankruptcy. No indignation over the fact that development projects in the state are grounded. And to the powers that be, the only thing that matters is that their luxurious lifestyles should not be cramped.

It is a strange kitsch of political opportunism and resurgent fundamentalism. In Punjab, the new millennium has tragically not marked the beginning of a new altruism or a new tolerance. Only a new disinterest in things that really matter. Or make a difference.