The Crusader Against Corruption Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

The politicians are mindless
about the opprobrium heaped on them
for their misdeeds and corruption.
Politics is an open-sesame
to criminals and the cunning
for fulfilling their ambitions.
An overdose of bribes has made
public life servile and squalid.

When the courts order to attach their wealth
and detain them in prison, they make a fun of it.
' God has already ordered a one-two punch to me
to give my wealth to the poor
and go to jail for a public cause', they say.
The votes of people with nous
don't decide the winners in these obscene elections.
The votes of the illiterates and the votes
clicked in stealth choose the victors.

When the government is gripped in the hands
of the opportunists of parties one after the other,
the rich buy the posts of officers in hidden auctions.
The middle class bargain for clerical jobs.
The sons of the poor join the gangsters and smugglers
who run a parallel government, colluding with
the politicians who live for uplifting the poor.
The poor women need to trade in open market or the nets.

The people are ossified to stretch hands
to grab the freebies and graft, and sell their votes.
Ouch! why this Anna Hazare, the last surviving crusader,
goes on an outdated fast dreaming for a change?
He can't provoke a public outcry against corruption
with the outfits of graduates and tottering old men.
Will his message reach the illiterate ocean in rural hamlets
when the T.V. channels are owned by the demagogues?