UPDATE NOVEMBER 2008: I was clearly mistaken below when I attributed the cash-flashing in the Lok Sabha to BSP, when in fact it was Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who did the deed. Too many abbreviations that I wasn’t as attuned to not having yet been in the UN system, AKA the Domain of the Acronym. I’m not going to alter the post, but read on with discretion :)

Sigh.  Something turned up rotten in Delhi when, right in the house of parliament, a few MPs of the Bahujan Samaj Party produced bundles of cash with which they claimed the ruling UPA government had bribed them for their votes.  This happened hours before the UPA’s successful confidence vote, spurred by this pesky nuclear deal.  A cleverly wrought smear attempt by sore losers?  Airtight proof of UPA corruption?  You be the judge.  The voters of India likely will, too.

BSP are the socialist-leaning folks who purport to be the voice of the India’s marginalized scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and the indistinctly defined Other Backward Classes (I myself could probably argue status under this classification).  They like to decorate public space in Mumbai with dramatic bright-blue graffiti and their trademark elephant logo.  The tough-as-nails party president is a woman from Uttar Pradesh named Mayawati Kumari.  Interesting stuff, though I would question the catchiness of a party slogan like “the signs of the upper castes, let’s beat them down with our shoes.”

A longer entry about personal goings-on is forthcoming!