Japanese Justice Minister, Minoru Yanagida resigned following comments in which he ridiculed his own job. He said that as Justice Minister he needed to remember only two responses in reply to questions from other lawmakers. These are, ' I do not comment on specific cases ' and ' We are dealing with the matter appropriately based on law and evidence.' His colleagues in the Diet were outraged and demanded his resignation to which he complied. Compare this to India where Mr. Kamraj used only one word, ' parkalam ' ( which apparently means

' wait and see ' ) to every question throughout his entire career. The previous Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama resigned because he had broken his election promise that he would remove the US base in Okinawa. Junichiro Koizumi stepped down after completing his term as Prime Minister even though he was very popular. President Lula of Brazil is stepping down after two terms with a popularity rating of over 80%. Sadly, in India, politicians will cling on to office even when caught red handed in various crimes. They will try anything from bluster to fake tears to bribing legislators. They make you cringe that anyone who looks human can be so disgusting that you want to crush him under foot. Occasionally they may be comical as when Mr. Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra ' offered to resign ' when implicated in the Adarsh Housing scam. What he probably meant was that I will do anything if you find anyway to let me hang on. The reason is that all politicians want to loot the maximum they can and will sink into any cesspool to continue. Sadly they do not even die.