Much ado about a goat-er-dämmerung

In an example of a nanny goat state butting into areas where it needn’t, a Gujarat MLA read out the riot act when an animal of the hircine species belonging to a family within his constituency was stolen. The politician red-alerted the constabulary to launch a state-wide search for the purloined quadruped.

The kid-napped billy was ‘rescued’ by the minions of the law from a Mumbai-bound train at Surat. However, even as the cops exclaimed ‘Goat-cha!’, it was discovered that they had apprehended the wrong animal.

This particular shaggy-goat story ended with the erroneously seized animal being restored to its owner and the law enforcement agencies giving up their search for the other cloven-hoofed critter.


However, the climate of competitive claptrapism leading up to the 2019 elections could well inspire some to become selfappointed goat rakshaks. Such vigilantism could acquire patriotic credentials in that it sought to protect a species the milk and other dairy products of which were preferred by the Father of the Nation.

Indeed, seeking to make one’s electoral adversaries the scapegoat of one’s sins has long been a pet ploy in our netas’ game of thrones. So much so that such stratagemsrun the risk of getting the collective goat of voters who justifiably might feel that it is they who are being made the bakras.