James Otis = Judas Iscariot

"Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, 'What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?' And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver." -- Matthew 26:14-15

Then there’s James Otis, the capitalistic foreigner in question, who scrambled to recover the moral high ground after being tut-tutted at by persons in government for “commercialising” Gandhi’s heritage (an accusation puzzlingly not thrown at Vidhu Vinod Chopra or the rest of the Munnabhai team). In an extraordinary expression of self-assertion, Otis demanded that the elected government of the world’s largest democracy alter its spending priorities if it wanted the used eyeglasses in question.

And how did all this end? In properly Indian manner, with competitive chaos: Tushar Gandhi using Dilip Doshi to bid against Vijay Mallya, who may or may not have been the state’s representative. If anyone thinks that the spectacle of a liquor baron bidding for the used crockery of a man who was not the world’s biggest alcohol fan was blasphemous, they’re clearly moralistic killjoys that don’t understand Gandhism. What more agreeable spectacle than Vijay Mallya, the buyer of Tipu’s sword, now buying slightly less violent relics? (And wasn’t he complaining the other day Kingfisher had no money?) Or than the government, which first disdained then took credit for Slumdog, now trying to take credit for another Indian Victory Abroad? (source: Indian Express)