Clarkson was too polite – sadly India is a stinking, corrupt open sewer

The politically-correct brigade have predictably been outraged over Jeremy Clarkson’s comments about toilets in India. Allegations of racism are flying. But Clarkson was too polite – India is a disgusting cross between a garbage dump and an open sewer. In India you can always spot a railway line by the long line of people crouching on the rails defecating.  In the West we have a tradition of using taxpayers’ money to build roads, hospitals, schools, sewage treatment plants, electricity networks and much more. This improves everybody’s standard of living and also provides much needed jobs. But India is so corrupt that the few taxes that are collected are mostly embezzled by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. Whenever money is spent on a public-sector project, there is so much corruption and incompetence that what is built is so shoddy and substandard that it is usually collapsing within a few months.

Indians would like us to think of their country as modern and high tech. But the greed, corruption and stupidity of the ruling classes have condemned three quarters of the population to grinding poverty – no electricity, no water, no sewers, no hope. There have been protests about corruption. But the politicians have united to block any new laws limiting their freedom to steal as much public money as they want. India doesn’t need to be a corrupt, stinking open sewer – its rulers have made it that way. But Mr Clarkson was far too polite – India is worse than most people could ever imagine. (By the way, I’m not a racist – I have two adopted children from India. It’s a pity that the greed, corruption and incompetence of India’s rulers mean that my children had no future in their own country)