For someone who grew up in a village in north Bihar with an impression that certain institutions – the Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister’s Office, to name a few – are sacrosanct, I am shattered beyond words while going through the contents of Kalikho Pul’s suicide note.

The question that comes to my mind is – can something like this be true? Is everything bhagwan bharose in our country? What about the institutions we have built all these years and taken pride in to strengthen our democracy? Are they as rotten as such disclosures reveal? I am sure such questions would have crossed the minds of my fellow journalists. And such a collective silence despite that?

Have doubts about the content, question its authenticity, be sceptical about allegations – all of us are entitled to have our positions. But how can such disclosures be ignored?