ELECTION FEVER IN KARNATAKA 2023

ELECTION FEVER IN KARNATAKA 2023

By

Lt Gen PG Kamath (Veteran)

For the next year and a half, the country will be gripped by election fever.   12 States are going for polls and the parliamentary elections are due in May 24. The strategy of all parties is to corrupt the public with tasty bites. You must have heard a politician in Karnataka who was snapped throwing notes of five hundred rupees to the public as one throws biscuits to stray dogs. Are politicians treating society as dogs or is the society prepared to play dogs to political masters? It is so humiliating to see citizens’ dignity trampled by politicians who think that the electorate is a beggar. Citizens of our country; please wake up and show these leaders; who are their arbitrators. Without your support, those who throw crumbs at you are the real dogs who would fight tooth and nail and snap at each other for pieces of meat. 

Next, the brother and sister duo from Congress came from Delhi and promised that all unemployed graduates will get a pension of Rs 3000 and diploma holders Rs 1500 per month for two years in case their party is elected to power. Also, Rs 2000 monthly support to families led by women. Besides, the party would give 200 units of free electricity.

Similarly, a slew of promises is made by AAP promising free 300 units of electricity, an unemployment allowance of Rs 3000, and free bus rides for students and women. The party also promised all BPL women above 18 years an empowerment allowance. To sum up, the party promises that each household will save 8K to 10K in their monthly bills if the party is elected to power.

Here, instead of making our society self-reliant and encouraging self-empowerment, the parties are planning to make a society that is overly dependent on government doles. These are the times when we must inculcate water and electricity discipline among our citizens for the sustenance of our nation; however, these jokers are promising free power.  Can any person who loves his country ever do it? Why is a blanket largesse been doled to all? Are the rich unable to pay for the electricity and water they use? By all means, provide help to those who are poor and need temporary support to tide over their financial distress. Financial assistance should be provided to those who are old, infirm, and those who are in throes of poverty. The government needs to support and empower them with skills so that they take pride in earning for themselves, and providing for their families. 

And, again; whose money, is it? I support such doles if they are given from the personal funds of these politicians or any private trusts like the RGF and similar ones, they head. However, do they have the right to spend the public money financed by taxpayers to pave way for their political power?   Do we vote to get electricity and water free or see the development of our country? Don’t we need efficient and corruption-free governance? Don’t we need to invest in public health and community sanitation? What about the roads and transportation which the government is really improving by leaps and bounds? Don’t we want it to progress rapidly so that economic activity is given impetus to enhance the GDP of our country? Are we questioning our politicians regarding improving health services and quality grains in the public distribution system? What about asking for efficient government services like law and order, property registration, transport registration, driving licenses, khata certificates, income certificates, ration cards, BPL certificates, and other government services? All the above are to be provided by the lower bureaucracy without taking bribes. Why are we not insisting the IAS cadres sit on public interaction windows once a week and provide corruption-free services to the citizens? Who is going to monitor a plethora of peons, clerks, head clerks, and supervisors in government offices who arrogate themselves with the power to take bribes for moving files? Why are we not holding the higher bureaucracy responsible for corruption under them? First, they should prove themselves to be above corruption; only then, they can enforce it on their subordinates. Why don’t we ask for reducing the waiting time in government hospitals and ensure dignified treatment? Are we so selfish that we are busy picking money thrown by politicians on their road shows and pardoning them for all their indiscretions, incompetencies, colossal apathy, and overwhelming disdain toward the poor?

What about the corruption by a sitting BJP MLA in Karnataka whose son was collecting money on behalf of his father? When the absconding politician returns to his constituency there is a rousing welcome by our people for looting them. Isn’t it an irony? We reward and vote for people who rob us. I am glad that he has been charged and arrested.

There is another party in the fray; the JDS. A family feud is out on display with a debutant daughter-in-law wanting to contest from the family bastion. The two sons are fighting it out to give or not to give her the ticket. Three sons of these two sons are also in the political gruel; one is already an MP, another is in State Legislative Council and yet another though defeated in the last elections would be contesting again to find a power slot in the family equation. Pots and pans would be flying at each other, once the decision is made. To avoid the drama, it is being delayed. It is intriguing what would be the reaction of the electorate to such family-centered politics.

I thought ‘Democracy’ was indeed the best form of government. The way we have distorted it by transforming the whole society into greedy, self-centered, and selfish is a tribute to human ingenuity.

Now let us take the reservations. It was meant to be for 30 years. I still have not understood how a visionary and patriot like Ambedkar did not envisage that we would never be able to end these reservations. What is intriguing is that even the proud and gallant communities like financial wizards like Patels and Dauntless Jat are seeking reservations meant for backward castes. Society is being further divided, subdivided, and sub-sub-divided into much smaller entities with the sole aim of wriggling into the long list of OBCs. I came to know that the Panchamasali Lingayats are different from other Lingayats. Expect more such pearls of wisdom to be discovered in the future. Do not be surprised in times to come, we may have reservations based on one’s DNA that would determine one’s eligibility to the esoteric list. Then we will be having reservations based on Harari’s book that would determine his origins from the time of Homo-erectus. Splendid; DNA analysts would be busy rolling out false certificates for reservations in government jobs.  Indeed; have I opened a new avenue for future employment?

I have tremendous respect for the intellect of Indian citizens. The only fault with all of us is that we are in the habit of forgiving and forgetting and drift seamlessly into caste equations. We vote for our castes and creeds and that is the end of constituting an accountable government. Next, we also vote for hereditary rule. Dynastic rules have been perpetuated by politicians who want to cling to power irrespective of competencies.  The public can sight many such Neanderthals in the political arena whose antics provide amusement to the general public.

Lastly, I want to appeal to my countrymen to make our country strong by bringing power to those individuals who really work for the people with our nation in their minds. Please do not fall into the bottomless pit of expectations and gobble at crumbs thrown at us which would not only humiliate us but incapacitate our children and rob their ability to earn for themselves. The political class could not care less for us or our country. We, voters, are made fools to serve them once they are elected to power. Please be alert; we need to vote for the best of individuals. The enemy is within! The Nation comes First always and Every time. Jai Hind.