BENGALURU: The biggest festival of democracy just got over in Karnataka and the clamour for the delivery of the harvest – the five guarantees of the incumbent Congress government – 200 units of free power to all households, Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the women head of every family, 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household, Rs 3,000 every month to every graduate unemployed youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders have already begun.
Last weekend, even as the Kanteerava Stadium was seen bursting at its seams when Siddaramaiah took the oath as the new Chief Minister, there was a carousel on the roads amid a gathering of women. From my balcony, I could hear loud cheers on eradu sawira (two thousand in Kannada). My house help skipped the threshold and announced her entry with a smile beaming from ear to ear with a fresh huva (flower) tucked neatly in her plaited hair. A visit to Shaneeshwara temple is a must on Saturday and the lady has been observing this ritual with utmost sanctity.
“Aunty, Kaee (hand) will give us eradu sawira and hatthu (10) kg rice. We have already given our PAN and Aadhaar cards to the man. He collects certificates from all of us and will take them to the sarkara (government),” she said. Her exuberance was such that I couldn’t help but join the celebration. On the TV screens, one could watch the sea of human frames at the Kanteerava Stadium cheering their leader.
Away from the corridors of power are lakhs of people, who swear by those whom they have elected on the promise of a better future.
Assured by almost all political parties, electoral promises (freebies is an uncomfortable word for any political party) have sabotaged the litmus test of the performance of the elected representatives in the last five years and have become the winnable mantras of an election.
That India in its 75th anniversary of Independence still has a large chunk of the electorate, who are fed on electoral alms and literally robbed of the right to make an informed decision about their lives is the harshest truth, which none of the elected netas or political parties wishes to acknowledge.
Why have the poor not come out of poverty in all our 75 years of Independence? Why do children walk barefoot to government schools, where there are no teachers? The mid-day meals amplify the dire straits people are in, where children are sent to school to be fed. Education, which is the bedrock of democracy, is secondary to food security, naturally. While the mandate of the elected is on oath, how many of them have even read the Constitution in its true spirit and aspirations of young India back then in 1949? Undoubtedly, the largest vote bank is the millions, who vote believing that things will change for them. The delusion continues from one election to the other.
Winning elections over the years has become a booming multi-crore industry now. The number of teams, PR companies working behind a neta, and political parties are countless. The money spent on election campaigns is beyond ordinary math. Social media with its army of trolls is the biggest arsenal in the armoury of modern-day politics and politicians, who use it to create and peddle fictitious narratives.
It is ironic how the political corridors continue to remain scaffolded on the blood, toil and never-to-be-lived dreams of millions left disenfranchised by the lie of the men in Khadi. The greater the white and starch on the Khadi, the bigger the business to hide the stains of assault on democracy.