THE two most hated words in Bangalore today are Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda. (Those are three words actually but readers of The New Indian Express will get the drift). On November 17, the JD (S) held a mega rally in the city, which resulted in a mega jam. Among other problems, children reached home from school at night, stuck in traffic without food or water.
To add insult to injury, Kumaraswamy later said that the “sophisticated” people of Bangalore cry themselves hoarse if they are slightly inconvenienced.
To be honest, HDK is right. It’s the rural pockets that vote. After all, what good is the urban population to a politician? Apart from the fact that the upwardly mobile of Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore — or any such mega city in the country — fill the coffers of the government by way of taxes, revenue and investment in the country. They merely drive the economy by spending and saving and creating ancillary jobs — look at the numerous retail stores, showrooms, and omelette-and- chai-wallahs, among other things.
If your favourite politician also thinks the same way, you need to shake him out of his slumber. Urban areas don’t take the universal adult suffrage too seriously because they have suffered for far too long. And they never have a choice, no matter what.
Why is there no BSP ( bijli, sadak, paani ) in most cities when citizens pay up to 33 per cent of their salaries as taxes? Where do the tens of thousands of rupees in taxes on new vehicles go? Why is it that we have to pay close to Rs 60 for a litre of petrol, when the international crude prices are now close to $50 per barrel.
The answer is cross-subsidy for the poor.
But what does a farmer get when his crop fails or when the bite of the loan shark gets too big to bear? An orphaned family.
What does our Union health minister do when poor children die due to the vaccine that is supposed to save them? He redoubles his efforts to get smoking banned in public places.
And what happens when a poor man from the village has to access public healthcare systems? An apology of a government hospital where no doctors, nurses or medicines turn up.
The young men and women of our cities provide cutting-edge solutions to the world. But it is a pity that back home they have to struggle for even basic things such as BSP.
Will the tide turn any time soon? I, for one, am pinning my hopes on our chief minister, Mr Y. He’s been traversing the length and breadth of Karnataka, attending function after function, and, hopefully, conjuring up some miracles.
If he doesn’t do anything for the state — and fast — there will be another most hated word in Bangalore.
ravijoshi@epmltd.com
