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AKRAMA POLITICS, SAKRAMA SOLUTIONS!
John Galbraith, US Ambassador to India, once called India a 'functional anarchy'. Had he lived to watch the Karnataka of today, he would have spared that epithet to Karnataka alone, coining a more charitable metaphor for the rest of India! After watching months-long political tamasha in the state , whose after-effects still rankle, the people are left out in a thoroughly disillusioned state (of mind), their cynicism and revulsion to all things political reaching the its peak. They saw the state- which was once a paragon of political stability, which was the last to practise political witchcraft and sorcery, which , in short, valued ethics in statecraft to the greatest degree, which gave the nation persons of great cailbre and stature in all walks of life - becoming an object of ridicule and derision in the eyes of the nation in these last few months. From street-hawker to rickshawala, from bus conductor to milk vendor, from the keenest intellectual to the sharpest corporate,none made any attempt to hide their disgust and odium at the political class as a whole. The pejoratives and expletives they used in their language showed it all: " Rascals, rogues, two-tongued, Janus-faced, foxes, third-rates, cheats, 420s, opportunists, unprincipled, mongrels, double-crossers, backstabbers, self-seekers, power hungry - theses are some of the words ( in the local language) which the hoi polloi used to describe their leaders of all hues and persuasions. Never before any where in the country the politics was filthier, they seemed to shout in chorus.
After all the high drama and farce, the state is now under the President's rule. Elections may not be held any time soon, especially in view of the approaching season of school and college exams. People are so dejected they seem to be in no hurry either. In the meantime, politicians continue their mudslinging matches, blame games and dirty-linen washing unabated. The fact that all is over between or among them has removed the last of inhibitions of decency and decorum from out of them; they are nows engaged in cacophonous , no-holds-barred wars of words much to the irritation of the people who, anyway , have ceased to trust and believe them long back. Take an example. The Akrama/Sakram property regularization Scheme launched by the JD(S)-BJP government has come for much flak from the public all over the state for its highly unscientific provisions, sky-high penalties and very user-unfriendly procedures. Now all the political parties including those who jointly launched it as a government scheme have got down to the streets blaming one another for the formulation and implementation of the scheme. Obviously, they do not want their election prospects to be foiled by being branded as the progenitors of an unpopular scheme! The joke is they think people believe what they say. The high court has put the scheme on hold for the time being, in a sort of overhang, compounding an already complex problem.
Though the Governor is earnestly trying to give a good administration, he has his own limitations in the absence of a full-fledged legislature and executive. In the absence of a representative government, people feel lost and fatherless. Their cynicism notwithstanding, they are eagerly waiting for the days when they can elect a new and effective government into power, filling this void soon. They seem to agree with what Plato said, " Politicians may be a necessary evil, but Politics is a virtue."
But let the people of Karnataka learn from their past experience and exercise a wise choice: A Coalition Government or a Single Party-Government? Statesman-like leaders or political hoodlooms? A party that cares for itself or a party that cares for the people? A party with muscles and money or a party with morals and manners? Unfortunately for them, things in politics are not clear cut like this. There are good people in a bad party and bad people in a good party, a statesman -like leader behaving like a self-centered one, a self-centered leader posing as statesman- like. Electing one's political representative has become a high IQ job. Well, even if the voter has the caliber to choose the right type, are there enough out there? The supply side is weak too!
The entire country is looking up to the election verdict in Karnataka whenever that is. Let Gujarat and- Cricket too- be dammed!
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