Amid the confusion, conflict of conscience and turmoil, it is difficult to predict which way the Karnataka elections are going to swing. Who is going to anchor the state is something hard to guess, with a fragmented verdict expected. By all indications, the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party are poised to get most of the seats, but the kingmaker is expected to be the Janata Dal (Secular), which will play a critical role in providing the extra votes needed to form the government.
I have been in politics for more than four decades, but this is the first time that I am seeing so much viciousness in the tone and tenor of the speeches of political leaders. The mudslinging that the parties are indulging in is indeed distasteful and does not augur well for the future. The BJP, which is fighting hard to win Karnataka, continues to use the same old mantra of blaming 'last 50 years of Congress rule' as the reason for the mess that we are in. Perhaps their selective amnesia has made them forget that they were part of ruling coalition governments at the Centre and even had a full term at the Centre under the umbrella of the NDA.
The Congress government has also taken to imitating the BJP’s blame-game by accusing the five years of rule at the Centre and the saffron party's hostility as the reason for their failure to govern the state effectively.
The residents of Bengaluru will not forget BJP’s misgovernance, which resulted in the Garden City turning into a garbage city. The city is still struggling to cope with the problem due to lack of foresight, which has resulted in this problem escalating to gargantuan proportions. Both the national parties must get the blame for turning Bengaluru into a crime capital.
The criminal elements, emboldened by political patronage, have multiplied exponentially over the last six-seven years. It is scary to switch on a news channel because all that you get to see or hear is news about a new crime being committed every day. The deaths on the road due to accidents because of potholes and other myriad problems are assuming frightening proportions.
Both the BJP and Congress governments have failed to provide relief to lakhs of people living in the houses they built on the allotted revenue lands. The BBMP could have formed an expert committee and easily solved it, but there is no political will to remedy the problem. Under what capacity BBMP authorities sanctioned plans to construct buildings that grossly violated municipal bye-laws is difficult to fathom. In some cases, multistoried buildings have come up without permission, all under the benign eyes of the powers-that-be. The revenue department made a tall claim that it has recovered more than 70% of government lands encroached by private builders, which is far from the truth.
Soon, Bengaluru will face severe water and power shortages. With broken roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic, the qualify of life in Bengaluru is expected to worsen.
Looking beyond the capital, the Cauvery and Mahadayi disputes persist. Though Goa is a small, non-agrarian state and owes obligations to Karnataka, the political foul play, first by the Congress government and now Goa’s BJP government, has resulted in the matter being unresolved and threatening to become a major issue that will disturb the peace and harmony of the state. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has failed in his promise to clear farmers’ debt and the debt-related suicides by the farmers has indeed been depressing.
What is shocking is the fact that neither the BJP nor the Congress have even promised to address these issues. Accountability is a word that seems to have been deleted in the dictionary of these political parties. The leadership crisis stares at us as we go to the polls.
These individuals parading as 'leaders' must take a leaf out of the book of erstwhile chief minister Devaraj Urs. It is common practice for the ‘high commands’ of national parties to expect party funds from Karnataka. While not personally corrupt, Urs managed to keep the high command happy and his voters even happier. His terms as chief minister were continuously marked by dissent and hurdles, be it in something as simple as widening the B.V.K. Iyengar Road or backing young leaders from backward communities. But Urs did not succumb to any pressure; perhaps, it stemmed from his belief that though the voters were invisible, they were certainly invincible. He knew they had his back, for he delivered on his promises. The root cause for the disastrous tirade we witness today boils down to the allocation of seats.
Every political party has erred in not recognising honest and loyal workers. Such workers find no recognition because they don't have the financial power to convince the powers-that-be of their good intentions. Congress, having lost face, should have stepped up its game. A senior politician like Mallikarjun Kharge should have been at the helm of affairs. But going by the trend, neither Congress nor BJP will ever back a dalit leader for the top office.
In any case, most of the disappointed aspirants from BJP and Congress, who didn't make it to the final list, are running to the JD(S). Most of them have been obliged with a ticket, without taking merit into consideration. This may turn out to be an advantage to the JD(S). In their eagerness to win by hook or crook, both the national parties have accommodated money bags, disregarding their criminal background.
(B.S. Raghavan is a former chairman of the Karnataka State Sports Council, holding the rank of a minister. He was very close to former chief ministers Devraj Urs and Ramakrishna Hegde.)
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publication.