Held brazenly to ransom by the Bellary mining lords, Karnataka outstrips Maharashtra by far
The question is a no-brainer. There’s no competition. Take a bow, Karnataka. You win hands down. From being considered one of the more secular, sensitive states in south India to being `hailed’ as the most corrupt state in the entire country is no mean achievement. The present rulers of Karnataka have striven tirelessly to achieve this goal and made it a reality in a short span of just two-and-a-half years.
Chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa and the Bellary mining lords led by tourism minister Janardana Reddy are the agents of this inglorious change. They have, of course, been assisted by BJP, which is hell bent on retaining power south of the Vindhyas even if it means taking the help of unscrupulous politicians.
This script drawn by Yeddyurappa and the Reddy gang has all the masala ingredients that have become part and parcel of `modern’ Karnataka’s democracy. Today, caste is as important as cash in winning elections; brute muscle power as essential as shameless blackmail to hold on power; homas, havans do not suffice so even black magic is indulged in to ward off the `evil eye’ of critics and the opposition; temples and religious institutions are pandered to in the name of `service’ to the people. Amid all this, the rulers’ attitude has been `to hell and beyond with the voters’. The result: an embarrassment of riches as far as scams go.
The first inkling of what lay in store for Karnataka was apparent when the Reddys gave a new twist to the `Aaya Ram gayaa Ram’ tradition. It was even given the honourable title of `Operation Lotus’. Cocking a snook at the anti-defection bill and mocking the ideals of democracy, they set about purchasing legislators from other parties. Later, every trick in the book was used to get these `people’s representatives’ to resign, contest on a BJP ticket, and therefore strengthen the `seat’ of Yeddyurappa’s power.
Corridors of power and newspaper columns had then whispered some well-known facts. Everyone spoke of `crores of rupees’ having been spent on `Operation Lotus’, that the mining lords of Bellary had `invested their ill-gotten wealth’ in this mutilation of democracy, and that by doing so they had the chief minister by the short and curlies. However, after a while, Yeddyurappa started chocking under the stranglehold of the Reddys. At one point last year he decided to `show them their place’. He announced a compulsory tax on trucks carrying iron ore mined by the Bellary lords and their minions. Yeddyurappa also transferred IAS and IPS officers of Reddys’ choice who had been posted in the districts coming under their `feudal influence’.
But the Reddys’ political DNA was made of different stuff. They cobbled together some 40-odd dissatisfied BJP legislators, hijacked them to a fancy resort in Hyderabad, even managed to get the weather-beaten BJP veterans in Delhi to concede to their demands and extracted their pound of flesh from Yeddyurappa. A chastened chief minister helplessly shed tears in public. The vice-like grip that the Reddys have on Yeddyurappa and consequently on the state has led to astonishingly unbelievable events. A whopping 3.5 million tonnes of illegal iron ore confiscated by the Lokayukta vanished into thin air quicker than one could say Houdini. (Estimated cost of the ore: an astounding 50,000,000 dollars. You figure it out in rupees!) Thousands of acres of fertile farm lands in Bellary district have been demarcated for an airport which - other than the several aircraft-owning mining lords - no one has any use for. The state government has signed an MoU with Bramhani Industries for a steel plant coming up in Bellary. It wi
ll take away thousands of acres of land from poor farmers. Incidentally Bramhani Industries is owned by the wife of Janardana Reddy.
Did someone say `Adarsh Housing scam, prime land, Rs 800 crores worth of property, no clearances, etc, etc?’ No competition folks. In Karnataka, we have seen the very borders of the state changed for the convenience of the mining barons. We have seen a corrupt minister’s councillor son caught red-handed by the Lokayukta and yet the chief minister gives his colleague a clean chit. We have seen democratically elected people’s representatives being bought as casually as you would buy a bar of soap. We have seen the ideals of democracy mangled beyond recognition.
To this mixture of blatant opportunism add a dose of the BJP’s ideals of Hindutva. The end result is saffronisation of education, demolition of churches, thrashing of women, attacks on Muslims, muzzling of the press, killings and arrests of farmers, sidelining off the already downtrodden dalits and much else. If there are still any naysayers from Maharashtra, I ask them one pertinent question: Can your petty Adarsh scam hold to ransom your entire state? Our mighty Reddys can! Easily, the winner is the humiliated, shattered, plundered state of Karnataka. Jai Karnataka
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The question is a no-brainer. There’s no competition. Take a bow, Karnataka. You win hands down. From being considered one of the more secular, sensitive states in south India to being `hailed’ as the most corrupt state in the entire country is no mean achievement. The present rulers of Karnataka have striven tirelessly to achieve this goal and made it a reality in a short span of just two-and-a-half years.
Chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa and the Bellary mining lords led by tourism minister Janardana Reddy are the agents of this inglorious change. They have, of course, been assisted by BJP, which is hell bent on retaining power south of the Vindhyas even if it means taking the help of unscrupulous politicians.
This script drawn by Yeddyurappa and the Reddy gang has all the masala ingredients that have become part and parcel of `modern’ Karnataka’s democracy. Today, caste is as important as cash in winning elections; brute muscle power as essential as shameless blackmail to hold on power; homas, havans do not suffice so even black magic is indulged in to ward off the `evil eye’ of critics and the opposition; temples and religious institutions are pandered to in the name of `service’ to the people. Amid all this, the rulers’ attitude has been `to hell and beyond with the voters’. The result: an embarrassment of riches as far as scams go.
The first inkling of what lay in store for Karnataka was apparent when the Reddys gave a new twist to the `Aaya Ram gayaa Ram’ tradition. It was even given the honourable title of `Operation Lotus’. Cocking a snook at the anti-defection bill and mocking the ideals of democracy, they set about purchasing legislators from other parties. Later, every trick in the book was used to get these `people’s representatives’ to resign, contest on a BJP ticket, and therefore strengthen the `seat’ of Yeddyurappa’s power.
Corridors of power and newspaper columns had then whispered some well-known facts. Everyone spoke of `crores of rupees’ having been spent on `Operation Lotus’, that the mining lords of Bellary had `invested their ill-gotten wealth’ in this mutilation of democracy, and that by doing so they had the chief minister by the short and curlies. However, after a while, Yeddyurappa started chocking under the stranglehold of the Reddys. At one point last year he decided to `show them their place’. He announced a compulsory tax on trucks carrying iron ore mined by the Bellary lords and their minions. Yeddyurappa also transferred IAS and IPS officers of Reddys’ choice who had been posted in the districts coming under their `feudal influence’.
But the Reddys’ political DNA was made of different stuff. They cobbled together some 40-odd dissatisfied BJP legislators, hijacked them to a fancy resort in Hyderabad, even managed to get the weather-beaten BJP veterans in Delhi to concede to their demands and extracted their pound of flesh from Yeddyurappa. A chastened chief minister helplessly shed tears in public. The vice-like grip that the Reddys have on Yeddyurappa and consequently on the state has led to astonishingly unbelievable events. A whopping 3.5 million tonnes of illegal iron ore confiscated by the Lokayukta vanished into thin air quicker than one could say Houdini. (Estimated cost of the ore: an astounding 50,000,000 dollars. You figure it out in rupees!) Thousands of acres of fertile farm lands in Bellary district have been demarcated for an airport which - other than the several aircraft-owning mining lords - no one has any use for. The state government has signed an MoU with Bramhani Industries for a steel plant coming up in Bellary. It wi
ll take away thousands of acres of land from poor farmers. Incidentally Bramhani Industries is owned by the wife of Janardana Reddy.
Did someone say `Adarsh Housing scam, prime land, Rs 800 crores worth of property, no clearances, etc, etc?’ No competition folks. In Karnataka, we have seen the very borders of the state changed for the convenience of the mining barons. We have seen a corrupt minister’s councillor son caught red-handed by the Lokayukta and yet the chief minister gives his colleague a clean chit. We have seen democratically elected people’s representatives being bought as casually as you would buy a bar of soap. We have seen the ideals of democracy mangled beyond recognition.
To this mixture of blatant opportunism add a dose of the BJP’s ideals of Hindutva. The end result is saffronisation of education, demolition of churches, thrashing of women, attacks on Muslims, muzzling of the press, killings and arrests of farmers, sidelining off the already downtrodden dalits and much else. If there are still any naysayers from Maharashtra, I ask them one pertinent question: Can your petty Adarsh scam hold to ransom your entire state? Our mighty Reddys can! Easily, the winner is the humiliated, shattered, plundered state of Karnataka. Jai Karnataka
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
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Mobile application for Nokia phones is launched by The Times of India
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Katrina Kaif: A British Indian Actress Born on July 16, 1984
Domestic violence has been a silent relationship killer since time immemorial.
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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