Corrupt Politician ? Corrupt Society ?

What I have written below has been churning around in my mind for a

longtime. The latest political drama being staged in Goa and Karnataka

has brought them out. Unlike my usual short bits, this turned out to be a

little long. They are just my thoughts which one may or may not agree with.

You may even ignore it entirely. Nothing would be lost !

The dramas mentioned above, running for the last few days, have provided

considerable entertainment and material for ‘time pass’. I call it entertainment

and time pass because nobody takes these things seriously anymore. We

enjoy the drama without realising the fact that it is being enacted at our cost,

figuratively and literally. 

The congress party in Karnataka is fuming (since it still has some MLAs in the

party and is capable of fuming) and playing ‘tug of war’ for power, fortified by

the speaker’s strength on its side. 

The congress in Goa is capable of neither fuming nor playing tug of war.

Having been reduced to ashes, it is just giving out the last few wisps of smoke. 

There has been considerable out pour of disgust and anguish and there is a

sense of betrayal amongst many voters in Goa. It is very much visible on the

‘social media’ and is  being expressed without any restraints. 

This is not the first time that our politicians are evoking such responses from the

voters. Our leaders have thrown the morals out long back. Their party hopping,

corrupt practices, involvement in crime and so on have evoked very strong

reactions, rather abuses, from the voters.  

But what surprises me is that the same leaders, who are freely cursed and against

whom abuses are heaped, contest the elections within weeks/months, much before

the memory of their wrongdoing is erased, and win comfortably. Just look at the

very recent happenings in Goa and the happenings just a year or two ago, elsewhere. 

Sriramulu, Reddy brothers, Jayalalitha and Sashikala were not just accused but

convicted and put in jail to serve terms. But they themselves won the subsequent

elections or when they could not contest, people put up by them, have won. Not

barely won, won by thumping majority. 

Vishwajit Rane, Shirodkar and Sopte elicited aversion amongst the voters for their

cunning and changing of colours but all of them won the elections. (Elections

entirely for their benefit, for which we paid)

Babush is facing trial for serious crimes, but he contested the election and won !!

(Congress leaders campaigned for him and celebrated his winning -  now repenting

the same, too late !)

How does it happen? If you look at the reaction of the society immediately after

the wrongdoing of the politician comes to light, you would feel that he/she would

never ever be able to move freely in the society, let alone win an election. But

he/she does win. Nobody seems to rue their winning. On the other hand their

supporters celebrate and others watch !

It is very intriguing. I am not sure if any of my friends have given a thought to this.

I am sure that our politicians know what makes them win and are certain that they

would win again. That is the reason why they don’t care for the public opinion or

image and do what they please. What matters to them are their convenience and profit.  

I feel that most of the supporters/voters of a particular politician will have usually

obtained favours (mostly un due) in some form or the other. With the power and

money at the disposal of our leaders, it is not difficult for them to dish out such f

avours. It could be direct financial help, help in getting jobs, handing out local

body/government contracts, dishing out government freebies  (undue or out of turn),

arranging for government permissions, overcoming official hurdles and so on. 

By doing so, the leaders would have in their pockets hundreds or thousands of

voters who just care for their personal gain. These voters just ignore the wrong

doings of their politicians or even tacitly support the same. They want him/her in

power - morals and ethics be damned! 

These people are not unknown, faceless characters. They may be very well known

to me and you or even be me and you ! 

What I am coming to is, we as a society have become corrupt. Since we do not

want to accept ourselves as corrupt, we blame the politicians. Of course, they

( I mean most of them) are the personification of everything corrupt around us.

All our comments of disgust, talks about morality etc etc are for exhibition and

hence, our votes do not reflect these feelings !

So it is time to face it and accept the fact that we, as a society are corrupt - in some

form or the other and hence we keep electing our corrupt politicians again and again.

‘Yatha praja - Tatha Raaja’ !!  Whatever is happening on the stage is happening

because it has our backing. So let us not blame the politicians. Four fingers are

pointing towards us !!