Cricket which unites us is over; now elections, which divide us, are on. Kerala goes for the State Assembly elections on 13 April. This election, like many elections held before, asks us a question that is quite difficult to find an answer to – are we destined only to elect the one that is less evil than the other? The Left Democratic Front (LDF) under the leadership of CPI (M) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) under the leadership of Indian National Congress are the two main fronts competing in the election. BJP is also contesting in the elections, but is of only an academic interest as the party has failed to win even a single seat in the 140 seats State Assembly till now. There is little to choose between the LDF and the UDF as both fronts have failed in meeting the aspirations of the people of Kerala all these 55 years since the formation of the state. So the capital question in the face of the Keralites is - who would we vote for?
The UPA government at the centre, under the leadership of Congress, is steeped in corruption and not to be left far behind the UDF in Kerala is also doing all that it could to catch up with the UPA in the practice of corruption. A barrage of corruption charges has come up against the leaders of the UDF. Balakrishna Pilla, the leader of Kerala Congress (B), one constituent party of the UDF, is already in the jail on corruption charges in the Idamalayar graft case. There are also corruption charges levied against Oommen Chandy, the leader of the opposition and TM Jacob, leader of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) party (only charges, but not proven yet). To make things worse there are charges against one of the leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), another party in the UDF, Kunhalikutty on the icecream parlour sexual exploitation case. Lots of other corruption cases against various leaders of the UDF are also sub judice in the various courts in the country. At the same time Sonia Gandhi who made an appearance in Kerala for the election campaign made a frivolous comment that the LDF government in Kerala is consumed by corruption, as if her government at the centre is devoid of any corruption.
If the name of UDF is tantamount to corruption, LDF and the party that leads it, CPI (M) is synonymous with arrogance, intolerance and callousness. The way in which they use force and violence to decimate their rivals in the northern parts of Kerala is vile and contemptible. It was only recently that the news editor of Asianet Shahjahan manhandled, beaten and then threatened by P Jayarajan, District Secretary of CPI (M) in Kannur for bringing up an issue that the party hates to discuss (this writer had himself received threats on criticising the party and he expect to receive more threat as a result of this essay). Many leaders from the LDF are facing different types of corruption charges in the country. CPI (M) party state secretary is facing trial in the SNC Lavalin graft case (trial is going on, he is not proven guilty yet); another leader MV Jayarajan is facing the trial for defaming the court as he called the judges of the Supreme Court ‘fools’. VS Achuthanandan, considered by the majority in the state as an upright leader, has recently come under serious criticisms on various corruption charges against his son, Arun Kumar. He is also criticised for not doing enough on the corruption charges against his party Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, when he himself had written a letter with proofs to the party General Secretary, Prakash Karat on what he think were serious charges against Mr. Vijayan. VS was once hailed as the saviour of women under many physical and mental assaults in Kerala. His image as one who stands for women was reassured when he took up the case against IUML leader Kunhalikutty on the icecream parlour case. But this image received a serious blow because of his recent derogatory comments against many women political personalities in the state, not any less on his recent comment on his rival Mrs. Lathika Subhash in his assembly constituency. He is also criticised for not doing enough on the molestation charges against one of his party colleagues P. Sasi, where the police hasn’t even registered a case against him hitherto.
Politicians epitomise all the vices that human ingenuity could invent. Many of the words and deeds of LDF leaders prove this point beyond any doubt. When the court took cognisance of the fact that CPI (M) leader MV Jayarajan defamed court by calling judges as ‘fools’, he came up with the ridiculous answer that the Malayalam word he used to criticise judges, “shumbhan” or fool has another meaning ‘the one who shines” and that is the meaning that he meant when he used the word. When molestation charges against P Sasi came up, the party said that the party committee is enquiring the matter and would take actions against him if found guilty, as if this is not a criminal case, but some party matter. Then LDF came up with the announcement that Rs.2 per kg rice will be given to every family in Kerala after the Election Commission declared the code of conduct for the elections, when such announcements are not allowed. When election commission took notice of this, LDF argued that the announcement was a not a new one but had this in their budget for the year 2011-2012. But on perusing the budget proposal one could find that though the announcement was made, there was no money allocated in the budget for the purpose, which shows that the LDF government was not sincere about implementing it, but was just an election stunt.
BJP has not tasted any success in the state till now and it is highly unlikely that they will break the jinx this time around. In the matter of corruption or callousness, the BJP is not better than the UDF or the LDF. BJP governments at Karnataka and Gujarat are good examples of how BJP would behave once in power. BJP government that had once ruled India at the centre had their share of corruption cases as well.
As there is little difference between the different parties and fronts in the state, it would be prudent for the people to look at the individuals who are standing for the election and vote. In this regard too this writer is again under great confusion as the two individuals standing in the election at his constituency are K Muraleedharan for UDF and Cherian Philip for the LDF. Both persons are not known for their integrity or honesty. Both have jettisoned their parties once and have gone against their ideology only for personal gains. K Muraleedharan once left Congress, created another party called Democratic Indira Congress (DIC), merged into NCP and then joined LDF. Now he has done a volte face and re-joined the Congress and is standing as the candidate for the UDF. Cherian Philip, once a firebrand Congress leader, abandoned his party many years ago and joined the LDF for personal gains. That would mean that there is nothing much to choose between the two.
Now this is the impasse that we face. There is not a genuine, honest and sincere political front to vote for. Both fronts are interested only in trading charges against each other and to make ludicrous claims, not to mention their inherent interest in corruption. They both strongly believe that people are donkeys and genuinely think that people are malleable and hence can be made fool by making false promises. Both want power, but don’t want to take the responsibility of making lives of common people better. Both are corrupt and are insensitive at best, inimical at worst, to the needs of the people. Now that this is the truth about our state, the question to ask at this election, like even in ordinary times is, where do we have a refuge?
The UPA government at the centre, under the leadership of Congress, is steeped in corruption and not to be left far behind the UDF in Kerala is also doing all that it could to catch up with the UPA in the practice of corruption. A barrage of corruption charges has come up against the leaders of the UDF. Balakrishna Pilla, the leader of Kerala Congress (B), one constituent party of the UDF, is already in the jail on corruption charges in the Idamalayar graft case. There are also corruption charges levied against Oommen Chandy, the leader of the opposition and TM Jacob, leader of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) party (only charges, but not proven yet). To make things worse there are charges against one of the leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), another party in the UDF, Kunhalikutty on the icecream parlour sexual exploitation case. Lots of other corruption cases against various leaders of the UDF are also sub judice in the various courts in the country. At the same time Sonia Gandhi who made an appearance in Kerala for the election campaign made a frivolous comment that the LDF government in Kerala is consumed by corruption, as if her government at the centre is devoid of any corruption.
If the name of UDF is tantamount to corruption, LDF and the party that leads it, CPI (M) is synonymous with arrogance, intolerance and callousness. The way in which they use force and violence to decimate their rivals in the northern parts of Kerala is vile and contemptible. It was only recently that the news editor of Asianet Shahjahan manhandled, beaten and then threatened by P Jayarajan, District Secretary of CPI (M) in Kannur for bringing up an issue that the party hates to discuss (this writer had himself received threats on criticising the party and he expect to receive more threat as a result of this essay). Many leaders from the LDF are facing different types of corruption charges in the country. CPI (M) party state secretary is facing trial in the SNC Lavalin graft case (trial is going on, he is not proven guilty yet); another leader MV Jayarajan is facing the trial for defaming the court as he called the judges of the Supreme Court ‘fools’. VS Achuthanandan, considered by the majority in the state as an upright leader, has recently come under serious criticisms on various corruption charges against his son, Arun Kumar. He is also criticised for not doing enough on the corruption charges against his party Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, when he himself had written a letter with proofs to the party General Secretary, Prakash Karat on what he think were serious charges against Mr. Vijayan. VS was once hailed as the saviour of women under many physical and mental assaults in Kerala. His image as one who stands for women was reassured when he took up the case against IUML leader Kunhalikutty on the icecream parlour case. But this image received a serious blow because of his recent derogatory comments against many women political personalities in the state, not any less on his recent comment on his rival Mrs. Lathika Subhash in his assembly constituency. He is also criticised for not doing enough on the molestation charges against one of his party colleagues P. Sasi, where the police hasn’t even registered a case against him hitherto.
Politicians epitomise all the vices that human ingenuity could invent. Many of the words and deeds of LDF leaders prove this point beyond any doubt. When the court took cognisance of the fact that CPI (M) leader MV Jayarajan defamed court by calling judges as ‘fools’, he came up with the ridiculous answer that the Malayalam word he used to criticise judges, “shumbhan” or fool has another meaning ‘the one who shines” and that is the meaning that he meant when he used the word. When molestation charges against P Sasi came up, the party said that the party committee is enquiring the matter and would take actions against him if found guilty, as if this is not a criminal case, but some party matter. Then LDF came up with the announcement that Rs.2 per kg rice will be given to every family in Kerala after the Election Commission declared the code of conduct for the elections, when such announcements are not allowed. When election commission took notice of this, LDF argued that the announcement was a not a new one but had this in their budget for the year 2011-2012. But on perusing the budget proposal one could find that though the announcement was made, there was no money allocated in the budget for the purpose, which shows that the LDF government was not sincere about implementing it, but was just an election stunt.
BJP has not tasted any success in the state till now and it is highly unlikely that they will break the jinx this time around. In the matter of corruption or callousness, the BJP is not better than the UDF or the LDF. BJP governments at Karnataka and Gujarat are good examples of how BJP would behave once in power. BJP government that had once ruled India at the centre had their share of corruption cases as well.
As there is little difference between the different parties and fronts in the state, it would be prudent for the people to look at the individuals who are standing for the election and vote. In this regard too this writer is again under great confusion as the two individuals standing in the election at his constituency are K Muraleedharan for UDF and Cherian Philip for the LDF. Both persons are not known for their integrity or honesty. Both have jettisoned their parties once and have gone against their ideology only for personal gains. K Muraleedharan once left Congress, created another party called Democratic Indira Congress (DIC), merged into NCP and then joined LDF. Now he has done a volte face and re-joined the Congress and is standing as the candidate for the UDF. Cherian Philip, once a firebrand Congress leader, abandoned his party many years ago and joined the LDF for personal gains. That would mean that there is nothing much to choose between the two.
Now this is the impasse that we face. There is not a genuine, honest and sincere political front to vote for. Both fronts are interested only in trading charges against each other and to make ludicrous claims, not to mention their inherent interest in corruption. They both strongly believe that people are donkeys and genuinely think that people are malleable and hence can be made fool by making false promises. Both want power, but don’t want to take the responsibility of making lives of common people better. Both are corrupt and are insensitive at best, inimical at worst, to the needs of the people. Now that this is the truth about our state, the question to ask at this election, like even in ordinary times is, where do we have a refuge?
No comments:
Post a Comment