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Content Tip
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Write
Articles to share your ideas, views and experiences.
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Dole out Money, Ensure your Victory
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Speeches inflaming
communal passions, muscle power and money power are vitiating the
electoral arena inspite of the close vigil of Election Commission, Media
and Judiciary. Black money flows lavishly without any curbs across the
nation, quite unprecedented in scale, compared to the sums flowed in the
previous elections. Money power to influence the poor voters of one of the
“fast developing economies” has become the bane of the nation and it seems
it is here to stay in the years to come.
Is an Indian citizen worth Rs. 100/- 500/- or 1000/- notes only, as seen
by the “leaders of principles and integrity” at the electoral scene?
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If they are not thinking
on these lines why are they displaying the impunity and audacity of doling
out sarees, monies and other petty comforts to a
hapless voter. It is nothing but a sort of exploitation of the poverty-
stricken and these leaders don’t have any qualms or moral prick to leave
them in the lurch after their dreams are materialised.
Except the leftists, all
other parties are involved in such banalities in one way or other. I don’t
know whether the leftists will also try to keep pace with the tainted
leaders slowly but gradually in the desperate hurry to occupy the throne
in Indraprastha. Because the thin line (the dividing line evolved into a
thin one over the years) dividing the bourgeois parties and the working
class parties are slowly fading out from the political scenario, when we
observe some recent tendencies which are not to be encouraged. In a world
of mad consumerism, even a party pursuing a revolutionary and humanitarian
ideology is prone to fall a prey to the bewitching, sizzling,
scintillating and inviting world of free market economic policies or
capitalist ideology. Let good sense prevail over them in the years ahead.
The alleged instance of doling out money to the poor in front of the
glaring TV cameras, started from Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh. It
was seen some of his Party supporters distributing currency notes to poor
men and women in his presence. The EC took notice of this and sought his
explanation. Mulayam must have had a ready-made reply which might have
been pre-meditated. He explained to the Commission that it was customary
for him every year to donate currencies to the poor on the auspicious
occasion of celebrating Holi at Etah and it had nothing to do with
elections.
Election Commission had to be content with his reply and by issuing a curt
warning to him ended the chapter then and there. Actor-Politician,
Chiranjeevi’s hotel room- he is the founder leader of Praja Rajyam Party-
at Tirupathi was raided as he was alleged to be distributing money to the
electorate from the hotel room. The 88 crore worth actor desperately wants
to upift the ‘prajas’ (subjects) from the clutches of poverty and other
hardships. We must certainly appreciate his broad-mindedness for his love
of the poor and down-trodden. To serve them he has taken long holiday from
the tinsel world. Worthy to be emulated.
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In Rajasthan the
constituency from which Maanavendra Singh, son of BJP leader Jaswant Singh
came to national attention when the media men captured the scene of
Jaswant Singh giving out currency notes to the electorate and it was
flashed across the TV screens. A father’s love and affection towards his
son is understandable, but the question staring in our face is whether it
should be at the cost of integrity and principles of the former External
Affairs Minister. Is this also a Call to Honour? Mr. Jaswant Singh is
contesting this time from Darjeeling constituency where the Gorkhas are
predominant. SivaGanga from
where our Home Minister, P.Chidambaram is contesting on Congress ticket
has also taken by an eye of the storm. |
It is alleged that an
approximate sum of Rs.3.26 lakh was unearthed from the temple premises. It was found
inside a car parked inside the premises.
On coming to know of the money
hidden in the car AIADMK men who are in the opposite camp immediately
locked the premises and informed the police and the police immediately
passed the message to EC. The amount was supposed to have been for
distributing among the electorate of SivaGanga.
Deve Gowda, the humble farmer from Karnataka, former Prime Minister and
one of the architects of Third Front was reported to have launched a
scathing attack on some political leaders doling out currencies to the
electorate. “Instead of the ‘red note’ (Rs.1000 note), now political
parties are giving gift coupons”- he was quoted as saying. (The Hindu
dated 24-04-2009). On going through the news item all must have felt proud
of him.
But I was quite embarrassed to see him distributing currencies to those
who crowded around him. I had the opportunity of reading the two news
items, one about his scathing attack on the political leaders distributing
money to the poor people and the other Gowda himself doling out currencies
to those who approached him with outstretched hands. It might be for
charity. Anyhow, I am yet to be free from this confusion.
The aforesaid instances are nothing compared to the goings on behind the
curtains where huge amounts are traded which do not surface before the
media and other watch-dogs and also the crores which are about to flow
after May 16 in the mad race for arriving at the magic figure of 272,
because a hung parliament is a foregone conclusion.
Contributing Writer K.R.Surendran
krskartha@yahoo.com
At the very outset, let me introduce myself to you. My name is
K.R.Surendran, hailing from a village called Pulluvazhy near Perumbavoor.
Five books in Malayalam are there to my credit now, and they are
“Pooviriyumkunninte- Santhathikal”(Stories), Gloriyayude Dinarathrangal”
(Stories), “Mumbai- Sketchukal” (Novelettes), and "Indiayude Bhoopadam"
(Novel). A novel “Pulluvazhy” was published recently.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article above are purely those
of the Contributing Writer.
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