Monday, November 9, 2009

Floods of tears!!!

Now that the Karnataka Government has finished its game of 'Ring a Ring o' Roses', and all have fallen down to their stupor, the BJP high command can now heave a sigh of relief. Advaniji must have had a good birthday as was evident with the participants and organizers of the game feeding each other cakes (vanilla, i suppose from the look of it)...a classic example of having the cake and eating it too!!! No, I am not saying this has got anything to do with Marie Antoinette and her cakes!!! Yeddy did make it very clear when he was very apologetic to the people of the state, and his tears did make up for what he was not able to portray verbally; as much as his smiles did when he finally managed to hold on to his 'khursi'!!!
All's well that ends well, but for whom did this really end well? The Yeddy-Reddy confrontation threw up a lot of possibilities as far as Karnataka politics is concerned, and the politicians had their hands full making the most out of it!!! While a few were making merry in Goa and Hyderabad enjoying a 'well deserved' paid for holiday, some others had camped in New Delhi keeping the cooks of Karnataka Bhavan very busy!!! Those who were left in Bangalore were ruing the fact that they didn't take a stance. What a pity!!!
In the midst of all this, what they forgot was that a part of the state was going through one of the worst natural disasters it had ever faced. As per an estimate, some 130-odd people have perished in the 14 affected districts; standing crops have been washed off and fields inundated leaving the affected hungry and without work!!! And just when they needed relief and solace, this drama had unfolded. Just sanctioning money and giving assurances has never been enough, but history has shown us again and again that the people in charge are capable only of that. We heard some MLA's claim that they can single handedly build 5000 houses in the affected areas - what everyone passively heard was about their overflowing bank vaults. And they say that politicians are much misunderstood folk!!!
For the people of North Karnataka, life will surely go on as usual. Some will work as laborers on some construction projects, others will migrate to urban areas in search of jobs - after all everyone does need to have a means to feed themselves and their families. They will wait to get back their lands and start farming once it becomes suitable to do so. Meanwhile we will see some houses built, some ads in newspapers about money donated for the cause and a few smiling faces; proclaiming it to be the victory of the government on the disaster. And during the next elections, these leaders will again be seen visiting the villages asking help from the electorate!!! I really miss those old days when we were taught about conscience in the moral science classes; now I wish they had taught political science instead of that...atleast I could have tried my luck in this great tamasha called Indian democracy!!!