Karnataka Election 2018
Why Corruption is a non-issue in Karnataka?
By Deepak Parvatiyar
The Marathi translation of this article was published in Pudhari newspaper on 9th May 2018
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the Siddaramaiah government a “Seedha Rupaiya sarkar” (straight money-minded government), and the Chief Minister serving a legal notice on the BJP, PM as well as the Karnataka BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa slapping Rs. 100 crore for defamation, electioneering in Karnataka has hit a new low. It has been reduced to the level of a slugfest to prove who is more corrupt than oneself. Congress president Rahul Gandhi too has stepped in, asking the Prime Minister to tell that “he is taking the money from common man and giving it to Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi”.
As the contestants adopt a ‘holier than thou’ approach, accusations of corrupt practices fly in the process and this election time, they all have indulged into the practice of character assassination of their political rivals..
Irony is that none of the concerned political players have a clean slate as pointed by a recent report by Association for Democratic Reforms that points out that 28 percent of the candidates in the fray have criminal cases against them. Incidentally the BJP tops the list with 83 of its 224 candidates (37 percent) facing criminal cases. The Congress comes in second with 59 (26 percent) of its 220 candidates and the Janata Dal (Secular), has fielded 29 (15 percent) candidates with criminal records. What is significant is that in all 309 (12 percent) candidates have not even provided the PAN details and there are 340 candidates who have not declared their sources of self-income.
The Urdu proverb, “Hammam me sab nange hain (all are nude in a bathroom), fits well to describe the prevailing situation. Actually, even as corruption has emerged at the centre of the high voltage election campaign, in real terms it remains a non-issue in the caste-ridden politics of Karnataka, where caste and community affiliations matter more than morality issues.
Hence while Yeddyurappa, who had to once step down as CM and unceremoniously sacked by the BJP over his involvement in illegal mining scam, is now not just the party’s state unit’s president, but he has even returned as the party’s CM face in the election, largely because of the overwhelming number of Lingayat voters -- a community that he represents. Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde, who had prepared a voluminous report on illegal iron ore mining in the state in July 2011 that had severely indicted Yeddyurappa, has publicly lamented that “a certain class of people in this country can get over the law very easily”. According to him the state government and other law-enforcing agencies had not diligently pursued the cases against Yeddyurappa and his family members. The BJP though counter such arguments on grounds that while the charges against him were dismissed by a court, even the Congress government in Karnataka could not appeal in higher courts against Yedyurappa.
The same argument goes for vindicating the BJP tickets to a few other illegal mining scam accused. And even the Congress is no different on this count since it too has given party tickets to illegal mining scam accused.
Even Siddaramaiah, despite his tough public posturing on corruption issues is no exception. The BJP has openly declared his government “corrupt” and upping the ante against him, the BJP has now accused him of 'aiding, abetting, protecting and promoting' the cheating of private investors in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by a company. The BJP has also talked of filing a complaint with the governor to sanction the prosecution of Siddaramaiah for dealing with that company.
But just consider that after becoming the CM he was so conscious of his clean image that he had refused to make several senior leaders as Ministers in his Cabinet as they were “tainted.” But within a year they all were made ministers and this time 32% of his party’s MLAs who faced various criminal and corruption charges are again given tickets to contest. Besides, his detractors also point out at his failure to implement the Lokayukta report on illegal mining.
With much mud being thrown at each other, ultimately the contest this time has become a game to prove who is more corrupt. In the process, the voters are being taken for granted by all political parties, for their simple belief that voters can either be lured on the basis of caste and community, or money and liquor. Little surprise therefore that In the poll-bound state, where the Model Code of Conduct is already binding, while on one hand cash worth Rs 75,94,03,703 and Gold and silver worth Rs 43,25,84,717 have thus far been seized by the Income Tax department and state police, on the other hand, liquor worth Rs 23,98,82,621.02 was also confiscated by Static Surveillance teams & excise department.
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