Ashok G.V.

The political climate in the state of Karnataka has been highly volatile lately. The likes of Yeddyurappa and Janardhan Reddy have done to the state what the Greeks did to Troy back in the day. Yet is corruption the biggest concern for the state today?

I regret to say that the issue is not as simple. In the past Eleven months, Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda and Mr. Suresh Kumar, the law minister introduced the citizen’s charter and gave Karnataka a brief respite from shady land denotifications and scams of like nature. However given the obvious risks of accusing politicians of integrity, let me caution that no scam has been uncovered so far. Yet, even that presented a respite from the poverty of honesty plaguing policy making in recent years. However, albeit all the marginal positives, Sadananda Gowda had to step down. The cause of the martyrdom is the rivalry between the vokkaliga and lingayat communities in the state.

The problem is not Yedyurappa or Sadananda Gowda. In fact, it isn’t even the ridiculously unreasonable stand taken by the lingayat community MLA’s. It is the prevalant culture of caste based loyalties in the state which is driving us down under, both as a state and as a nation; one which today’s episode of Satyameva Jayate only reminded us of. The surprising lack of introspection and the hippocracy of our populace has allowed the likes of Yedyurappa to wreak havoc and challenge all known notions of political stability in a democracy. Somehow, we are simply unable to progress from this attitude and I wonder why?

I was presented with a most curious predicament recently. A distant acquaintance of mine belonging to the Gowda community had fallen in love with a Brahmin girl, whose family were staunchly opposed to the marriage and social mobility in general. By all accounts this acquaintance of mine is an enterprising chap with all the right values in all the right places. When the superficial prejudices of caste are kept aside, he ought to have been an ideal son-in-law. Yet as curious as the predicament was, it is quite common. Those standing by such regressive attitudes affirm the suggestion that caste based discrimination is wrong and yet cannot reconcile themselves with marital relationships transcending caste barriers. Logicially one would assume that when one concedes to the effect that a particular attitude is wrong, it follows naturally that they concede to the erroneous nature of acts that follow such attitude. Yet it is not so in this country and in this state. It is this peculiar feature of our populace that I am unable to understand let alone appreciate.

The recent success of the Indian economy presents a starkly misplaced image of India. While the Ambanis and the Narayan Murthies are obviously paving way for business powerhouses, India at a grass root level suffers from the same handicaps as perhaps any other third world countries. In the face of examples such as Japan which successfully overcame feudal mentalities, we remain committed to carry forward all that was agreeably wrong about the older generation’s thinking and actions. Sometimes I wonder if only a chosen one can intervene and change the way we think in this nation. Until that day, I am inclined to endorse S & P’s junkyard rating of India as not being entirely wrong.