Karnataka - Belgaum   

‘Stop the drama called elections’

LEFT IN THE LURCH: With both officials and political leaders preoccupied with elections, the common man feels neglected and ignored.

Belgaum: “Elections, Yarigagi [for whom are these] elections?” That is how the common man retorts when a section of the media sought to elicit views on the mid-term polls here the other day.

Bhikuji Chauhan (87), who is the president of the Belgaum District Safai Karamcharis Association, said he has seen several elections since 1957, the first one after the Independence. He said he has seen many political leaders elected to the State legislature and Parliament “amassing property”. Only God knows how, he said. “However, there has been no change in our lives,” he lamented.

He said, “We have been cleaning all the filth of the entire population of the city since many years and continue to do so just to earn daily bread for our families.” Despite the slogan “houses for all”, many safai karamcharis still do not have any shelter of their own, not even Ashraya houses. “They have not been able to provide good education, good health and good life to our children and we continue to live under extreme poverty,” he said.

With every election promises are made only to be forgotten till the next election. All the parties and their candidates promised them that they would help them get Ashraya houses and better facilities. Yet, none of them had fulfilled their promise.

He said that the safai karamcharis launched an indefinite dharna to draw the attention of the government to their plight. The dharna entered the 150th day on Friday and they were not sure how long it would go on. They have decided not to withdraw the dharna till the government conceded their demands, including Ashraya houses and pension benefits to retired karamcharis.

Association’s working president Muniswamy Bhandare said: “We are unable to understand for whose sake these elections are held. We are confused and there is no answer.”

“Yet, what we have understood is that all parties and their leaders are only for power,” he said.

According to him, people fall prey to their corrupt electoral practices only to repent for five years (the maximum period between two elections) due to lack of education. Welfare measures such as waiver of loans and low interest rates are announced only to win over the electorate and not with genuine concern.

A Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha worker said that nobody wanted mid-term polls. People elected their representatives to form government and run it for five years. However, differences between coalition partners over sharing of power but not issues concerning the common man took its toll over the stability of the government. This only showed that all parties were for power and had no regard or value for the vote of the people.

Sitaram Holeppa Khanadale, who is on dharna being staged by 116 families affected by the Hidkal project in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office demanding “land for land” and proper rehabilitation for the last nine days, has this to say to all political parties and their leaders: Stop this drama.

The government had no sense of humanity let alone concern for the families who had been exploited in the name of development and progress. The government had promised to rehabilitate all the 116 affected families, displaced in 1974 after the project was completed. Many of them had grown old and might die without getting justice.

Delaying justice was no less than denying justice, he remarked and added that elections were not solutions to the problems of the poor and the needy but were only a means for power-mongers to grab more power and money.

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