Value of My Vote

The beauty of democracy lies in the fact that it bestows the mandatory responsibility of electing the best of the worst candidates, which is misconstrued as a right. Most often people confuse between rights and responsibilities. In my humble opinion, the relationship between the voter and votee (person who receives vote) is as sacred as the one between disciple and teacher, devotee and God, spectator and cricketer or a movie goer and film star. It is too private to disclose but gap of well over three decades should be fair enough to voluntarily disclose the relationship, to use the catchword in the air.

In the post-emergency era, I got my first chance to vote and elect Dr. Subramanian Swamy from Chembur in the then Bombay (North East) constituency. Given the conditions prevailing in those days, it was a fair choice on my part; not that my vote made any difference. During that particular elections, anyone and everyone who stood against the ruling party won. My single vote, even if I had not cast or voted for the ruling party, would not have made iota of difference; it was such a historic election and perhaps the only one in the history of India in which voters understood and asserted their rights en masse. Being a virtual first timer, as my name did not figure in the earlier voter list (somehow bogus voters do not encounter such situations and their name appears enough times to vote as time permits), I was particularly enthusiastic in voting for a Harvard educated young man with a naive view that he will somehow understand my idealist view of the world and live up to it. Alas, it was not the case and he soon proved me utterly wrong.

All the subsequent elections proved to be a personal fiasco. After my initial success, which is not entirely attributable to my vote, every subsequent election proved a disaster for me. Not a single candidate of mine had ever won any election. People may think that it is too humiliating and that is the reason why I never even disclosed this secret aspect of my life to my wife. The fact is I am not afraid of accepting my failures to vote the winning candidates. It is a historically proven fact, that now onwards whoever gets my vote is sure to lose his/her deposit. What I am afraid is that politicians will lineup in front of my house during elections with a request to cast my vote to their opponent and offer me a hefty bribe.

Apartheid in Own Country

Biharis are unwanted in Maharashtra and now in MP. Am I correct in saying that Bihar is as much a part of India as are Maharashtra and MP? One should speak only in Marathi in Maharashtra and not in Hindi in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, if your child does not study with Tamil Medium, he is not qualified to get any rank, even if he scores 1200/1200 or whatever is the upper limit. At this rate, one cannot live in some parts of his own country. Tomorrow, you cannot live in some districts (and a little later in other Talukas) of your own state and so on. Politicians may allow you to speak in your mother tongue only in your house, provided it is not audible outside. Taking cue from the direction in which we are proceeding, now every district will say that the people of other districts are not welcome. More interestingly, our friend Kapil Sibal is wooing Harvard, Yale and few other top-notch universities to set-up campuses in India. Raj will say Harvard, Mumbai has to publish their research findings in Marathi and KK will say that Yale, Chennai should publish in Tamil. This has its merits. Job opportunities for translators will increase rapidly.


I wonder whether Maharashtra, in particular Mumbai, would have been what it is today, without the enormous contributions made by non-maharastrians. Similarly, Hyderabad would not have made as much progress as it did without contributions from the people from other regions of Andhra. People are regionalised, marginalized, localized and dehumanized instead of nationalized, globalised and humanized.

Some people use the slogan ‘My India is Great’ whenever it is politically convenient. Similar and simpler slogans are catching up, thanks to their musical value and brevity. Why is it no one talks about Mother Earth and say Earth is my Mother and I shall live wherever I want? How many people realize that there is only one Earth and the boundaries are man-made? Has anyone noticed the joy of integration experienced by East & West Germanys twenty years ago despite the sacrifices involved on both the sides? These divisive politics are for creating more States; thus more CMs, more Ministers and more and faster opportunities to plunder the country.

In Andhra Pradesh, the demand for a separate Telangana state is there since AP was formed; may be even before. Essentially, AP constitutes three areas known as Telangana, Rayalaseema and Konaseema (Coastal Andhra). The ghost of enmity between these regions is created and perpetuated by the politicians. Gullible people are manipulated and threatened; employees are transferred and harassed. Rayalaseema is waiting and it will start demanding once Telangana becomes a state. In UP, MP, Bihar and elsewhere politicians have already succeeded in establishing new States as per their political convenience. They are plundering the regions with vigor. In our own country, we remain apartheid.

When it comes to Fish, How much is Big?

Few days back our beloved Prime Minister made a war cry: Catch the Big Fish. It is pleasant music to hear such a cry from him particularly because he is soft-spoken and hardly audible. Yesterday our Supreme Court, which is usually sober and business like, also echoed the same tune aloud. Read:

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/supreme_court_on_madhu_koda_get_him.php

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/will_madhu_koda_be_arrested_today.php

Both the PM and Supreme Court have echoed unity of purpose when they said, “go after big fish rather than small ones”. To be more specific, Supreme Court said it in the context of Madhu Koda.

Skeptics have a habit of reading too much between the lines. Now it is more or less clear that any fraudster in the region of Rs. 4,000 Crores falls in the category of big fish, from today's standards of Rupee's purchasing power. What about smaller fish below Rs. 4,000 Crores category? What is the cut-off limit for being branded as bigger fish? CBI is allowed to go after big, bigger and biggest fish, sharks and whales and so on or just confine to one big fish?

Despite the initial enthusiasm of all and sundry, our country has not successfully prosecuted any big and big plus category fish in last 62 years. No one was ever jailed, only detained for interrogation; no one’s property is confiscated; nothing was ever recovered from the fish’s associates i.e., co-fish.

If Rs. 70,00,000 Crores is stashed away in Swiss Banks, how many such fish are there – both dead and alive? What about the money stashed away in places other than Swiss Banks? Does the government have both the political willingness and moral righteousness to get back the money? What measures are proposed plug the avenues for corruption in future? What about Raja and his predecessors, who all supposedly used the same techniques and methodologies in spectrum sales?

Will anything ever come out of all this or just get prolonged and die natural death when Koda becomes a coalition partner in future? Or CBI will just drop the case in due course for want of evidence as in the earlier murder cases and scandals? Judges are Gods of Justice and hence talking about them would be blasphemy.

Hounding the Honest

Indians have long ceased to admire honesty. Read the news items:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Lalit-Modi-Jagan-among-top-taxpayers/articleshow/5182297.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/2009/11/02/stories/2009110253770400.htm

“Jagan, who had paid just Rs 2.92 lakh tax for the entire financial year 2008-09, has paid Rs 6.6 crore advance tax in the first six months of this year, projecting a tax outgo of at least Rs 22 crore with his personal income expected to cross Rs 70 crore in 2009-10.”

"A contender for chief ministership of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan had paid no tax in H1 last year, but has paid Rs 6.6 crore in the first half this year. He is the only recognised politician in the top 100 taxpayers, according to sources."

Look at the very wording of these two news items. It is obnoxious, to say the least. Media and his political foes talk as though it is a sin to pay taxes. Personal income varies year after year and so does the tax liability; it is as simple as that. If Jagan’s estimated tax liability has gone up this year by a mere 75,342% it is due to his hardwork; sweat and blood. Fact that he paid it like an honest politician and became country’s highest tax paying politician overnight, toppling heavyweights like Mayawati, speaks volumes of his integrity. He deserves Bharat Ratna. Why is everyone hounding him? Talking behind his back? In front of him, they say he should be made CM! But for few honest people like him, revenues of Income-tax department would have exactly tallied with the taxes paid by the salaried class.

Perhaps his political allies and foes feel it is a sin to pay any taxes; even declaring a fraction of income and paying tax on it - a bad precedent, in any case - not the in thing. They want to influence the mind of one with an impressionable age as Jagan is. Politicians are there to serve people. Look at their pay-cheques! They are not even worth encashing. Do they get time to go to a bank and deposit when they are serving people 24x365? Then, where is the question of paying any Tax? In any case, what is tax on NIL income?

Voting

People have inculcated the bad habit of misconstruing everything a politician does. In a democracy, people have a constitutional duty to exercise their franchise - even if it means choosing the best of the worst candidates.

After weeks of promising the moon, on the polling eve, politicians provide masses what is required to keep them in high spirits. In order to ensure that people perform their duty, politicians spend a lot on incentives. On polling day, they provide vehicles to facilitate people coming to polling booth to discharge their duty. They tell you on what symbol to vote. All this is often misconstrued as bribing. No one has understood that it is a part of the process of educating the voter. Every voter has to go to poling booth and cast his/her vote. Invariably, more than half the voters do not do so. They would rather relax and enjoy the extra holiday declared under Negotiable Instruments Act. What will the rest of the world think about India? What message are we sending out to the world watching the spectacle of Polls in the world’s biggest democracy? What value system are we inculcating in the younger generation? Is it wrong on the part of politicians to try salvaging some prestige for the country? In order to save country’s image, our politicians send all their loyalists to booth to ensure 110% voting.