So, let’s talk politics. In Karnataka, with a CM who is addicted to limelight, you hardly have anything else to speak about. Is that a frown on your face as you read about Mr. Yedyurappa? But the Karnataka media is indebted to this corruption icon. If it were not for Mr.Yedyurappa, what would they report on? Just as Bangalore has a hoarding of its smiling CM every half a kilometer, our newspapers, too, have his photos and reports on an alarming frequency. And the television? Mr. John Baird seemed to have foreseen the future of Indian politics.
In the wake of the Governor-Chief Minister battle in Karnataka, what’s transpiring in the state is not the much-needed investigation of the multi-crore scam but a war of words between two individuals or at most, two political parties. It resembles the war of words between two eight-year-olds, where one who has the last word, wins. And we have the Centre waiting and watching like a patient parent, who’ll listen to both sides of the story and draw a conclusion.
Our reigning CM says he’ll fight the battle “legally and politically.” ‘Politically’ yes! That’s what we have been watching, reading and listening to ever since Mr.Bharadwaj issued the sanction. We have been receiving endless updates of the blame-game. But ‘legally’? With the evidence and the number of cases pitched against him mounting, Mr. Yedyurappa, with his kith and kin sitting on land lots worth Rs.500 crores, has few chances of fighting it out legally. Well, he might have better chances illegally, only if his conscience permits. But I don’t think that would be a problem. People born without a conscience go on to become our politicians. Also, the CM might be confident that our long list of laws and its sections are not enough to nail him. Going by the velocity at which our law proceedings have advanced in the past, it’s difficult to prove him wrong.
But the CM does prefer the political route over the legal one. After all, he has a large number of followers who call themselves ‘protestors’ who are on the streets the moment someone dares to even look their protector in the eye. I wonder if Mr. CM runs a secret College of Minister Protection that offers specializations in burning buses and effigies. Crores of public money in the hands of a government servant or acres of land under the feet of his family, doesn’t seem to bother this loyal lot, till they get a part of the booty.
But, all that we do is, just wait and watch the drama unfold just as the Centre does. After all, what mortal sin did Mr.Yedyurappa commit? He was just taking his duty as a government servant a bit too seriously. He took “safeguarding public property as his own” a step further–he made it his own.
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