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Because it turned abundantly clear on the morning of the Karnataka election counting day (Might 13) that the Congress was heading in direction of an enormous win, a pricey buddy of mine phoned me to precise elation. I used to be stunned. I did not anticipate him, a staunch Modi supporter, to be pleased over the BJP’s defeat. However when he narrated his personal private expertise of high-level corruption within the BJP authorities within the state, it validated an element that has tremendously contributed to the Kannadigas’ determination to oust the social gathering from energy.
That is what occurred. My buddy, a nationally reputed documentary filmmaker, was approached by the federal government to provide a movie to showcase Karnataka as a gorgeous funding vacation spot. He made the movie, which was extremely appreciated. However when he sought fee of the agreed quantity, a minister demanded a “30% fee”. The bribe was refused. The enraged minister not solely withheld the fee, but in addition ordered the movie to not be screened. My buddy then phoned one of many prime RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) leaders within the nation, whom he knew very effectively, and requested him to intervene, which he did. Nonetheless, the BJP minister didn’t relent.
One other instance – As an impartial non-party political activist dedicated to bringing about change in Karnataka and on the nationwide stage, I campaigned for the Congress in lots of districts. In Hubballi, the second largest metropolis within the state, a cousin who’s a staunch BJP supporter narrated his personal irritating expertise. His aged mother-in-law had died eight months in the past. He needed her property to be transferred in his spouse’s title per her will, and went to the state authorities workplace involved. He was requested to pay an enormous bribe, which he refused. Being socially and politically well-connected, he thought that approaching his good buddy, a strong BJP minister within the state, would assist. The minister suggested him to pay the bribe and get his work carried out. “Nothing strikes in our authorities with out greasing palms,” the minister stated.
Third instance – I met a senior police officer in Bengaluru who stated there’s a price ticket for each switch and posting. Nearly all within the police division – from bizarre constables to senior officers – should pay hefty quantities, which, by way of a series of intermediaries, goes to MLAs and ministers. “Corruption rose additional prior to now few years as a result of the federal government determined to cut back the frequency of transfers from two years to 1 12 months,” the officer stated, including, “How can the police power stay clear if politicians power us to pay them bribes?”
Lastly, a well-informed editor of a Kannada each day in Bengaluru advised me even the hallowed portals of upper schooling are usually not free from the stink of corruption. “It is not uncommon for vice chancellors of state public universities to get the job by paying bribes working into crores. No surprise most of our universities have pitiable requirements.”
BJP was badly hit by the cost of “40% Fee Sarkar”
Tales of corruption are hardly novel in India. Anybody who has ears to the bottom can narrate quite a few such genuine tales, which, as a result of they’ve misplaced their novelty, have additionally misplaced their energy to shock and shock us. Not often have corruption scandals toppled governments, an exception being the Bofors rip-off that unseated the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress from energy in 1989. (Rajiv Gandhi was posthumously declared not responsible by a courtroom) However what occurred in Karnataka was totally different. The BJP misplaced energy not resulting from any particular scandal involving outgoing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai or his colleagues. Quite, the voters rejected it due to the widespread notion that the whole authorities equipment, from backside to prime, was steeped in corruption.
This impression was solidified by a letter {that a} statewide affiliation of contractors despatched to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that ministers routinely demanded “40% fee” in each government-funded challenge. One such contractor, who occurred to be a BJP-RSS supporter, ended his personal life. In his suicide word, he blamed a senior BJP minister for harassing him with calls for for bribe. That is how the BJP authorities got here to be often called a “40% Fee Sarkar”, and the Congress highlighted this in lots of inventive methods in its ballot marketing campaign – with huge success.
True, corruption was not the one situation that felled the BJP in Karnataka. Steep value rise and large-scale unemployment among the many youth added to folks’s anger. They have been additionally not satisfied by the BJP’s high-decibel marketing campaign asking them to resume their mandate to the “Double-Engine Authorities”. For one factor was apparent to them: “How has a BJP authorities each on the Centre and within the state actually helped us when even the worth of a easy cooking fuel cylinder has greater than tripled prior to now 9 years?”
The BJP additionally paid a heavy value as a result of it alienated itself from sure numerically and politically vital castes. The state being bereft of sturdy native leaders, the social gathering depended solely on Modi’s charisma to convey it victory. No much less noteworthy is the truth that the social gathering’s relentless efforts to create a Hindu-Muslim divide, and use its shrill Hindutva attraction to attempt to garner the votes of the bulk group, got here a cropper. Modi additionally did one thing completely unbecoming of a PM to woo voters – he requested them to “punish the Congress” by saying “Jai Bajrang Bali” whereas casting their votes. His name was in response to the Congress pledging to ban the Bajrang Dal if it was voted to energy.
The one necessary nationwide fallout of the BJP’s defeat in Karnataka is that this – its much-touted anti-corruption plank has taken a extreme beating. The explanations are apparent, however the social gathering management’s hubris prevents it from acknowledging them. A bit flashback is important to stress this level.
The BJP’s political USP since 2014 has been Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And Modi’s rigorously cultivated private USP has been that he’s a powerful chief. An important a part of his “sturdy chief” picture is his well-publicised intolerance to corruption. His solemn promise to the folks of India in 2014 was “Na khaoonga, na khaane doona (I’m not corrupt, and I shall not permit others to bask in corruption)”. They trusted him, particularly since they have been fed up with tales of corruption in Manmohan Singh’s UPA 2.
That promise and the enviable picture erected on the edifice of that promise have now suffered an enormous dent. Though Modi nonetheless doesn’t have an actual challenger on the nationwide stage, folks’s belief in him appears to be diminishing. In spite of everything, he – additionally Dwelling Minister Amit Shah, the opposite strongman in his authorities – put his status at stake by campaigning aggressively for a renewed mandate to his social gathering in Karnataka. His marketing campaign did not click on. Individuals observed that he hardly addressed the corruption situation in a passable method. Believing, maybe, that offense is one of the best a part of protection, he claimed in an election rally that “the Congress is related to 85% fee”. This too didn’t impress voters.
Can Congress give a ‘Corruption-Free Sarkar‘? Un uphill process
Not that the Congress social gathering in Karnataka is snow-white clear. The malaise of bribe-taking has grow to be endemic to the nation’s political institution slicing throughout social gathering traces. Attacking the BJP on “40% fee” for electoral positive factors was a straightforward process. However offering corruption-free governance goes to be an enormous problem for the Congress, regardless of who turns into the state’s subsequent chief minister. Solely deep systemic reforms, with a excessive stage of transparency and other people’s supervision, can treatment this illness, for which neither the BJP nor the Congress is prepared.
Modi’s picture has not been the one casualty in Karnataka. The credibility of the RSS, the mom organisation of the Sangh Parivar, has additionally been badly broken. Time was when even those that criticized the RSS on ideological grounds admired it for the integrity and self-discipline of its functionaries. That’s not the case. Karnataka has been a stronghold of the RSS. Certainly, it’s due to the RSS that the BJP may obtain political success within the state, the one one in South India that turned saffron. But, there may be little proof that the highest RSS management took any steps to rein in rampant bribe-seeking amongst BJP functionaries in Karnataka. They both appeared helpless or acquiesced in it. Consequently, there may be widespread resentment amongst many upright RSS insiders, and likewise amongst its ardent supporters outdoors, that the Sangh is quick shedding its charitra (ethical character).
Clearly, the folks’s verdict in Karnataka has opened up new prospects in nationwide politics forward of the essential meeting elections in 2023 (in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram) and the all-important parliamentary elections in 2024. The BJP higher not be below the phantasm that Modi’s title alone is sufficient to swing the voters in its favour.
(The author was an aide to India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.)
Disclaimer: These are the private opinions of the creator.
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