Memoranda for Submission to the Chief Ministers of the Two Telugu States.

Articles

Extravagance and Immorality

Dt: 10/2/16

Extravagance and Immorality

 

Dr T.H.Chowdary*

 

Socialism (and secularism) and social justice have become the staple of the populist politicians’   and  Marxists’ harangues.  In order to humour the poor   and  extend  justice  to the hitherto  disadvantaged sections of the population, many welfare schemes and  periodic gifts are being showered on the poor.    In Andhra Pradesh Sankaranti kanukalu,  Ramjan kanukalu , Christmas kanukalu,  (all these in the name, Chandranna the Chief Minister of A.P)  Urdu  ghars, Shadi khanas , Christian Houses, Haj houses,  separate state finance corporations  for Christians, Muslims, BCs, SCs, STs  and now  Kapus and  Brahmins  and so on  are being established.   The proprietors of   regional parties  think it is their  right to spend as they want and it is the  duty of the central government to give them the needed finances by way of “packages”  and “special”  status for their states.

 

2.  Populism is a means for personal aggrandisement and high living in great  grandeur.  One Chief Minister who has got the   Secretariat  and the Assembly and the Commissionerates   in the  capital of the undivided state has two camp offices  in the   joint capital city, one of them is his private property but furnished and  equipped at government cost.  Holding that his  house is not vastu-compliant, that Chief Minister had another  Bungalow  hired for his  residence.  Rs. 10 cr-  were spent for providing  security apparatus in this  hired residence for the Chief Minister  in the  temporarily joint capital.  He has another  camp office  near the new  capital  city to be  at a huge cost.  He has in all four offices for himself.  The Viceroy of India used to have two only.

 

3. Another  Chief Minister has a camp office  as well as  an official residence, both of which   are  security  compliant. As  these are  not good enough, he  is having a house built at a cost of Rs. 30 cr for himself as Chief Minister . 

 

 

4. Why should the Chief and other Ministers not live in the government houses which were meant for them? But choose to live in their own house  on which   they are spending  tens of crores of  rupees for security and  other    needs in a house  owned by a private person?  There was a time when  in the  undivided Andhra Pradesh, Chief Ministers were changed  almost every year and every one of them was living in his private  house  but got the government  spend  crores of rupees  to  make them palatial to be fit for the  chief of the  state to live. 

 

5. In their    intense  desire to get elected and to form  government, proprietors of the regional parties  are  making  promises which cannot  be fulfilled within the  financial  resources of the  state. When they come to   power they find they cannot  implement  the promises they made.  The disaffected sections of the people launch movements  like the one that the Kapu leaders  have launched in AP demanding  that the Chief Minister   fulfil the  promise that he would include the  Kapus in the  BC category. People of those castes who are already in the   BC category are launching  counter -movements not to  let in some other castes into that  category.   The power -hungry populist leaders have  promised  Muslims  (as a religious  category )  reservations.  This is unconstitutional.   The A.P  court had already struck it down but  yet they make the promise. Castes are  revived among   Muslims and  some of them are included in the   BC category to the   disadvantage and distress of   Hindu BCs.   Similarly, those SCs who  converted to Christianity  are also included in the  BC category, again to the great disadvantage of  the true  Hindu BCs. 

 

6. Another  fraud is change of caste itself. We know that a person  can change  nationality and religion but so far  it has not been possible to change the caste for any Hindu.  Corruption  is making  this possible.    This fact is  highlighted by the recent incident of    the son, a research student of a BC father who committed  suicide. But the issue flared up as the suicide of a dalit  in a university.    The son of the BC father  has a certificate as an SC . The mother  who was also a Hindu B.C but converted to Christianity  has managed to get for the  children Hindu SC caste certificates.     Just as  low income certificates  are purchasable by corruption money, now  SC caste certificates  also  are  purchasable. As part of a movement,  Christian missionaries who are converting  S.Cs to   Christianity are   advising the  converts   to record their religion and caste as SC Hindu so that  they can continue to get the   benefit of reservations meant for Hindu SCs/Dalits.  This is the reason why  in the two Telugu states the  proportion of the Christian  population  according to the   census has been progressively coming down  decade after decade as.

 

Christian Population in Andhra Pradesh ( before division)

 

 

Year

 

1971

1981

1991

2001

2011

% of Christian population

4.19

2.68

1.83

1.44

1.38

 

 

7. The disintegrating forces in India and their backers from  abroad are   widening the fault lines in the Indian   society – fault lines  based upon  caste, religion and region.   It is almost impossible for any corrective to be implemented effectively during the  tenure of a government which lasts for  five years at the best at the Center or the  State. The disease  has been nurtured  soon after Sardar Patel’s death in Dec 1950 . The oldest all -India  party has been taken over by  a person of foreign  origin and  converted into a proprietary one.   It will be  a herculean task for nationalist parties  to roll back  the disintegrative  forces, correct the distortions  that have been introduced into history writing and into the  education system. With the  decline of the  national spirit due to  wrong  education an d falsified history teaching, regionalism, casteism and  caste antagonism and  religion-based divisiveness are promoted  to create vote-banks an d loot public money through  corruption rampant “pro-poor” welfare schemes  a d gifts distribution on festive  occasions. instead  of  progressing  towards  swach Bharat, we are  degenerating  into “tuch” (mean) Bharat. ” (980 words)

END