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