It is Dasara, a time to be hopeful and also a time to rid ourselves of our troubles and look forward to a better future. The word Dashahara is said to be derived from Sanskrit and means "remover of bad fate." It is also a festival that signifies victory of Good over the Evil. But this Dasara has once again proved that even in today's non - mythological India, modern India, good still has a long way to go before it triumphs over evil. Just take a look at the state of our politics and politicians.

It's the 400th year of Dasara. Considering that it is a festival of international repute which has lost its lustre over the years, this year was a fantastic opportunity to remind the world that Dasara is still here as a festival that is grand and glorious. It was an opportunity to give Mysore tourism, no, Karnataka tourism a boost. Instead, sadly our politicians are busy playing monopoly in which only they will get rich and the State will get poorer. Karnataka politics is a circus and it's filled with trapeze artistes who jump from one party to another. The slaying of Mahishasura by Goddess Chamundeshwari after 10 days of fighting signified the victory of good over evil; but who is going to slay our modern day Mahishasuras who are destroying our State? In fact, our modern day Asuras would have given Mahishasura an inferiority complex.

In the early years, especially during the rule of Wadiyars, people of intellect and integrity were respected and much sought - after to fill all spheres of administration. No wonder during this time, we had the first hydroelectric power station in Asia built at Shivanasamudra by Dewan of Mysore K. Sheshadri Iyer. Also we were the first State to have streetlights! And we were rightfully hailed as a progressive State. But today we are a State in stagnation.

What can we, the people, do when our Chief Minister is busy trying to save his government and has more faith in gods than the people who elected him? What can we expect when the biggest operations are not to educate the people or save the children, but to poach MLAs from other parties? What can we do when the opposition parties, instead of finding fault with the way the governing party rules, are only busy trying to become the governing party? Where will our State end up when its destiny is decided in the halls of 5-star Resorts and dimensions of a suitcase that holds the most cash?

This constant attempt to bring down a government makes us wonder about the purpose and the very existence of the Anti - Defection Act and the Election Reforms Committee. The Anti - Defection Act, also known as the “Tenth Schedule”, was added via the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1985. It provides for the disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party. If one of the attempts of the Anti - Defection Act was to stabilise a government, then it has failed, as politicians continue to sell themselves to the highest bidder.

This repeated holding of democracy hostage by our politicians and the “caste mindset” of voters reminds me of an essay that most of us would have read in our high school English class from the Wren and Martin’s “High School English Grammar and Composition”. The essay contains a speech given by Edmund Burke in the House of Commons in 1788 during the impeachment of Warren Hastings (Governor General of India who was accused of misusing his powers in India and was impeached) — “There is one great question to which we should look in all our arrangements (with India): What is to be their final result on the character of the people? Is it to be raised, or is it to be lowered? Are we to be satisfied with merely securing our power and protecting the inhabitants, leaving them to sink gradually in character lower than present; or are we to endeavour to raise their character, and to render them worthy of filling higher situations in the management of their country, and of devising plans for its improvement? It ought undoubtedly to be our aim to raise the minds of the natives, and to take care that whenever our connection with India might cease, it did not appear to them that the only fruit of our dominion there had been to leave people more abject and less able to govern themselves than we found them.”

Looks like the British have failed to leave us with a better character or with the ability govern ourselves. Even after 222 years, Edmund Burke's fears still run wild and free in our nation; for we still lack the ability to vote people who will put us on the path towards prosperity and civil society.

We remain caste - crazy. Even worse, we have forgotten how we respected people with a mind rather than men with money. Liberalisation has brought in money and we have lost our minds to a point where we believe that we can buy character and can even bribe the gods. It has replaced the importance of knowledge with a misplaced sense of respect for wealth, even if it is ill-gotten. That is why most voters' perspective of character is muddled. And so contemporary politics will continue to degenerate.

Alas, disturbingly the sticker on the auto rickshaw near my office has come true — Dudde doddappa (Money is the big daddy). And our naada habba will continue to be a habba mostly for our MLAs.

Vikram Muthanna
vikram@starofmysore.com
Courtesy: Star of Mysore

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