We Are A Sham Democracy!

We know that politicians lie. That is an axiom. That is why people do not believe election promises anymore. So to win elections, politicians are now bribing voters. If the wikileaks document is true, then some really damning stories have come out about the Home Minister’s son in regards to bribing the voters. Of course tricks like distributing saris and blankets have been around for a while now. The newer ones are offering cheap food. But this has been to taken to a new level in TN where the voters were offered free color TVs. DMK won on that promise. They tried to distribute the TVs but did nothing else. Of course they got caught with the 2G scam and now they have to contest another election. Reports are that the dalit students are now being offered free laptops. Yes, the votes are becoming costlier!

Of course, the voters will get seduced by this largesse and bring the same non-performers back. Voters who accept this kind of bribe are as bad as the politicians. As it is said, “Yatha Raja Tatha Praja”. They are ensuring five more years of misery for a free laptop. That is a bad bargain for them. But there is a bigger question behind all this. Bigger than the voter greed. That question is- who pays for the free goodies? Obviously, it is not the politicians hard earned money. So either it is black money which pays for it or the tax payer money used under the guise of some welfare scheme. If it is black money then it stands to reason that people spending it will try to recover it. Which is why we have scams like the 2G. If this scenario were correct, then ironically, the voters give the politicians a reason to steal. If the party involved is supporting a coalition then this theft becomes even more easy. Coalition dharma, you see!!

However, if it is the taxpayer money that pays for it then we have travesty being added to a crime. The crime is that democracy is being undermined by bribing the voters. The travesty is that hard working, tax-paying citizens are paying for this crime. Now it the tax was being collected in the same state, the degree of travesty is a little less. However, if the party is using the “coalition dharma” to squeeze money from the central government then we have an enormous injustice at our hands. Think about it. So, for example, Gujarat being the most prosperous state contributes the most to the central government coffers. If the central government is subsidizing the bribery then essentially, it is the money from the hard working people of Gujarat which pays for the TVs and laptops in TN. Now if that is not criminally unfair then I don’t know what is! Especially because knowing the people of Gujarat will never support a party like DMK.

This has to stop. Strict laws need to be put in place. If a political party makes a promise of this sort then the election commission should force them to show how the party proposes to pay for it. If they are unable to do it without criminal or unfair means then the party needs to be banned from contesting the elections. If we do not stop it then we should stop calling ourselves a democracy.