Once upon a time, more than a decade back, when on hearing the word Karnataka, good and pleasant thoughts used to come to our minds. The magnificent Vijayanagara empire of Krishnadevaraya, the Garden City of Bangalore, beautiful palaces of erstwhile kings in Mysore, the serene beaches of Gokarna and Mangalore, the scenic and dense forests of Bandipur, the holy Kaveri river with origins in Talakaveri, the game changer revolution of Information Technology that had its roots in Bangalore were some of the things that one always associated with Karnataka. Despite a lot of things going its way, the one thing that Karnataka has lacked for over a decade now is good governance.
2004 to 2008 was the period of unholy coalitions and one party backstabbing the other. During this period, we had a corrupt CM in Kumaraswamy and an incompetent CM in Dharam Singh, who was known more for his temple visits than governance. After that, we had the BJP forming a government in South India for the first time and to say that they botched it up would be an understatement.
The five year BJP rule was characterized by scams and corruption to the tune of several crores of rupees, nepotism, infighting, poaching attempts and dirty rifts with the governor and Lokayukta . As many as 3 CMs were at the helm of affairs during these 5 years. After that, on expected lines, the Congress stormed into power in 2013 with a huge majority.
The Congress rule has been characterized by gross inaction and lethargy, increased corruption in the bureaucracy, blatant minority appeasement in the form of the various Bhagya schemes and Tipu Jayanti and mindless populism in the form of loan waivers.
The one other noticeable feature of the Siddaramaiah regime is the shabby treatment of honest officers and whistleblowers. There have been many occasions when honest officers have been transferred or have died under mysterious circumstances or have been threatened to resign. Dy SP of Kudligi subdivision Anupama Shenoy’s action against a local mining baron and her tiff with Labor Minister Parameshwara Naik led to her forced resignation from the police force. IAS officer Subodh Yadav, who was doing a fabulous job in dealing with the garbage problem in Bangalore and in the process took on the garbage mafia and some of the powerful corporators, was unceremoniously transferred by Minister KJ George despite the citizens rooting for him. The mysterious death of police officer MK Ganapathy is another case. During his tenure, Ganapathy was harassed by Bangalore Development Minister KJ George and had serious differences with him.
The latest victim has been Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons D Roopa.
On inspecting the Central Jail in Parappana Agrahara, Roopa brought into light the various irregularities and atrocities taking place there. She alleged that Rs 2 crore bribe was paid by AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala to the top prison authorities (including DGP Sathyanarayana Rao) to have her live a luxurious VVIP jail life and get preferential treatment.
One must remember here that Sasikala is a convict serving a jail term for a disproportionate assets case and has amassed huge illegal wealth for herself and her family. In her report, Roopa has also mentioned that Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of the stamp paper racket, who is in the Parappana Agrahara prison, has also been getting preferential treatment. She has also alleged that ganja and other narcotics are being sold in the prison.
Times Now, in an exclusive coverage, released photographs showing the kitchen of Sasikala and the various amenities being enjoyed by her. From the photographs, one would wonder if Sasikala is indeed in prison for committing a heinous crime or if she is actually on a paid seven star vacation.
With such strong allegations, Roopa has ruffled the feathers of the top government officials and her actions were always bound to get her into trouble. As expected, she has been transferred with immediate effect and posted until further notice as Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety. CM Siddaramaiah was quick to play down the transfer in his trademark brazen style (who can forget his famous ‘you have to bear it’ remark in support of VIP treatment for netas) that this is a routine administrative transfer and everything need not be disclosed to the media and the citizens. Where is the accountability Mr Sidaramaiah? The government had in fact issued a notice to Roopa for directly going to the media with her disclosures. The opposition was quick to pounce on this and mentioned that the Congress Government wants to protect illegal activities.
The behavior of both the government and the opposition has been so very predictable and all the netas have a serious dearth of credibility. A whistle blower has been treated on very predictable lines by getting her transferred for being upright and exposing the various wrong-doings happening right under the noses of the top government officials. The officers, who have been accused, have denied of any wrongdoing. The opposition has seen this as an opportunity to score some political brownie points and hence the criticism.
We have all been there and seen it all. The reality is that, no politician in Karnataka is really serious about ending the VIP culture and corruption that have virtually become norms. PM Modi mentioned about removing the lal batti and said that every citizen of India is a VIP.
But not all prisoners get the five star treatment that Sasikala is enjoying in prison.
The other important conclusion to draw from this entire episode is that by nature, Indians do not see corruption as a grave crime and have accepted it as a walk of life. It would not be surprising if the same Sasikala walks out of prison in the near future, becomes the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and has millions of followers falling at her feet and celebrating the rise of their Chinnamma, while DIG Roopa will be forgotten by all after a few days.