Karnataka goes to polls next year. And it being among the few States where the Congress is in power, the party is on an overdrive to win over the hearts (read: votes) of the electorate. I can imagine the insecurities the party must be facing given that the major opponent to reckon with in the State is one that is currently on an electoral ‘bull run’. Why else would a 117 member team be set up by the party to strategise for the Assembly Elections!
(As a side note: In India, where caste plays an important role, elections are a zero sum game; and since the strategies are Pareto optimal, it becomes a conflict game. Consequently, it is how the payoffs are assigned in this matrix that will decide the entire electoral strategy. I shall reserve more on this for a future post!)
The Chief Minister is now pulling up his socks and leaving no stone unturned in wooing the voter. Of course, ‘the voter’ in this case is actually only a section of the population; the others - largely constituted of the educated, middle class - are quite insignificant in this exercise. The Indira canteen that was launched on the 15th of August this year was one such attempt. Many an analyst suggested that the move wasn’t one based on sound economics and doubted its sustainability in the long run. Also, would it have been a better idea to have launched these for the rural poor, who have fewer options for inexpensive food? Never the less, such was the initial success of these canteens that they were unable to project the demand, leading to long queues and them running out of food sooner than anticipated. I must also add that these canteens attracted customers from across the socio-economic spectrum, even those who could easily afford the more expensive local eateries famously called ' Dharshini's!
While the jury is out on this one, the fact that it has been modelled on the famous Amma canteens of Tamil Nadu and what it did to Jayalalithaa’s political career cannot be ignored. So, is Shri. Siddaramaiah hoping for the same here - to become an 'appa' to the voters of Karnataka? It’s pertinent to note, here, that soon after the demise of Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhararaje, was quick enough to launch something on the lines of the Amma canteen in her own State! Is it a case of “way to the vote is through the stomach” (since, in politics, no one is interested in winning hearts, anyway!)?
Playing copycat again, the government has also announced free education for girls from underprivileged backgrounds upto the level of graduation. In my opinion, such affirmative action cannot be measured based purely on economics. The social good that a policy like this can do is immeasurable. After all, how can one quantify the benefit to a society when its women folk are well educated! It is, indeed, an important step in acknowledging their part in the social, economic and cultural development of a society. Again, Jayalalithaa had a similar programme for the young ladies of her State, even providing incentives of gold for their marriage, the amount commensurate with the level of education they obtained under the scheme.
I am not too sure if such policies implemented a year, or even less, before scheduled elections, are ethical practices. After all, they are viewed as attempts at filling the vote-coffers! It also gives the ruling party the advantage of spending on such policies, the funding of which come from the exchequer. Isn’t it a case of ‘advantage:ruling party’? In contrast, the opposition parties can only hope to win on promises which they may not be able to fulfil if voted to power, jeopardising their chances in future elections for having let the voter down. Election outcomes, then, become a battle between the experiencing self within the voter and the remembering self. The game doesn’t seem to be a fair one; but, in politics, what is fair? Isn’t everything fair in love and war….and politics?
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