Mindless Pandering

As usual the election campaign has brought with it the mindless pandering of the public with freebies, a potent weapon used by politicians of every ilk. Our politicians show their ingenuity in finding new ways to keep the state coffers empty. The promises made my the two main parties DMK and AIADMK is laughable at best. Consider this, one is offering free rice (10 kg) per family a month. The other is offering rice at Rs.2 per kg . DMK has gone a step further. They are offering a free COLOR TV, free GAS STOVES, free land to poor farmers and top it all free cable television (check here). Don't think about whether these promises can be kept or not. Think how ridiculous these promises are. What do they think of the people? He promises all these freebies from tax payer's money and not from the crores he and his family has amassed. Remember when DMK last left office, TN's coffers were virtually empty and it took a couple of years before the fiscal situation was set right. Why not spend the money he is spending on COLOR TVs and cable connection to equip the GOVT schools with the $100 computers that MIT is coming up with or even the simputer.Atleast this will bring more people to the better side of the digital divide. Why not provide free internet connections to GOVT schools and people who cannot afford it, instead of giving free cable connections which will make the people even more stupid with the endless number of soaps.

I am not going to comment on rice for 2 rupees, coz there are millions who might be able to feed themselves with that scheme. But you can be sure that acres and acres of land is going to go into DMK cadres in the name of landless farmers. I am not totally against freebies. There are ways and places where freebies can work wonders. Kamaraj brought in free lunch. That was amazing. He brought in ITIs and other educational institutions to TamilNadu. I can say for sure that I wouldn't have been able to do my masters in the US if not for him, coz my father wouldn't have left his village for chennai but for Kamaraj. Guess its time the Mr.Karunanidhi retires from politics before his own senility becomes his undoing.

C Karthikeyan