Undemocratic Activities of Democratic governments

pic : Courtesy Source

 
The water dispute between Tamil Nadu and other states(especially Karnataka) is there for almost 2 decades. Not a single govt in Karnataka tried to find an amicable solution for this issue.Karnataka has seen Chief Ministers like Deve Gowda,Kumarasamy,S M Krishna,Yeddyurappa,Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar etc.I haven't seen any of them taking proper measures to sort this problem out.We have had central govts formed by various parites,Congress govt,a 3rd front govt backed by Congress,a BJP govt and the UPA govt led by Congress.Neither of these govts showed any interest in solving this dispute.Only silver-lining was in 2004 election campaigns,the BJP(which projected Mr.Vajpayee as its Prime ministerial candidate then) promised inter-linking of rivers.But unfortunately,the Congress came to power in 2004 and the fortune is still bad for this nation.

This is what happened recently.The Tamil Nadu farmers are dependent on Cauvery water.Its time for them to harvest.But the Karnataka govt is not releasing water to Tamil Nadu.And,without left out with too many options,the TN govt approaches the Supreme Court.The apex court slammed the Prime Minister Office for not taking any step on this issue.They didn't even fix a date for Cauvery River Authority meeting.Supreme Court judges used strong words to condemn the lethargic attitude of the Prime Minister Office.

"Only our blood pressure is raised. Please call senior officers. " - source

After this,the PMO finally acts on it.Then the Cauvery River Authorities examined the water availability in Karnataka,because the Karnataka govt stated that they themselves doesn't have enough water and so if they release water to TN,the Karnataka farmers will suffer.Immediately this question arises in my mind, 'are our politicians so good to think about the welfare of the common man?is the Karnataka BJP so good?'.Anyway let us leave this question in choice.We will focus on facts and figures.The authorities submitted their report to Supreme Court.The Supreme Court adivises both the Chief Ministers to meet regarding this issue and sort it out amicably through talks.The very next day,TN Chief Minister Ms.Jayalalithaa,meets her Karnataka counterpart Mr.Jagadish Shettar.Within 45 minutes the meeting ends.The TN CM comes back with empty hands and she says the Karnataka CM refused to release even a single drop of water to TN.So the next day again the Tamil Nadu CM approaches the Supreme Court.After considering the reports submitted by the authoritiy,the Supreme Court directs the Karnataka govt to release 10000 cusecs of water/day to TN.




After this verdict,Jagadish Shettar calls for an all-party meet.After this he comes up with a statement that they will not release water to TN.It is also said that the congress party pressed the govt not to release water,even though if its like humiliating the Supreme Court verdict - source . Then he goes to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and explain their position.Means,he is sincerely working for his state and he is making the PM understand the situation of Karnataka that the state itself doesn't have enough amount of water.What a noble Chief Minister Mr.Shettar is.And,now he also says that he will approach Supreme Court in this issue.

I am not an intelligent person.But I believe followers of this blog are intelligent.So people please enlighten me 'why he is going to approach the Supreme Court again?'.After struggling for months,finally the Supreme Court gave this verdict.It ordered the Karnataka govt to release only minimum amount of water(10000 cusecs).The Karnataka govt rejected this judgement outright and now again they say they are going to approach Supreme Court.Can there be a greater insult to our constitution than this? The Supreme Court is the highest authority of Indian constitution.One of the main features of Supreme Court is, to sort out the disputes between states.when this court gives a verdict,any govt is supposed to follow it.But states like Kerala and Karnataka are playing divisive politics on this issue for the sake of votes.

When the case about Mullai Periyar dam was in Supreme Court, the Kerala politicians threatened to break the dam.They said they will go ahead with the construction of new dam.The Karnataka govt refuses to release water.Is Tamil Nadu not a part of India?Are TN farmers not human beings?Are Tamilains not human beings?Why these 'national parties' are more concerned with Kerala and Karnataka and why this step-motherly treatment is meted out to TN everytime?Reason is simple.The Congress and BJP has a votebank in Karnataka.The Congress and Communist parties has a vote bank in Kerala.But these parties will not even manage to get deposit in Tamil Nadu,if they go alone in polls.So they want to consolidate their votebank and make themselves strong by playing divisive politics.When S M Krishna was the Chief Minister TN faced same sort of problems.When former Chief Minister Mr.M Karunanidhi proposed a power project using the Hoganakkal water.Former Karnataka Chief Minister Mr.Yeddyurappa protested against it.I don't know what's wrong with Mr.Yeddyurappa.Mr.Karunanidhi himself will do something good only on rarest of rare occasions and such Yeddyurappas will spoil that too.


Now the situation in Karnataka is not so rosy for BJP. And Yeddyurappa quit BJP and started his own political party.Still he has some loyalists in the current govt.Anytime,by using his supporters he may bring down the current govt - this is what the BJP fears.Personally I don't feel Mr.Yeddyurappa has that much support.And the Karnataka BJP has earned the wrath of public on various issues like mining scam, pornography issue etc.If the BJP faces elections right now,it fears a defeat.So to project themselves as the saviors of Karnataka farmers,they are doing like this.

One can very well raise this question - 'if the BJP had not earned the wrath of public and had maintained a good name,will their govt release water to TN?'.The answer is a big NO,because other parties will carry out hate campaign against them.The opposition parties will try to antogonise the ruling party on this issue.So even if there was anyother party(Congress or Janata Dal(secular)) in power,the ssituation would not have been any different.

Regarding the reason behind the Kerala govt's irresponsible behavior on MullaiPeriyar issue, I will try to come up with a separate blog post.

Democratically elected govts are behaving in an undemocratic manner.I would like to suggest this solution to govt(??) and activists to avoid this in future.If a govt goes against the directions of Supreme Court,the govt must be immediately dismissed.The parties which formed the govt,must be barred from contesting any elections for 5 years in that particular state.This will give some fear to our politicians.A politician will afford to lose anything including self-respect,but he/she will not afford to lose 'power'.So no party will go against the apex court.

Playing divisive politics based on region or religion is very dangerous.It will end up in disaster.Hope something happens and someone comes up with a suggestion as I mentioned above.And regarding this issue, the current BJP govt in Karnataka, must be immediately dismissed and President's rule be declared in the state.