A puritan & an exile

We have the unfortunate privilege of living in the midst of a Puritan government and a Government-in exile, amusing though. In a democracy the people get the government they deserve (yadha raja thadha praja in desi language). But, are we all fools that they treat us like fools? Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reminds me of a former prime minister, Morarji Desai. A puritan himself, the urine- drinking Desai ran his Janata Party government according to his own idiosyncrasies. The government fell on its own weight of contradictions after 28 months. KCR admits that he can be a Hitler, but he doesn’t look as tough as the Nazi dictator as I felt earlier. In democracy the job of a Chief Minister is temporary. Or one should be a Chandrababu Naidu, who could, in 2014, plan for the year 2029. Remember, in 2002, during his first tenure as Chief Minister, Naidu came up with his Vision 2020 for Andhra Pradesh. But a wily Y S Rajasekhar Reddy outsmarted him and sent him into exile in 2004. Ten years later, he returned to power in a truncated Andhra Pradesh. But the irony is that he and his government continue to be in exile in Hyderabad at the mercy of KCR. Yet he has a dream of building a world class capital for Andhra Pradesh, but he is confused on what model it should be. Singapore, Shanghai or Tokyo? Besides, Andhra Pradesh will go down in world history as Swarnandhra! Heard of an English proverb? “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Not to be outdone by Naidu, KCR has already embarked on his maiden foreign visit to Singapore. His plan is to make Hyderabad a Global brand. At home, he is intolerant, wanting to drive out Andhras lock, stock and barrel. In a hurry to invite foreign investors to replace Andhra businessmen, he did not even wait for the result of the Intensive Household Survey, which he had described as a Superhit. He has promised the Singaporeans a graft-free Telangana where he will be not only the Chief Minister but also the CEO to clear all the investment proposals within 48 hours through a single window clearance. We will hear the response from the horse’s mouth when KCR returns to Hyderabad on Saturday.

Coming back to the Mother of all Surveys, it should have been a one-day affair. But the citizens need not be told about the shoddy manner in which it was conducted. Still lakhs of families are left out and they will continue to be faceless citizens of the metropolis. The Chief Minister said the Survey was intended to weed out lakhs of bogus ration cards. But how does the Chief Minister know who are the bogus card holders? There was no column in the proforma to know whether one holds a ration card or not. The government also denies that the survey is to fix the nativity of the citizens. But from the caste and sub-caste, the government can easily surmise one’s nativity. A Nair can be only from Kerala, a Sarma can only be an Andhra, a Goud or Velma can be only from Telangana. So is the case with most of the castes and surnames.

KCR talks of a corruption–free Telangana. After sending away all the Andhra employees, he will replace them with mana Telangana staff. In effect, it will be a Hobson’s choice, one set of crooks replacing another. Having tasted power for the first time, they will be more devastating than the earlier lot. That applies even to his ministers, who also will be enjoying political plums for the first time. KCR and his dynasty cannot check every file that is signed at the Secretariat. KCR wants to abolish all the existing ration cards and issue new ones. Same result. One set of bogus ration cards will be replaced by another set. It is an open invitation to a fresh set of officials and middlemen to make money. So far neither the Centre nor the State Governments could reform the PDS system. Because, for every reform there is a loophole and the fraudsters, in collusion with officials, frustrate all efforts of the government. Novice as it is, the TRS government lacks the administrative experience to tackle such gigantic manipulations being perpetrated for generations.

Naidu is a sad man, having been humbled by the BJP government headed by Narendra Modi at the Centre. All his SOS for help from the Centre, especially for the farm loan-waiver, did not find any positive response. He has hundreds of other promises to keep and is desperate to come out of his exile. But what is amusing is that his Finance Minister, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, has played a trick on Naidu’s subjects living in Andhra Pradesh dangling a populist budget promising something to everybody. His budget proposals for Rs 1.11­­ crore is almost 75% of the united Andhra’s last budget. Considering that we have already travelled five months into the financial year 2014-15, this budget even surpasses last year’s budget. The budget is conveniently silent on the revenue receipts, or in simple terms, how the government is going to fund all the proposed allocations. Even a Bania shop owner knows that he has to show the assets and liabilities in his annual balancesheet or his tax returns. Unfortunately Yalamala’s entire budget is based on an assumption that the Centre will send the money. He will be disappointed soon.

The budget includes several surprise items, including BC status for Kapus and even Brahmins, additional benefits to SCs, STs, BCs and minorities, Anna canteens following Jayalalithaa’s Amma Kitchens in Tamil Nadu, 20 litres of mineral drinking water for every family at Rs 2. By the time the mineral water plants are set up the life of the budget will be over. Brahmins used to be the ruling class in the country till recently. Have they become so poor to be categorised under the BCs. Or is it because of Naidu’s association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a non-Brahmin and a Chaiwala about which he takes ample credit. Sounds like a Modi ploy to insult the Brahmin community?

I cannot help but quote Abraham Lincoln’s oft-repeated famous saying: “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time!”