There are politicians & politicians.....if Winston Churchill was one our own HD Deve Gowda is another!
Today on my drive back to the city campus of ABS from the central campus at Anekal, I noticed a huge hoarding by the wayside. Curious, I lowered my window & had a look.
It read ' Welcome to Shri H.D.Devegowda, Farmer Indian Prime Minister of India'. I was puzzled & ruminated about the 'farmer' for quite a while. Was it a slip & should have read as 'former' or was the farmer intentional, as HDG always claims to be a farmers man & likes to be called as 'Mannina Maga', loosely translated as 'Son of the soil' in Kannada.
HDG was always a maverick, said to have slept his way through parliament, after becoming default prime minister. He always associated himself with farmers & projected a pro poor image.
There is an apocryphal story, which bears no proof and runs as follows:
Gowda is no great lover of cricket and was once invited to a India/South Africa tie, wherein he was introduced to both teams. The poker faced HDG, showed little interest till he arrived at SA batsman Hudson. HDG is said to have got all excited & embraced the surprised Hudson! Why? Because it rhymed with mudson ( mannina maga ).
Though, apocryphal it is indicative of HDG and his politics.
Recently, a belegeaured Gowda, was in the news, when he is said to have called the incumbent CM of Karnataka, Yeddi, as Blxxxxy Bxxxxxx, sparking off a wave of protest & the BJP questioning HDG's mental health. The cornered former PM, eventually apologized & laid the matter to rest.
I could never relate to the man or his politics & remember him for a potholed & power deficient Bengaluru........
As to the Farmer Prime Minister, I intend to have a closer look ASAP,at the hoarding, as who knows I might have got it wrong & only time will tell if many of us got this doughty politician wrong!
I explore the last frontier..............humans!
2 comments:
To the Indian urban elite,Devegowdas,Laloos, Mulayams and the like are buffoons who come handy for drawing caricatures and for making them butt of clever jokes and concocted anecdotes.But,when it comes to voting,the so called intelligentsia do not even record 30% casting of votes.On the other hand,in the just ended Pancayat Raj elections,it had been uniformly over 80% throughout the state.Now, you should ponder over how Deve Gowda thrives, while Mani Shankara Iyer,Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh get the raspberry (or the boot!)the moment they open their mouth.It looks as though there are two India coexisting,hardly understanding each other.
Well,these are well known facts.Even this lamentation of mine is hackneyed one!For most of the elites,politics is only of topical interest,like watching an IPL T20 match.Just remember how our urban
gentry engages itself at a Socio-religious function,before the lunch is served!
Deve Gowda nwas never a farmer. At best he owned farming lands. He was primarily a road contractor who ensured that the roads he build got washed away in rainy season so that he got rework contracts. He infiltrated into State PWD with his chamcha's and Sons to garner all contracts.
We Indians should be ashamed that he was made the PM. Most Indians like him claim to be what they are not. Devegowda is neither farmer or a former PM. It was stupid mistake on the part of fellow parlimentarians to choose him as the PM as they diod not like other competent guys. This is generally the way Indians function. Designations become overtly important than the contributions. Today Devegowda is losing in elections in Holenarasipura, Kanakapura and even Ramanagara. People hate him no matter whether he was farmer or a former PM. Those titles mean nothing in reality.
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