Politicos and their ways of appeasing supporters, voters

THE NETA BRIGADE KEEPS ITS POLITICAL INTEREST IN MIND WHEN THEY RESORT TO POPULISM OR APPEASEMENT

How far will the politicians go to appease their supporters or vote-banks?

Going by recent instances, one can say, they would go to any extent, sometimes, even get carried away and utter things only to regret them later. That is why we saw a legislator in Mumbai promising a crowd of mostly youths in his constituency that he would kidnap girls for them to get married if the girls are not willing to marry them.

Last week, a Member of Parliament from western Maharashtra said he would defy the ban on the use of loud music equipment during the processions. While peace-loving citizens appreciate the restrictions put by the police on loud and deafening music being played out at Ganesh pandals or during the immersion processions, politicians have been openly talking about defying the same.

Last month, as the Mumbai civic body tried to discipline Ganesh mandals who dig the roads or do not follow rules while setting up their pandals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state intervened and asked the civic body not to withhold permissions of the mandals.

These are relatively minor instances of appeasing the crowds or supporters. Another version of the political appeasement is the major decisions that impact governance – the farm loan waiver is a classic example. Now nobody would say that the farmers in distress should not be given a helping hand, especially when thousands of them have killed themselves due to the farm crisis. At the same time, the strain the loan waiver would put on state’s finances cannot be ignored.

The Maharashtra government, which has been a facing cash crunch, has to now look for ways to raise money after it decided to waive off farmers’ loans of ₹34 lakh crore (the final amount is expected to change). Experts have warned about the impact of the decision on the state as fewer funds would be available for development.

Closer to our homes, the parking policy that the Mumbai civic body sought to introduce was another victim of appeasement. The policy was aimed at reducing the use of private vehicles and encouraging public transport. It was framed in consultation with transport experts. Mumbai needs stern measures to handle traffic congestion and this policy could have been a step in the right direction.

However, affluent citizens, who did not want to pay for parking on public roads, forced the government to intervene and finally the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was asked to go slow on the implementation of the policy. There could be several such examples including the recent attempts of political parties to dilute the provisions of hawking policy aimed at regulating the number of hawkers in the city.

Of course, many among us get irked with politicians preferring the benefit of a select few over better governance but the neta brigade keeps its political interest in mind when they resort to populism or appeasement. Often, it is about appeasing the vote-bank or pre-empting a move by the rival parties. That was why after insisting that he believes in strengthening the farmers rather than waiving off their loans, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the farm loan waiver as the Opposition had launched a statewide campaign for the same. The reservation given by the previous CongressNationalist Congress Party (NCP) government to Marathas and Muslims just before the 2014 assembly elections was another such example. Though, it did not give the two parties the desired benefit.

However, when it comes to controversial remarks, politicians probably get carried away while appeasing the cheering crowd of supporters in front of them. They don’t think about the consequences and say the kind of things that would only qualify as crass jokes in private conversations — kidnapping a girl who is not willing to marry some guy or urinating in the dam since it’s not raining.