sandipb.net

No, my question is not what you think. I am not suggesting that we will have the riots out here. Hear me out.

We all the know the infrastructural and administrative mess that is there in Bangalore (and Karnataka). The problems had been “legendary”. Even before I had moved to Bangalore in 2006, I used to read all the problems in Hosur road, and the brief flicker of noisy protests by the IT sector in that regard. Well, we all know things have got worse - I see the generators in my company - situated in a tech park right in the heart of the city - running for most part of the day, there are daily power cuts like clockwork in my area, municipal water hasn’t reached the areas of the city which are now the hotbed of residential real estate in the city, traffic is unimaginably bad in front of my house on a major road and bad elsewhere, roads are in a terrible shape with absolutely no repair work to be seen … I could go on and on.

This is a question to all the people (like me) who are suspicious of BJP and regard it as a divisive party. How much would you be willing to concede to BJP if Yeddyurappa does all the wonderful things to Bangalore just as what Modi did to Gujarat?

Don’t snicker at this question! Just think about it! What if …

• Roads all over the city are repaired and attended to swiftly in case of breakage
• BMTC buses are all converted to Volvo or Marcopolo, run on time, run throughout the day and are disciplined.
• Power problems are tied up by fixing old equipment and reducing T&D losses
• Government invest heavily into regular and traffic police, and suddenly the roads are more disciplined
• Water network is setup on a war footing,and the areas which have been thriving on borewell water start using municipal water.
• Forest department is galvanized into making Bangalore as green as it was even five years ago

In short, Bangalore becomes a great place to live in, industries boom, there is prosperity all around. You heave a sigh of relief about the house you had just bought by pledging your first born.

In other words, Yeddyurappa manages to do to Bangalore(and eventually Karnataka) what Modi has supposedly done to Gujarat.

If such progress happens to this state, how would you look at Yeddy for a second term, looking beyond all the low profile insidious communal structure that they will setup in the administration? (Remember this question is for those who voted against him this term)

If you are still negative, I would ask you again - Don’t just react on the spur. Think about it for a moment. Close your eyes and imagine what life in Bangalore would be if Karnataka becomes the next Gujarat. (read the list given above once more if it helps )

Is it worth consorting with the “devil” for? Or would you like another term of the Gowda family or the always-aimless Congress with the consequent breakdown of the state again.

I closed my eyes and imagined. It was a very tempting thought. And for the first time, my negative opinions about the people of Gujarat electing Modi again and again, subsided. For I can now understand the difficult choice they had.

(For the critics of Modi’s claims, that reference I gave was not the only one which talks about the improvement he made in the state. Independent social and business reports, whose references I am a bit tired to dig up, confirm a significant improvement)