Politics of pragmatism and the death of integrity

I must say that looking at the last few days, politics have now reached a stage where they have become repulsive. In the land of Gandhi, where fasting was linked with Satyagraha which in itself was the anger that came out of moral integrity for the upholding of truth, today fasting is linked to farce. Last year Mr. K. Chandrashekar Rao of the TRS went on a fast. He is apparently diabetic, hypertensive apart from some more chronic ailments. Yet the man was able to 'fast'for 12 days or more. Chandrababu Naidu 'fasted'for a week a few days ago. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Rajashekar Reddy 'fasted'along with one lakh people. Now the Congress Party legislators from Telangana are 'fasting' for a cause. The cause is the Telangana separation. In the Osmania University, at the drop of a hat, students go on an indefinite 'fast'. Somehow I cannot understand why there is a shortage of onions and vegetables with so many people fasting all the time. The situation should have been that of a glut in the vegetable markets.

I could understand the various fasts taken up by members of opposition parties. What beats me and boggles my completely is the protest fasts undertaken by the members of the ruling Congress Party. This must be the height of democracy, where the ruling party is protesting against itself. Or is this the height of irony, or idiocy or the complete lack of integrity? As the 31st of December, 2010 draws ever closer and the Sri Krishna Committee report on the verge of being presented political parties are waiting in the wings to see which way the wind blows and to fly in that direction. So all parties other than the TRS have two factions. Telangana men and Andhra men. If the verdict seems like a separate Telangana then the K. Keshav Rao faction in the Congress Party and the Nagam Janardana Reddy group in the the Telugu Desam Party will swing into action for it while, Lagadapati Rajgopal from the Congress and Yerran Naidu from the Telugu Desam party will fight it. The situation will get reversed if the committee is for the maintenance of a United Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile students are still bearing the brunt of all this. For some days now there has been a problem with students of MBA and MCA standing divided over the question of writing exams. On the campus of the Osmania University there have been two groups one for writing exams and the other for boycotting them and these have indulged in a shouting match. Finally, the politicians who matter decided to end this kiddish wrangling and brought in a mature decision. They threatened students and colleges with dire consequences if exams were conducted. So finally the issue has been put to rest. In this near chaotic situation everybody and anybody can call for a bandh and cripple the system. On the Osmania University campus groups of students of up to ten go around shouting slogans and getting the classes suspended.

What ails the State of Andhra Pradesh and the country is this politics of pragmatism. No body stands for anything. No ideology, no morality and no integrity. All that people want is power, so that they can make truck loads of money. With politics becoming a bottomless pit, I wonder what is in store for the people of this state and country?

P.S. Not proof read and hence mistakes of grammar and spelling may be excused.