48 hours – three tragedies
In just a matter of 48 hours, three tragedies struck the state of Karnataka. Even before the state could come to terms with 30 people meeting their watery grave in Mandya after a bus fell into the canal on Saturday morning, the ‘Man of Mandya’ actor-turned politician Ambarish breathed his last on the very night. And even before his final rites are done, former union minister and senior Congress leader Jaffer Sharief has died.
The bus tragedy in Mandya is a result of human greed and selfishness. It should be called a self-created massacre, more than the tragedy. Because the bus that should have been in scarp yard was being run on the road, illegally by the greedy owners. Our Road Transport department, especially the corrupt officers who sit in cushy places in the department are responsible for the death of 30 people. The driver and conductor too are responsible as much. They were aware of the condition of the bus and yet they packed the vehicle with passengers. This crime is not small by any measure. This tragedy has exposed the state government’s responsibility in ensuring such incidents should never repeat.
Steps to clean up the RTO offices across the state and rid them off the middlemen should begin at the earliest. The transportation department had decided on installing CCTV cameras in all its offices some time ago. But that was never implemented. And the reason for this is more than evident. This goes to prove the middlemen mafia that is controlling the department. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has wept in the open over the tragedy but these tears do not get the aggrieved any justice. The officers who aided the running of the bus that was to be junked, have to be found out and punished. Along with this, every office that has close links with the RTO needs to be controlled and kept under surveillance. The middlemen have to be eradicated. This way the tribute to those who lost their lives would be more meaningful.
Following this bus tragedy was the passing away of actor-turned-politician Ambarish. He had taken ill even when he was the minister. He had availed treatment abroad during his last bout. He died rather young. But his tryst with alcohol had pushed him closer to the alleys death. As an artist, Ambarish is unparalleled. And he could have achieved this feat even as a politician. But his lifestyle blocked this possibility. Ambarish had a very different personality in cinema industry.
He stood apart with his ‘rebel’ image at a time when Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan ruled the roost. His film ‘Anta’ gave a new direction to Kannada film industry. Ranganayaki, Paduvaralli Pandavaru, Elu Suttina Kote and other films were loved by everyone and they left a very impressionable remark on general public. His ability to help people even at his own peril had earned him the name ‘Karna’. Though he was a superstar, he lived among people. Hence he was able to make that transition from cinema to politics.
Whatever he had achieved through his cinema, he could not tread that far in politics. Caste based politics had hurt his sensibilities. Though he took to streets for Cauvery issue, he slowly retreated into the background later. He began to hold his caste against his own accomplishments in Congress. He almost got down to blackmailing and turned into a very tricky issue for Congress that they couldn’t discard or accept within the party.
He could have used the political opportunity to carry the messages from farmers to the higher-ups in Delhi. If he had taken to streets for the sake of our farmers, he could have been another MGR. But he lost an opportunity owing to his indiscipline and callousness. The industry respected Ambarish quite a bit after the death of Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan. He worked like a Supreme court whenever issues cropped up within the film industry. Now the industry is almost orphaned with no big names to lead them.
Jaffer Sharief is a statesman that the state saw. He died just few hours apart Ambarish’s death. He wasn’t too active in politics in the recent times. We need to look at his contribution in 70s-80s than judging him for whatever didn’t take place in our lifetime. As railway minister, his contribution to Karnataka is massive. He is remembered in gauge conversion, engine and wheels factory set up in Bengaluru. If the caste politics within congress had not affected him, he’d have been a chief minister of the state during his lifetime.
Eventually Sharief was sidelined for reasons known to his supporters and followers. He lived as a testimony between statesmen and good politics. Today there are enough and more allegations that Muslims do not want to allow statesmen-like persona within their own community. Hence, there is not a single person within Congress to make him the CM of the state. This is not an accident. That’s the major takeaway from Jaffer Sharief’s death.
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EC probing glitch that marked all Bengal voters 'under adjudication': official
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission is examining the cause of a technical glitch that briefly showed all voters in West Bengal as "under adjudication", an official said on Wednesday.
The problem came to light on Tuesday night when voters attempting to access their details on the EC website using their EPIC numbers found their status marked as "under adjudication", even in cases where names were already included in the final electoral rolls.
"The issue was noticed on Tuesday night and was caused by a technical error, possibly related to the server or backend integration. It has since been rectified, and we are probing the cause behind it," the EC official said.
The glitch occurred less than 24 hours after the EC released the first supplementary list of voters around midnight on Monday.
"At one point, the system erroneously reflected that all electors in the state were under adjudication. This was not the case, and it was purely a display error," the official said.
The development prompted sharp reactions from the ruling TMC, which alleged that the error had effectively put the entire electorate under suspicion.
The party claimed on social media that even valid voters were being shown as "under adjudication" despite their cases being resolved or their names being present in the final rolls.
"We regret the inconvenience caused to voters. The technical teams acted swiftly, and the issue was resolved within approximately two hours," the official said.
