Q&A with HD Kumaraswamy: ‘It looks as if I am walking alone in politics’

disheartened him. Excerpts from an interview:

To be frank, there was no confusion in our decision to back Congress in BBMP. In the first place, BJP had ruined Bengaluru during its five years of administration and had left the city reeling under a huge debt. We did not have any option but to support the party, which was ruling the state. We had to bring BBMP administration on track, for which we

need the state government’s cooperation. When it came to the Council elections, I was very clear that we will not have an alliance with any party. After the JD(S) Legislature Party meeting last month, party MLAs Mr Y.S.V. Datta and Mr Zameer Ahamed Khan told the media that we will not have an alliance. However, I don’t know what happened between our national president (Mr Gowda) and legislators…. Alliance talks began. I was not informed and I came to know only through the media. That

led to a lot of confusion. Now, after the recent meeting, all the

confusion was sorted out.

The rumours are far from the truth. Both Mr Gowda and Mr Revanna areseasoned politi_cians and there is no need to field Mrs Bhavani to the Upper House. When there was no such proposal, there is no question of me being unhappy over the issue. It is true that there are some difference of opinion between me and my father, which crop up time and again. It can be termed as generationgap. While Mr Gowda is rich in experience, I feel that he does not understand present day political situations. We talk out issues and sort them out. I always need his guidance derived from his experience. Whenever we talk out such issues, rumours do the rounds that we had a fight.

There is no personal animosity between me and my old friends. What has happened is that I am not seen operating at the frequency I did earlier. We can also call it a kind of communication gap. Of late, I am concentrating more on reading books to acquire knowledge. This is one of the reasons why I am not seen with friends frequently. Meanwhile, the party went out of power during two elections. My friends feel that we have to align with one of the parties to come to power in future. They feel that we can serve people only if we are in power. However, I don’t agree with that argument. There may be certain differences of opinion over how to build the

party. Certainly, from my side, there are no hard feelings. I have not changed a bit, I am the same person.

Sometimes, I am confused over ground realities in politics, especially when it comes to fighting corruption. Even the people’s perception over corruption seems to have changed. Earlier, if anyone was involved in corruption, people, cutting across caste lines would agitate against it. Now, things have changed. There is an allegation that I do not take issues to their logical end. Whenever I take up a fight against corruption, it takes a caste colour. Those involved in corruption take shelter under their castes saying that I am against their community. The entire community goes against us. Exposing corruption in the system is termed as politics of vengeance or hate. Sometimes, the people presiding over constitutional bodies send me messages, asking me to drop my fight. Most of the reasons cited for their advice would be that the issues are too personal. I feel that values in public life are deteriorated. When I talk about that, it looks as if I am walking alone in politics.

I have great respect for the Speaker, who is the seniormost member in the present Assembly. However, I feel that there is no scope for a fair debate in the Assembly. Whenever we take up some issue, the Speaker asks us not to speak on the subject, but only give suggestions to the government. According to me, the duty of the Opposition is to expose the failure of the government and give suggestions. However, the Speaker insists that we should

only give suggestions. Will this government accept our suggestions? It looks like a futile exercise to me.

Even I am trying to analyse it. It is difficult to understand people’s behaviour itself. We feel happy when people are compassionate over disasters like the Chennai flood. Around 300 people have died there. However, in our own state, over 1000 farmers have committed suicide during the last one year and nobody cares. The government readily announces relief for Chennai, but bargains when it comes to compensating farmers. No one cares for that. Political issues and people’s sentiments are difficult to understand, I am trying to do that before coming to a conclusion.