Bribe the voters - Is this what it is?

Shree Mulayam Singh (CM of one of the largest and poorest states in india)

is busy distributing money to the unemployed. On the face of it a great measure, but the underlying reason is elections are round the corner in Uttar Pradesh. This man distributed over Rs 30 Crores by one estimate in less than a week. And he is continuing to do this again and again.

Caught on Television: When one of the media persons asked a participating student (receiving unemployment cheque) - are you below poverty line? Do you have that document with you. She didn't know what is poverty line and why she should be below that to qualify for this money. Sure enough, when it rains money it makes sense to get drenched.

And where is all this money coming from: From the Tax Payer's ofcourse. So instead of using the money judiciously on development schemes - it is being used for personal gains.

Why is this not declared Illegal?
Why are there hardly any voices against this? Hardly any media coverage. Well ofcourse media is busy being silly - showing a man driving car from the passenger's seat, and a kid playing with monkey's as - prime time news (yes indeed Aaaj Tak , Zee News and Star News - are competing against each other in touching the greatest depth in crap television news programming.)

Earlier we had our dearest leaders: Karunanidhi distributing Television Sets. Amma promising jewellery just before elctions, Kumaraswamy distributing Bicycles. See an earlier post on this here: Wasting TaxPayers Money - and How!

But, this seems to work in India. After all, it makes perfect sense for Politicians to keep people uneducated and poor; and give them frills like television and occasional cash, but not long term necessities like primary education and employment. Because educated and progress driven voters will see through their political gimmicks.

Mulayam disburses cheques to students