Whither peace, Mr Bommai?

Amid the daily deluge of reports projecting the state as one with severe religious intolerance has come a bright ray of hope. Our honourable Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has promised the people of Karnataka peace “at all costs”. The million dollar question, though, is how that peace is going to be delivered.

His sincerity may not have been suspected should Assembly elections have not been lined up for next year. How else does one explain people of the region who till recently lived on the philosophy of Basaveshwara that centres on humanism, all of a sudden adopting a hardened approach to everything that assures mileage to power-hungry politicians?

In fact, it leaves one wondering if he was planted as the premier elected representative of the state during July last year only to meet the designs of these hardliners. On the one hand, he has to prove them right in their choice of the man for the job. On the other hand, he has to justify his graduation at the cost of the mainstay of the party in power in the state, BS Yediyurappa. Also playing on his mind must be the fact that he has little to show as achievements on his nearly one year’s report card, which could make his 2023 fight one of survival.

With most controversies kicking up storms that are rumbling across the globe, the man from a humble rural background must believe he is garnering international recognition. The sooner it strikes him that all this is showing the state in poor light, the better for persons of this soil.

Interestingly, every single hullabaloo being raked up is directed at one particular community. That sure defies logic, even if it assures the most powerful politician in the state brownie points. How good is that going to be if the end result is a tarnished image, sir? Please be informed: History has not forgotten those who clung on to power by setting man against man. Is that how you want to be remembered?

Children are losing their innocence to wily games. Not done. Daily-wage earners are being deprived of their daily chapatti. Have a heart. Fear rules the mind of most, and that is not a conducive atmosphere for development. Worst of all, humanity is taking a beating.

Come to think of it. Why is it that the person at the helm of administrative affairs of the state warmly cradled between all other southern states of the country make mere promises? Shouldn’t he exercise his authority instead and reinstate the position of the ‘elevated land’?