What Supreme Court says is correct, but only if everyone believes it to be true….

Raveesh Benjamin
(Managing Editor, Newsbuddy)

If there is Revdi culture in the country’s politics, then it is a bad thing. Its opposition is less within politics and more outside politics. Therefore, despite external opposition, Revdi culture in politics has never decreased. This Revdi culture which started from South India has now spread all over the country. Hardly any political party is untouched by it, hardly any government in any state calls this culture bad because now it is considered necessary to win elections in any state. All political parties feel that if the state election has to be won, then it can be won only through Revdi culture. Many parties have won elections due to this culture, hence it is being considered mandatory to win elections. The more it is being considered mandatory, the more people outside politics have started criticizing it.

For most people in politics, this is a necessary tool to win elections, so now those who used to call it bad for the country and a necessary evil for politics, they too are now considering it necessary to win elections, in the same way as it was considered necessary to distribute liquor, money, sarees, silver anklets, or any gift in the slums to get the votes of the poor a day before the voting. This too was a kind of free freebie but it was not done openly, it was done secretly at night. Then it was somewhere in the minds of the people that this is wrong, we are doing wrong, so it was done secretly in the dark of night, it is done even today. Everyone considers it a necessary evil, that is, if you want to win the election, you have to do it. Everyone does it.

Whatever be the election, now political parties openly adopt the freebie culture and make promises to the public that if they win the election, what all will be given to them for free, how much money will be given to which class of people or will be spent for their convenience. This is done openly and along with this, a lot of things are distributed secretly in the slums of the poor a day before the voting for votes. In politics, people have been divided into poor and rich classes. There are more poor people, so promises are made in the elections for their welfare, betterment, in their honour, to empower them. On winning the election, schemes are made and they are given cash money, many kinds of free facilities are given. Those who are not in politics, who do not have to fight elections every day, do not have to win elections, they strongly criticize the Revdi culture, they do not consider it good for the economic condition and development of the country and the state in the long run.

Similarly, people outside politics take the Revdi culture to the Supreme Court. There they say that due to Revdi culture, welfare works of the poor are not being done because a large part of the state budget is spent in distributing Revdi. When the government is asked about the welfare of the poor, it says that it does not have any funds for this. The Supreme Court has recently expressed its displeasure over the announcement of free facilities by political parties before elections in many states. They say that due to free schemes, people do not want to work today. The Supreme Court says that instead of bringing people into the mainstream of the country for national development, why are we making them parasites.

The Supreme Court made this comment during the hearing on the demand related to the right to shelter for homeless people in urban areas. Ishwar Kumar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2003 demanding the construction of shelter homes for homeless people. During this, his lawyer told the court that the central government has stopped funding the urban shelter scheme for the last few years. Now the state governments are also saying that they do not have funds. This time more than 750 homeless people have lost their lives due to cold in winter. Overall, the court was told that homeless people are dying due to the Revdi culture, the central and state governments do not have money for their welfare, there is no money because a large part of the budget is spent.

There was news from Himachal Pradesh that there is no money to pay salaries to government employees. In Karnataka, many taxes have been increased by arranging money to fulfill the promises of freebies. After winning the elections, many governments have taken loans to fulfill the promises of freebies, due to which the debt has increased a lot in many states and a large amount is spent on its interest every month or year. The state government does not repay the loan, due to which the debt on the state keeps increasing. The burden of debt on the public along with the state keeps increasing. Necessary development works are not done or are done less because the funds for it are less. Freebies are promised to win an election, then the freebies are fulfilled by arranging money by any means. Elections come again after five years. Then to win the election, more freebies are promised than the last time. This vicious cycle continues. Political parties are not able to get out of this vicious cycle to win the election.