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TN
voters will not buy religion as poll plank
Express News
Service
Madurai,
April 23:
Religion and corruption may play a big role in the poll campaign
this time. But voters, who are often baited with these two topics
in elections, are a trifle cautious.
They apparently
won’t fall into the trap as is apparent from the comments The
Indian Express got from them. T. Lajapathi Roy, a young lawyer who
gave up his practice in the Supreme Court to wean youth from the
influence of caste and religion, said religion mixed with politics
is anathema to democracy. ‘‘But that is exactly what has
been happening since Independence.’’
Corruption
too was nibbling away at the roots of democracy and had become all
pervasive. The topic of corruption would apparently be a convenient
campaign tool this time. People, however, are cautious now of the
‘‘holier-than-thou’’ propaganda, Roy said. It
may, in fact, fail to impress the voters.
Manohari Doss,
of Women’s Development Resource Centre, who works among the
underprivileged, said using religion to harvest votes from the gullible
is now outdated. Women at the grassroots, in both urban and rural
areas, were conscious of their ballot’s power and would vote
only for candidates who were honest and dedicated, and not because
they belonged to a particular religion.
As far as corruption
is concerned, people are disgusted at the manner in which it has
been institutionalised. Nothing gets done unless palms are greased.
This perception may precipitate votes from melting away from the
ruling party because people feel no action has been taken to check
corruption.
S. Selladurai,
a 45-year-old auto driver, said corruption is the curse of the government.
To get a fitness certificate from the RTO office requires shelling
out more money than required, he said. People like him who live
below the poverty line and live a hand-to-mouth existence are victims
of government officials’ greed. So Selladurai, for long a DMK
man, may well vote against his party in an attempt to dislodge it.
A cross-section
of voters in Nagapattinam are sure they would vote for parties of
their choice. Minority communities such as Muslims and Christians
are against supporting the BJP or its allies because they feel the
government has given them a raw deal. The minorities say they would
cast their votes for candidates from non-communal parties.
Some Muslim
voters said they would vote for a Muslim candidate only, irrespective
of party affiliation. But if no Muslim candidate is fielded, they
would vote for a non-communal candidate.
(With inputs
from P. Krishnaswamy in Madurai and R. Venkatramani
in Porayar)
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