Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi has exceeded his own standards of generosity this time round. Instead of free laptops for disadvantaged Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students,he has decided to throw the offer open to all students. This apart from all the other schemes,ranging from bus passes to housing. The promises of 2006,including colour television sets and rice at Re 1 per kg,are nothing compared to this great giveaway. These are not empty words the DMK has kept its promise,at huge cost to the states finances,and it hopes that this goodwill will tide it over the damage of the 2G spectrum scandal. Despite J. Jayalalithaas blistering criticism of the DMK for leading the state into a debt trap,shes been just as profligate in her promises as the election drew near. These offers are ferociously competitive so if the DMK offers mixer grinders to women,Jayalalithaas AIADMK will match that,and also throw in an electric fan,even gold mangalsutras. The DMKs early emphases on welfare and redistribution have,by now,become barely camouflaged inducements tailored to precise demographic segments. Over the decades,the ideas that drove the progressive Dravida movement have emptied out,and the DMKs assertive populism and the AIADMKs more paternalist version have ensured that Tamil Nadu elections are awash with material goodies. Apart from the practically free rice,voters have pulses and oil,free LPG and stoves,clothes during festivals,subsidised health insurance and extravagant subsidies to convert huts into pucca buildings. Some of these are unobjectionable measures and if it takes an election to take these benefits to poor voters,so be it. But as a principle,its highly corrosive. Instead of extending the ladders of opportunity to these voters,they are treated as passive recipients of a political partys whimsical largesse. Instead of being given their entitlements,and having their needs responded to through the governments considered policy choices,they are made to participate in this degrading freebie festival.
