“Those who have indulged in corruption have gone to jail. No government agencies are misused. Nobody innocent has gone to jail. There is a legal system in this country and everything is happening according to the laws.”
This was said by then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, when Yeddiyurappa was sent to jail.
Hope the Congress remembers these lines. Coming to DK Shivakumar, there is an interesting story. This was underplayed by cozy media but what we do in life, comes back to visit us.
DKShivakumar and two kinds of power failure!
Summer of 2015, Karnataka was reeling under power cuts. A local village level BJP worked named Sai Divakar Rai from Bellare in Sullia Taluk faced the worst nightmare of his life. There was a prolonged power failure in his neighborhood. Rai made repeated calls to KEB (Karnataka Electricity Board) office in his village. Not able to restore power supply, the KEB staff were irritated by these repeated calls. They referred Rai to Sullia substation. Rai called Sullia substation and was advised to call the Electricity Minister.
Sullia substation staff gave him the phone number of Electricity Minister. Sai Divakar Rai believed, being a citizen of Karnataka, he had the right to call the Minister. He called the Minister and complained about prolonged power failure. The Minister got angry and scolded Rai. Angered by the Minister’s outburst, Rai told him, “Your own department people gave me the number and told me to call you. Either they have to solve our problems or you must do it. Someone must take responsibility.”
The Minister was incensed at the arrogance of a mere mortal and gave a mouthful to Rai. Reportedly, there was an exchange of harsh words from both sides. About two hours later in the middle of the night, there was unbelievable commotion and utter chaos in Rai’s home. The Police had entered his house through the roof by removing tiles. He was arrested, tied down by force, taken to police station and was taught a befitting lesson for showing the temerity to argue with a Minister.
Rai spent the night and next morning in Police station with his desperate family lamenting outside the Police station. Rai was finally released next afternoon with a stern warning never to question a Minister in future. An ordinary man and his family had cried an entire night, cursing the Minister and the system for the high handed behavior and unjust punishment meted out to him.
An elderly couple, the parents of Rai had spent a horrendous night fearing for the life of their son. Their cries and their curses must be reverberating in Karnataka today. DK Shivakumar aka DKShi, the Electricity Minister who was responsible for that nightmare of Rai family is in the Enforcement Directorate custody tonight. He has been remanded for 9 days.
Perhaps this is what is called poetic justice. DKShi, the mighty Congress strongman from Kanakapura was crying on National television last night. He was lamenting that the vengeful BJP government was victimizing him for absolutely no fault of his. He was crying because he wasn’t allowed to do rituals related to his father’s death anniversary. Interestingly, father’s death had not acted as a hindrance to DKShi’s oath taking as Minister.
That midsummer night, Sai Divakar Rai had a power failure and the powerful Minister had made him spend a night in the police station. Tonight, DKShi is suffering a power failure. Bereft of Ministerial powers, lacking in government backing and without law enforcement agencies at his mercy, DKShi is drawing just wages of his misdeeds. We all must remember an extremely important lesson here. Power is fickle. It can, it is bound to and it will fail some day. On that day, even the most powerful will remember, “I too am mere a mortal.”
