Noted lawyer and People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) President K G Kannabiran has lost faith in the electoral process. ``Like many other voters, I too have a Hobson's choice. But I will go to the polling station and invalidate my vote,'' Kannabiran. ``I do not want my vote to be used by candidates of any of the major political parties."The septuagenarian advocate, who was born in 1929 and brought up in Chennai before settling in Secunderabad almost 40 years ago, was an ardent supporter of Nehru and Rajaji and a strong believer in the poll process.Though elections to provincial governments were held after 1935, they never caught the people's imagination. But the first general election in 1952 caused much excitement, he said. As if to demonstrate that elections are an instrument for change, many stalwarts like P T Rajan of Justice Party and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress were beaten by novice Communist candidates KTK and Tarimela Nagi Reddy, respectively.``There was all-round euphoria. Nehru used to tour Madras in an open jeep with thousands of people thronging the streets to greet him. There was no mobilisation of crowds. Even Mahatma Gandhi's evening meetings at Mambalam were full of people,'' he recalls.``Then elections were an opportunity for the people to repose their faith in the leadership. Even housewives used to learn to read newspapers and followed politics. But now a good number of people prefer to keep away from the cesspool of politics,'' he says.The reason? ``Nehru, who taught people to dream, did little later to make them come true. That was the beginning of the betrayal which led to degeneration of values as well as loss of hope in politics,'' he says.He feels the Communists were equally to be blamed. ``They inspired the working class in the first general election but later fell to the trappings of power politics. After the 1957 elections, the Left has been thoroughly corrupt.'' Kannabiran, who has championed the cause of ultra-Left groups in Andhra Pradesh for the past three decades, feels the poll boycott call given by the Naxalites too has lost its relevance as they have failed to mobilise people.``After three decades, I too today believe in boycotting elections. But my reasons are different from that of the Naxalites,'' he explains. If the Naxals prescribe an ``armed struggle'' as the panacea for all the present-day ills, Kannabiran believes only ``democratic movements'' offer a way out. He admits that the democratic forces which triumphed in the 1977 polls and basked in the post-Emergency glory did little to retain the spirit for long.He feels neither the BJP, nor the Congress is bothered about issues that concern people. ``What is Kargil? People are being killed along the Line of Control (LoC) since 1947. What is new? Who is to take the credit and who is to be blamed for it?'' he asks angrily.Kannabiran ridicules the stability planks of both parties. ``Now we have touched an all-time low in campaigning. Stability will not come from giving a fixed term to the Lok Sabha. Stability will be a far cry as long as the real problems of the people are not taken care of,'' he says.
