The silent majority of people who are fed up with the present day political culture and yearning for change will have a platform of their own with the formal launching of the Karnataka unit of the Lok Satta Party on Thursday, February 5.
Traditional political parties and politicians have turned the once noble profession of politics into a privately or family-owned lucrative business. Acquiring power at any cost has become the single point program of most politicians as it facilitates personal enrichment at public cost. Therefore, they use money, liquor and muscle power to induce or threaten voters. They fan feelings of hatred and spark violence in the name of caste or religion, region or language in a bid to gain political mileage. Their investment in elections yields them fantastic returns once they come to power which opens up innumerable avenues for making money.
Overtaken by despair and despondency over their inability to change the corrupt and rotten political culture, large sections of people have developed revulsion for politics altogether and started treating it as untouchable. They do not even go to the polling booth, leave alone contesting elections because in election after election they have seen only a change in players but not in the rules of the game.
But by keeping away from politics, these sections are silently but unwittingly perpetuating the old order to continue. They forget that politics and elections are about the lives of citizens and not about the careers and fortunes of politicians and parties.
It is to provide an ethical and political platform with a clear-headed, honest and practical agenda to such people the Lok Satta Party came into existence on October 2, 2006 under the leadership of Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan.
Dr. JP, as he is popularly known quit the IAS to found Lok Satta, a civil society movement, and helped bring about radical reforms in a number of areas ranging from voter registration to political parties’ funding, disclosure of contestants’ criminal background to the enshrine of the right to information. Yet, the realization that real change in society comes through political action, and not through civil society action, made Dr. JP launch the Lok Satta Party.
In its short existence of a little over two years, the Lok Satta Party has repeatedly demonstrated it is a class apart from the traditional parties.
Karnataka State Coordinator: Dr. Keshava Kumar
1/1 1st Floor,
6th Cross,
Cheluvaiah Layout,
Ramamurthy Nagar,
Bengaluru - 560016
Mobile No: 98441 23536
Email address: drkeshavakumar [AT] hotmail [DOT] com
Karnataka State Secretary: Mr. Ashok Kamat
601, 3rd D Cross,
2nd Block,
Kalyannagar,
Bengaluru - 560043
Mobile No: 99642 31891
Email address: ashokkamat [AT] hotmail [DOT] com
Karnataka State Treasurer: Mr. Shashidhar Alabur
196, 1st Main,
3rd Stage, 4th Block,
Basaveshvar Nagar,
Bengaluru - 560079
Mobile No: 98440 04439
Email address: shashialabur [AT] gmail [DOT] com
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