I have often heard people brag that one shouldn’t let go of their ethics and principles no matter how tough the situation is, but how can you expect a mother to disregard the tears of her hungry kids and choose to be right? Poverty one can deal with, but hunger, especially when it is of your loved ones, is a factor that is known to break the will of the strongest.

And it is something that the dear politicians of our country are pro at cashing in on, as is evident from the money that the women in the Adilabad district have ‘earned’ during the 2018 Assembly elections.

“I earned only ₹ 2,500 instead of ₹ 3,000 last month from the 10 rallies and meetings I was taken to as the mukadam (agent) deducted ₹ 500 as his fee. Yes, this money will go towards savings as my husband has earned enough for himself,” shared Are Suguna, a laborer from KRK Colony.

Huge sums of money are spent by major political parties in order to make their rallies and public meetings look all crowded by buying people’s presence. “The savings part, however, is a good augury,” said an agent, trying to justify the corrupt process. While someone, on the outside, viewing these rallies would find a large number of women as a sign of them finally being a part of deciding whether a particular politician is fit to be their leader or not, this is so not the case. In absence of a stable income source, these women are unable to have the liberty of choosing if what they are doing is right or not.

These women earned Rs 300 daily by different political parties for becoming a part of their audience. Add to this ‘income’ the fact that they were paid Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per vote on polling eve. So, as per independent estimates, at least ₹ 150 crores were spent by political parties in the 10 Assembly constituencies in old undivided Adilabad to arrange crowds for their campaigns. They paid Rs 300 per head to strong agriculture workforce based in rural as well as urban areas of old Adilabad for them to attend the rallies for 10 days. These crowds also included ‘workers’ brought in from neighboring Maharashtra.

So, purchasing crowds i.e., fake audience, buying votes- surely not the signs of development our country boasts of.

H/T: The Hindu