How WE brought down a Corrupt Politician -Part 1

To start off,all the incidents in the blog are true.I am writing this to share some of the experiences which we as Common Men and Women had to go through a to bring down a politically powerful Corporator and put his career in shambles.All the incidents happened over almost 4 years but i will try to shorten it so that there is no reader fatigue.

So lets get started then,I am a resident of Sanjaynagar which comes under Ward No 100 in BBMP.Ok so lets take you 7 years back.

There was a huge barren land in front of home which was mostly used as a play area by some local urchins.Though Sanjaynagar is a fairly upmarket area,there is an area called Geddalahalli which houses mostly thugs and jobless people.However these people were not holding any sway over the Sanjaynagar residents.The barren land was starting to get occupied by slum dwellers and this was creating huge hygiene and safety issues for all of us.It was tough to leave our homes unguarded,and infact there were many thefts which happened during this time.

This was also the time when the Corporator elections for the erstwhile BMP (Bangalore Mahanagar Palike) were held and enter the messiah for all of us Mr M.Venkatesh of the Janata Dal Secular.He took up this barren land and converted it into a park but kept a portion of it which was towards the residents houses and retained it as a playing area.He basically concretized that portion.We hadnt realised his true designs then but we dint know he was a beast either.

The very same Geddalahalli thugs who until then had no voice of their own suddenly found one in Venkatesh.Their influence steadily started to grow on Sanjaynagar.Venkatesh's elder brother(who had also stood for Lok Sabha elections) had a son who had a built up a reputation of being a  major rowdy in Kalasipalya circles.He also started to concentrate on the posher areas of Sanjaynagar now.

THE BAD TIMES BEGIN :

Any new house being built,a percentage of the total cost would have to be personally given to Venkatesh.We also realised Venkatesh's penchant for developing new parks.The Horticulture department used to disburse funds to the tune of 1-2 crores per year for the maintenance of the parks and it only increased during Kumaraswamy's government.Venkatesh then went on a buying spree of land in Sanjaynagar.A propreitor of a school near my area,Venkatesh,a Geddalahalli frontman(we used to call this guy Thotada Maneyavnu as he had illegally taken over someone else's land,the case for which is still languishing in High Court) and the local BMP officials got together and built their own evil empire.

The building inside the park which was meant for a library was converted into a full time gym which was used by Venkatesh's boys.The play area also was unusable for us as it was usually occupied by thugs playing cricket and breaking window glasses of the houses in the neighbourhood including mine.We had initially kept quite and after a while it started getting on our nerves.Though the park gates had to be closed by 9 pm (now its 8pm) the ruckus would go well into the night.There would be alcohol parties too and this in the full view of the public.There was no one to stop them.The area police inspector was also in Venkatesh's pocket.

Sanjaynagar residents who had some power,one of them being my dad werent doing anything about it,everyone cared for the personal safety.These thugs wouldnt hesitate to do anything.Once under the influence of the alcohol they had apparently run over some ppl,the damaged car was kept in front of our houses.Other times they would play around with the watchman's wife or daughters.The park was slowly becoming unusable for respectable families.Sanjaynagar was no longer what it used to be.

One night an old man was being dragged on the road by Venkatesh's elder brother's son Raja.He  had a very very bulky frame and everyone were sure to get afraid seeing his physique.He was driving his enticer and dragging this old man by hoding his shirt through the tar roads.It was a gory sight for all of us to see.We were ppl who thought twice before killing even an ant and here we were seeing this.

But still everyone in our area kept quiet.Dad wanted to say something but was stopped by us.WHy simply get involved in all this jamela? Another day there was full scale beating up going on of a perceivably a boy from a well to do family.Reason : he had dared to overtake Raja on the main road.Raja was drunk with both alcohol and power. Dad in an impulse went outside and screamed at them as to what was happening.He told them that he had contacts in the Home Ministry and he could get them behind bars if they dint stop all this tamasha which was happening more regularly and brazenly now.

One of Raja's aides replied. "Yen Madtyo madkolole,nin a#$#$". I was inside the house and heard this comment.I knew how much respect dad had and to get this from an uneducated lout was too much for me.I rushed outside.Opened the gate and went straight to him(i still thank God that he has given me height,else i would be no match to their gymmed up ripping muscles and huge height) "Innond sathige helu,yenu helde anta"
"Tell once more what you just said".Too much film influence had gotten into me.I realised what i was up against and i could never get out of it alive.The opposite guy came and held my neck and i could hardly breathe.

Mom yelled to my dad to call the police.Raja who came there,slapped me on my face and all of the courage i was showing till then deserted me.Dad called up the police and an inspector on his cheetah came there.Dad gave his introduction and that was enough for the police to tell Raja that "Dodda officerappa,sumne bidu anva,"

"BIg officer man,leave this guy".

I found it strange.Forget the influence my dad had.I was a common man protesting another comman man being beaten up and the police officer was not seeing that.It required a contact for him to ask Raja to leave me.This was my first brush with the real society.I realised then that i was a nobody without my dad.God knows what those thugs would have done to me.

This incident shook me up.I wanted to take on Raja one more time.I was 19 back then and the hot blood was still boiling.I wanted to take on this physical beast and beat him to pulp.So once when i was returning from my evening walk,a couple of Raja's gang almost dashed their bike against my leg on purpose and then taunted me as they speeded away.That was too much for me to take.I ran as fast i could behind them shouting through the road.Till then i had a reputation of being a very silent and good guy in my area.I think that slightly changed with this misadventure.Mom rebuked me a lot that day.It was not the way boys from respectable families behaved,i was asked whether i would like to be labelled a rowdy.

The ruckus in the park was also getting unbearable and we would have to go for extended walks in the evening to avoid the noise.We had become prisoners of our own home.If we would go and tell those boys to move to another park to play,they would ask us to vacate ourhouse.Now however their reactions were not extreme as they feared Dad might do something against them.

However the fights with the boys who played there only increased over time.I was aggressive in the mind only till then.These fights started affecting my mouth as well.Bad words used to slip out and i had fallen in my own eyes.We thought we were fighting a losing battle.We also came to know that the Kumaraswamy's government used to give 50 lakhs annually for the maintenance of the library.Infact these 50 lakhs were given for every park.ALas in our park only the number of gym instruments increased.

During one of the long vacations between my semesters while doing engineering i came face to face with Raja again.I had gone from house to house during those holidays trying to whip up an anti-Venkatesh sentiment.Raja got wind of it.I had gone on my evening walk and he caught hold of my hand and twisted it.
He also said that he was seeing my dads face and leaving me.I kept quiet that day.

I wanted to punch him off that day.Fight to the finish and stuff but at that moment as the beast stood front of me,my heart was beating faster and mind had become numb.I came back angry to home,virtually shouted at my mom,i was angry on not being able to do anything.That day i sat with Dad.He told me a lesson which i am going to use through out my life.

"Son these are gundas,their strength is money and muscle power,if you are going to fight them on  these,for sure you will be the loser,we are curd-eaters,you think we can take on meat eaters,never,but you have a power which is your brain,we have only that to shield ourselves from such thugs.force them to fight on your area of strength and you are bound to win"

This was the turnaround,i had become optimistic that i could indeed change something.I will write on the remaining part next week. The part will describe how we took on Venkatesh and eventually restore Sanjaynagar back to its older days.