Tamil Nadu politics is awash with freebies, especially in this election season, with everything from laptops, mixer-grinders and even gold coins on offer as a legitimate campaign promise. And unlike other poll-related sops that may be provided through dubious cash sources, in Tamil Nadu the state exchequer pays for them.
That begs the question: Is Tamil Nadu?s fiscal health so robust that it can afford this festival of freebies? According to retired IAS officer and prominent Chennai citizen C Devasagayam, the answer is a firm no. ?As we all know, Tamil Nadu?s debt is nearly R100,000 crore,? he says.
Then where is the money coming from? The revenue stream, Devasagayam says, is from the state government?s monopoly over the retail sale of liquor. ?Last year alone, R14,000 crore was made through liquor,? he said.
Ironically, it was AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa who in 2005 had extended state’s monopoly over the sale of all liquor. The DMK, which came to power in 2006, used this revenue to fund its free colour television promise.
This time around, Jayalalithaa too is not far behind in the sop opera; indeed, she seems to have gone one better than the DMK, offering mixer, grinders, fans, 20 kg of free rice for ration card holders and plots or houses for the homeless, among other things.
Devasagayam says that her flurry of announcements of freebies was the best neutralizer of the trend. ?If everyone s promising equal number of freebies, then the voter can still vote with his or her heart,? he says with a chuckle.
In fact, the voter stands to win big on the material front, irrespective of who wins in the electoral battle. DMK chief M Karunanidhi?s daughter Kanimozhi, however, refuses to term the poll promises as just sops or freebies. ?These are part of welfare programmes run by the state government. For example, the promise of giving Rs 30,000 for a daughter?s wedding is basically applicable to those families which make sure their daughters clear matriculation at least. It contributes to women?s empowerment in ways that a lot of programmes may not,? she said. The AIADMK, which had steered clear of such promises in the past, has pulled out all stops. An AIADMK MP, on condition of anonymity, said that the decision is not as surprising as it seems. ?We have done a lot of things which we hadn?t in the last few elections, like seal up alliances with the minimum of fuss. As for these announcements, please do not forget that it was Puratchi Thalaivar (MGR) who had ridden to power in 1983 when he launched the mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren,? he said. Poll promises are often like fair weather friends, but in the case of Tamil Nadu, this is not true. Even Congressmen were impressed by the efficiency of the colour television distribution, although Devasgayam says that these free sets flooded markets in Kerala and Karnataka thereafter. ?Also, let?s not forget, it benefited the (Karunanidhi?s nephews) Marans? cable network, Sumangali Cable, too,? he said. The colour TVs had another, not so pleasant, side effect for the DMK ? news of the 2G scam went into nearly every home in Chennai. Even if the specifics and technicalities were lost on many, the fact that former telecom minister A Raja ended up in prison for graft has forced Karunanidhi and his son MK Stalin to shift base to more rural constituencies. ?We heard of 2G on television,? admits Avvai Shantha, a fruit vendor outside Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters. The question of course is, just what is that critical mass of sops which can swing an election for you?