Karnataka’s democracy for sale

 BJP and Congress march in step with the disgraced D gang, trading justice for votes and money. Citizens must decide if silence is complicity.

……………..

The Dharmasthala rape and murder cases have turned into a litmus test for Karnataka’s political morality. What should have been an occasion for leaders to uphold justice has instead exposed the unholy nexus between politicians and criminal syndicates.

Despite SIT probes, NHRC inquiries, and the exhumation of bodies, BJP leaders shamelessly staged a march in support of the notorious “D gang.” Not to be left behind, Congress legislators have now announced they will follow the same path. This bipartisan competition to shield tainted figures is not merely shocking—it is dangerous.

Why are leaders willing to risk public outrage? The answer is simple: quid pro quo. For decades, the D network has provided politicians with money, muscle, and a veneer of religious legitimacy. Even after horrific allegations surfaced, parties remain chained to this dependency. The victims are forgotten, justice is sidelined, and the people’s anger is dismissed—all for bags of money and electoral convenience.

But citizens are not fools. Once respected, the D clan is now widely distrusted. Across Karnataka, there is growing resentment against both BJP and Congress for their open collusion. Yet, if unchecked, such alliances will hollow out democracy itself. Elections will become mere transactions between gangs and politicians, while ordinary people are reduced to spectators in a theatre of deceit.

The real question is no longer why leaders stand with perpetrators—it is whether the public will tolerate this betrayal. Silence will only embolden politicians to keep selling themselves to criminal mafias. Outrage, protest, and accountability are the only antidotes.

Karnataka stands at a crossroads: either defend democracy from being hijacked by gangs and their political clients, or surrender it forever. The choice belongs to the people.

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