Love of luxury and ostentation in a country where nearly a billion citizens struggle for two square meals per day eking out nasty, brutish and too long lives, often — perhaps not often enough — leads to downfall.
The precipitate fall of KC Chandrasekar Rao, who successfully carved Telangana out from the composite state of Andhra Pradesh and gifted it and the prized city of Hyderabad to the people of that region as recently as 2014, is a latter day morality tale. After serving two terms as chief minister, KCR was roundly trounced in the legislative election of November 2023.
During his second term, KCR began to entertain delusions of grandeur. He believed his service to the people entitled him to build a Xanadu-style palace at public expense. In 2016, Pragati Bhavan, a vastu-compliant home with bullet proof windows and toilets was constructed in Hyderabad at a cost of Rs.50 crore on a nine-acre plot with a built-up area of 100,000 sq.ft. The budgeted cost of Rs.35 crore spiralled because no expense was spared on fixtures, fittings and frills. A year earlier, four Toyota Prado SUVs and a Mercedes-Benz Bus were purchased for inclusion in his convoy that transported him everywhere. Moreover, his son KT Rama Rao and daughter K. Kavitha were appointed cabinet ministers. All this lavish expenditure was funded by the people of Telangana (pop.35 million). Little wonder this megalomaniac was ousted from office by the state’s electorate last year.
Such effete epicureanism is common within Indian politicians. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal elected on an anti-corruption platform, also constructed a Rs.50 crore super deluxe Sheesh Mahal to rest his weary head. Now he is cooling his heels in a tiny cell in Tihar jail after every tribunal, including the Supreme Court, denied him bail.
Yet unlike the situation in communist and third world dictatorships, thanks to a free press and media, the excesses of India’s venal politicians luxuriating at public expense are outed. Citizens! Speak up to protect freedom of the press. It’s under threat.
Also read: Telangana: BJP vows to enact UCC, offer free laptops to college-going girls