B.

Shyam Sunder : The Plight of Indian Voters

B.Shyam Sunder addressing the symposium and Sri B.D.Jatti, Chief Minister

Th e people no w throughout th e count ry have been deg raded to a rank of mere voters- the polit ician do es n ot see the p erson in the bod y of a man, but tries to see him a s a voter. If the voter can be used to serve hi s design s and purposes, then h e deserves to be a man, and if the politicia n reali ses that the voter is not going to vote f or him, then to him he no w only cea ses to be a voter, but also a human being. So, to every politi cian the vot er of his oppon ent is not a human bei ng. There is something ba sically wrong wi th our af fairs, wit h our politi cal lif e, wi th our d emocracy

Published by H.Shreyesker President Mool Bharati B.Shyam Sunder Memorial Society B. Shyam Sunder Marg . Gulbarga 585105 (Karnataka State ) e-mail shreyesker@gmail 1

B.D. Jatti, the Chief Minister of Mysore, inaugural address at the Mushaira

It gives me a great pleasure in inaugurating this historic function which is really first of its kind in the country where all the learned men of our country who no doubt speak different languages but speak with one soul, are participating. I am grateful to the convenors of this symposium for inviting me to inaugurate this function. All the great poets and the writers who have gathered today in this function. I am sure, will help the masses at large to play their part in establishing a full fledged de mocratic Government in the country. Iknow the poets can play this part ably. I am neither a poet, nor a writer but as every human being should have a love for fine arts and eye for whatever is beautiful, I too try so me times whenever I get time, to get myself benefited by reading and appreciating poetry and literature. Ido not want to count myself among those about whom, it is "One who has no eye for beauty nor ear for music and no taste for poetry's not a man" Such men are dangerous. So you may not count me among great scholars but you can take me atleast among one of those who read these things whenever they get time. I am glad that Sri. B. Shya m Sunder who is a poet, a writer and an orator, is presiding today. Under his guidance, I am sure our cultural and literary activities will spread not only in the cities but into our rural areas also. He writes in Urdu, Hindi and English.His literary taste and his polished manners have captivated one and all. In the ancient days, the poets played their part well as the unrecognized legislators of their times.The Rajas and the Maharajas, the Rulers and the Emperors used to invite the poets in their courts to hear them. The poets used to recite their poems undaunted, depicting the public opinion, not only about the political, social and religious sentiments of the masses, but even the questionable character, if any,
2

of the monarch himself. Thus they served as the messengers of peace, as forerunners of civilization and torch-bearers of truth and love. They often proved helpful to bridge the gulf, if any, existing between the ruler and the ruled. But now, the very conception of the ruler and the ruled has vanished. We rule ourselves, we legislate ourselves and we administer not for anybody else,but for our own national consolidation The days of discrimination, between man and man, have disappeared. We have proclaimed as our goal, the establishment of full de mocracy. I assure you all that in Mysore, we will try our best to spread such kind of activities. I congratulate once again the conveners of this symposium. I congratulate the poets, who have co me here to participate in the Mushaira. It may not be out of place if I say that this modest beginning of our will be ad mired by other States and such functions will be held throughout our country. Certainly this is an historic occasion where poets of different ideologies and different languages have gathered together and to make us feel one with the m and forget the political drudgery. Now with great pleasure, I declare this symposium open and wish it a great success.

Jai Hind

Presidential Address by Shri. B. Shyam Sunder,

B.A. LL.B., M.L.A

On the occasion of the Poets Symposium at Legislators Ho me, Bangalore, on Monday the 11th April,1960,Shri.B.D.Jatti, Chief Minister of Mysore inaugurated the Symposium In hearing the speeches just now delivered by our friends, I am afraid that they will turn this Mushaira into a Legislature and even a beautiful speech is a piece of art and literature. One sentence full of beauty is poetry. Poets are members of international brotherhood.
3

Poets are not only the real interpreters of the human mind and thought but they are the seers who can see into the very life to come. The tragedies of life, the sorrows wrought by the politicians, the cala mities brought about by the Governments of the world and the unusual miseries in which the people are forced to live, all these the poet depicts in a line, as if he is sitting in your heart and conversing with your mind. He is a super human being who with his beauty of thought and beauty of language and the magic of words, can create a world for you a new world as new world-as new as the very first ray fro m the Sun on the early dawn of the day, which penetrates, everything which is dark, illuminates it and turns it into a Sun and with it becomes omnipotent, and all pervading. The poet in his nature is o mnipotent in his virtue all pervading. Poet is above all barriers as the Sun, above all discretion as the light. To put it in political terms, he is casteless, and classless, devoid of co mmunal feelings and above all party affiliations That is what we need today, we need a poet, we want the poet who can make all these politicians feel that they are human beings first and human beings last. The transitory period which is a period of political play, surcharged with motives and sentiments, which divide a man from man, is a period created by the selfish motives and aspirations of a class of people, who by hook or crook want to be in power at the very cost of human life, against which the poets are struggling. We have gathered here today to search our own hearts and see how far we can contribute to the advance ment of human mind. In ancient times, in the form of bards in European countries as well as in our own country, the Poets played an eminent role. They made the people to revolt against tyranny. They raised the people to heights unknown and by their inspirations the people overthrew the Monarchs, destroyed e mpires and put to death several tyrants. Now we are supposed to be in a world which aims at the establishment of a Government of the people, by the people and for the people. We are wedded to de mocracy but how the world, will achieve its aim is still to be seen - here lies the duty of the poet. Poets are of the people and for the cause for the cause of the people can certainly contribute for the advancement of the democratic thought and the fulfillment of our object.

 The people now throughout the country have been degraded to a rank of mere voters- the politician does not see the person in the body of a man, but tries to see him as a voter. If the voter can be used to serve his designs and purposes, then he deserves to be a man, and if the politician realises that the voter is not going to vote for him, then to him he now only ceases to be a voter, but also a human being. So, to every politician the voter of his opponent is not a human being. There is something basically wrong with our affairs, with our political life, with our democracy. Here, the poets like the bards of the ancient days, like the Pawada and Lavani singers of our ancient times, can approach the masses and use their influence in shaping our democratic ideology. The poets here are not only representing different parts of our country b ut speak different languages. They have gathered here to recite their poems in Marathi, Kannada, English, Urdu and in Hindi. The different languages are the result of segregation of people from other people. When people were segregated, by circumstances, fro m each other they were forced to live in different groups and by a slow process different dialects came into existence and different languages came into being. Again if all these groups come together and live like one family, I a m sure the barriers which created different languages will disappear and our different languages by their fusion will give birth to a new language to understand each other easily. Urdu language is the result of such fusion of languages and if Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Ta mil and other languages are brought together then we are sure, we will have a language of which we could be proud. Our Hon'ble Chief Minister, Shri. B.D. Jatti, who has been kind enough to co me here to inaugurate this function of ours, will, I hope, encourage functions of such nature. There is no dearth of practical vision in the country, but it requires its due place in the society of ours. The Chief Minister will, I hope, encourage the fine arts of our State and will also give them chances to organise as poets, artistes and musicians.
Jai Hind

B.Shya m Sunder To, The Honourable Members of the Mysore Legislative Assembly, Bangalore. Dear friends,

10,Sudaarshan Guest House Date 21-3-1962

.

May I seek your support in the fulfillment of my desire to serve the country as a me mber of Rajya Sabha? You are probably aware that I was an independent M.L.A. from a reserved seat in the Bidar district. In the last elections, my voters were physically prevented from exercising their franchise in my favour through terroris m, false propaganda & other questionable methods unworthy of a de mocratic country. Friends then advised that I might try for a seat in Rajya Sabha. Hence my approach to you. You would naturally like to know what I stand for. This letter is intended to provide an answer in broad outline. 1. The equitable sharing of river-waters is a topic requiring careful study and forceful advocacy on behalf of the State of Mysore. I propose to devote myself whole-heartedly to a fair solution of this controversial question. 2. The Planning Co mmission at present holds unchallenged monopoly of directing the economic life of the country leaving nothing for private initiative and enterprise. This grip needs to be loosened so that democracy may not degenerate into veiled dictatorship. 3. While it is agreed that the Planning Commission should lay down priorities and the basic needs of the people should be satisfied first, in actual practice, we have been noticing that more money is spent on spectacular projects to attract foreign aid and attention and secondary
6

importance is given to the funda mental under-starved millions in the country. Is it not a disgrace that, even after 15 years of planning and development, clean & healthy drinking water is not available to the people in lakhs & lakhs of villages and prices of food-grains are so prohibitive that poor people have to carry on only with one meal a day. 4. Great hopes were entertained when crores of rupees were voted for community development programmes in all the states in India.But the net results have been disa ppointing; work was done mostly for showing round foreign dignitaries and visiting journalists. A minute probe seems called for on a nation-wide scale and on all-party basis. 5. Loans advanced to co-operative societies or individuals in the name of industrial develop ment have been pronounced to be almost irrecoverable. They have neither enhanced productions nor relieved unemployment, but have just helped the Party in power during the elections. 6. It will be my constant endeavour to secure for the minorities, both linguistic & religious, the rights and privileges to which they are entitled as self-respecting human beings. The minorities are consistently being ignored in the name of secularism, which slogan was intended to shield the m from the communalism of the majority. I shall also continue to oppose castetism and narrow co mmunalis m, whether of the majority or the minorities. State boundaries have also to be adjusted a micably. 7. I propose to place relevant facts and figures before the Rajya Sabha, so that a corrective may be applied in time. I shall also co-operate with all those elements in public life that are striving to stop further drain of India's resources on works of ephe meral value If you agree that this endeavour is laudable, I solicit your vote in the forthcoming election for Rajya Sabha.