Has Karnataka’s drought and the distress of its farmers become a joke for our politicians? Going by the discussion in the Assembly on Tuesday, it certainly seems so. In a sarcasm-laden attempt to put the perennially rebel-troubled BJP government on the mat for its failure to give relief to drought-hit farmers, JD(S) leader M.C. Nanaiah told excise minister M.P. Renukacharya, “If your government can’t provide water, at least supply liquor freely to the people”.
To which, Mr. Renukacharya replied, “If your government had set a precedent for doing so, I would have gladly followed it”. It may be too much to expect Karnataka’s politicians to know this, but when told that the peasants of 18th century France had no bread to eat, Queen Marie Antoinette is said to have carelessly retorted, “Let them eat cake, then.” The French Revolution followed.