Cash for votes is shameful, says former CEC N. Gopalaswami

Updated on: Friday, April 01, 2011

The recent trend of wholesale bribing of the public in which politicians have been indulging in an unscrupulous manner in Tamil Nadu is a matter of shame for all.

And thanks to the Wikileaks expose, the fame of the State has spread across the globe, said N. Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner, on Tuesday.

Delivering the Rector's address on ‘Becoming a Worthy Citizen' at the 121st college day celebration of Madura College here, Mr. Gopalaswami said that this was a big fall for a State which was once culturally the most advanced State.

“Rubbing salt in a wound, the dubious distinction for initiating this reprehensible practice goes to the place (Madurai) which once had a King who died out of shame when he found he had delivered a wrong decision.”

“We have forgotten the roots of our culture and have not carried forward the legacy; instead, we are selling our votes for a few crumbs.” He appealed to the students, most of whom would be voting for the first time, to be conscientious and concerned citizens to prevent this assault on human dignity and democracy and say a resounding ‘no' to exchanging cash for votes.

Sinister move

Calling it an assault on the self-respect and a sinister move which needed to be resisted and defeated, he opined that only then “we can say that we are a people with a hoary past, a people with justifiable pride in our history and heritage.”

Interspersed with verses of Tirukkural and Avvaiyar, his address revolved around the concepts of character building, honesty and integrity.

“If one looks at the amount of corruption that takes place in the country it seems that our education system has failed to impart knowledge but passed on mere information.”

Unsung heroes

Amid these gloomy reports of corruption, Mr. Gopalswami said, “We did have unsung heroes like Manjunath Shanmugam [IOC manager who was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in UP] and Satyendra Dubey [project director at the National Highways Authority of India who was murdered in Gaya after fighting corruption] who attained martyrdom fighting against corruption.” He concluded the speech by asking the students to donate blood once in every three months as it was the highest gift one could give to a fellow human being.

Mr. Gopalaswami later distributed awards and certificates to rank holders and winners in various sports and cultural competitions.

Cash for votes is shameful, says former CEC N. Gopalaswami

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