Whose party is it, anyway?

Whose party is it, anyway?
Posters and banners that become litter, traffic chaos that leaves people cursing, all for a political visit. Is it worth it?
The Times of India

WHAT about Sonia Gandhi’s recent visit will remain in your mind? Her speech? The promises? Or the disruption the city faced a day before and a day after? But it doesn’t always take a visit by a Delhi VIP for the city to get painted in political colours. Of late, local politicians have taken to displaying greetings to the public via banners and unseemly billboards. But litter from all this could now invite a fine up to Rs 1 crore.
Save the environment
Even though there are systems today for the proper disposal of waste like party posters and buntings, they are never put in place, says environmenatalist Wilma Rodriques, “All this waste can be recycled if organised well. But the party workers will start clearing up as and when they can and they will just dump it in regular garbage bins. All the plastic and paper gets mixed up with the organic waste and ends up on Mysore Road or some canal. This damages the environment because of the released pollutants.”
“A little planning by the party along with the BMP to sort the garbage and send it to the right disposal system would make all the difference,” she says. “Considering they’ll never stop putting up plastic banners, this is the best solution.” Suggestion: Limit use of plastic and paper. Plan and place proper systems for clearing up.
Traffic
While most local organisers try and seem apologetic for the traffic disruptions, a senior politician said there was nothing wrong with a few thousands being inconvenienced for a greater good. “My husband vowed never to vote for them!” says entrepreneur Sonali Yathiraj who was stuck in traffic for almost two hours. “There should at least have been announcements about where the rally entrance was and to avoid those roads. I’m not sure there were,” she says.
Dancer Vani Ganapathy also spent a good five hours in total on the road and eventually turned back, “When they are going to have events like this, they must organise them in the outskirts of the city, where the ringroads get used and the city is spared.” Suggestion: Announce the roads to be avoided. Shift political shows to the outskirts.
Hoardings!
Anything will do for politicians to put their face on the road, says ex government official B Rao, “Any small festival, even a local celebration, and you’ll see garish hoardings with some 20 party workers’ faces on it, wishing the public or welcoming someone. It’s ridiculous. It just mars the face of the city, one cannot even see the trees.”
All banners and posters should be banned, religious or political, says theatre person Arundathi Raja, “If one party puts up one poster, then the other party puts up a larger one. There’s just no end, therefore there should be a blanket ban. I believe they had been given 37 spots for posters this time, but almost 1000 were used.” Suggestion: Ban all hoardings for political propaganda.
POLITICALLY SPEAKING
How is bringing the city to standstill and littering justified? Politician Dinesh Gundu Rao says, “We don’t tell anybody to decorate the place. The enthusiasm of the workers is so great that they go ahead and do it themselves. In a way, I agree it was excessive and I do feel that all parties must form some sort of regulation. The corporation must put some rules in place.” And the traffic? “That’s exactly why we chose Sunday,” he says, “We didn’t want to disrupt officegoers on a weekday. Besides, the crowds were beyond what we expected. Rallies on the outskirts is fine, but we have people coming from all over Karnataka, in buses and trains. How will they find their way to, say, Sarjapur Road? Here at least they could just walk to the venue.” For starters, the party has been slapped with a Rs 1 crore fine by the city corporation for littering during the recent rally.