Saturday, March 23, 2013

High alert in Karnataka as thousands roam with false promises

Bangalore. Soon after the schedule for Karnataka Assembly elections were announced, intelligence agencies issued high alert for the entire state. However, this alert was not to warn civilians against possible terror strikes, but possible cheating by various tricksters who are suspected to get active as polling date gets nearer.


“We suspect a deluge of false promises, exaggerated claims, and fake shows of empathy in coming weeks,” a security officer revealed, “Citizens should be aware and prepare themselves for this eventuality.”


Alert sign

Such signs would be put across the state which will be ignored by the public



Security officials clarified that their job was not to act and stop such threats as they were part and parcel of the democratic process.


“The law of the land allows such things to happen, we can only ask people to be alert,” the official clarified.


It is the first time that such a high alert has been issued, even though experts and historians point out that such planned deception and hoax has been taking place periodically – at least once every five years.


“I think it’s too late and futile to issue this advisory and declare a state of high alert,” Ganesh Shenoy, an expert claimed, “People are now attuned to it. In fact, they look forward to it.”


Experts claim that the modus operandi of such tricksters is only not much different from the common cheats and frauds, especially those loot poor passengers in trains by making them unconscious after offering them drugged sweets.


“Like those common cheats, these tricksters get friendly with their targets and even voice concern over the ongoing loot by condemning fellow cheats. They offer sweet promises, and sometimes petty cash and liquor,” Ganesh drew the parallel.


“However there is one difference – while the common cheats vanish after the act, these special tricksters don’t do the vanishing act and instead come back again and again to rip off the unsuspecting citizens,” he added.


Experts further claim that this menace of looting through false promises will go beyond politics and elections in the coming weeks.


“IPL is coming up and some former employees of Kingfisher Airlines have threatened to stop matches of Royal Challengers Bangalore if their dues were not paid. In such a scenario, one can expect Vijay Mallya to adopt the same ticks by promising salaries, thus making the employees fall in line,” another expert explained how the high alert was relevant but futile.


When Faking News asked if the “high alert” would be of no use and might end up in yet another “intelligence failure”, experts answered in affirmative.


“Intelligence failure of the common man,” pat came the clarification.


(originally written for and published in English daily DNA)



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