DK Ravi's death: Government has lost the plot from day 1

NEW DELHI: It is not unusual for a mysterious death and its handling becomes a metaphor for all that is wrong or right with the government of the day, and so it is with the Congress government in Karnataka.The death of IAS officer DK Ravi has given rise to conspiracy theories, campaigns by the opposition and allegations of collusion in the crime against the Siddaramaiah government, with the latter unable to control the narrative to any extent.

According to political analyst Sandeep Shastri, multiple layers have got mixed up in the aftermath of the death, “which has more to do with politics and the course of his (Ravi's) career than the immediate cause of his death.“

What are these layers of narrative? Immediately , of course, it seems that the officer, an upright crusading sort was martyred by those made uncomfortable by his investigations, some of whom are rumoured to be political leaders cosy with the ruling dispensation. That theory was clumsily punctured by the state government, in what Shastri terms as a “series of gaffes“.

“For the police commissioner to announce immediately after visiting the scene of crime that `prima facie' it looked like a case of suicide, and then call record details of the deceased to be selectively leaked was clumsy and the government appeared to be fulfilling all conspiracy theories attached to Ravi's death,“ said Shastri. “Processes were ignored, and a blindness to the way perception is created in the digital age exists in this government and it is paying the price for it,“ he added. If that was not enough, there seemed to be a reluctance to hand over the case to the CBI, even though, in terms of perception, there doesn't seem to be much to choose between the CID and the CBI. With Sonia Gandhi stepping into the breach, advising the chief minister to hand over the case, yet another layer of narrative got unveiled.

Ever since the Lok Sabha elections, where the chief minister, fresh from an Assembly victory failed to deliver crucial seats from the state, has been on the backfoot. Sources in the Congress feel that Siddaramaiah, who had joined the party after leaving the Janata Dal (S) a few years ago, has never been able to quite “fit in“ with the Congress thoroughbreds.He has packed the state government with his old JD(S) cronies, including the advisor to home minister KJ George, Kempaiah. “Which is why the battle of perception has not been robustly fought out by the Congress organisation, they feel he is only concerned with `his people',“ said a source in the party .