Editorial...

Under UPA
costlier to live, cheaper to die

Congress has the distinction of always fighting an election with a new slogan each time. True so, because it forgets its own promises made to the people earlier. Last time it went to the people with the slogan: “Congress ka haath, Aam aadmi ke saath”. One thing is very clear. Congress has never come true to its promises. This time could be no exception. If we recount the slogans and promises it hurled to the people of this country since the very beginning, it will be an unending long list. Not a single promise since it fought the first election in Independent India has been fulfilled.

The present Congress leadership is true to the tradition set by its great leaders, dynastic ones. Late Smt. Gandhi won the election on the “Gharibi Hatao” slogan. We need not elaborate. People themselves know with how much honesty this promise was kept by her and her illustrious dynastic successors. Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi declared very boldly: corruption will be eliminated. Was it? The poor man himself got embroiled in corruption charges. Bofors being on top of the list.

So, in the true Congress tradition of always taking the voter for a ride, how can we expect the present dynastic successor Smt. Sonia Gandhi to digress from the great tradition set by the Nehru-Gandhi family and fulfil the promises made to the people? If you still do, that is unreasonable of you to expect them to honour their commitments to you. That is why her last slogan has, in effect, become “Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath vishwasghaat”.

When the Congress presents its budget and levies taxes, it declares solemnly: it will have no effect on prices. It will not put the common man to discomfiture. But the facts are always otherwise. In fact, as the Finance Minister presents his budgets he derails the common housewife’s budget. Leave aside luxuries or other necessities of the household, she is feeling handicapped to balance her kitchen budget and meet the food requirements of the family. Prices of atta, dal, rice, wheat, besides every other day hike in prices of petrol, diesel, gas cylinders have made the life of the common man miserable. People are being forced to raise money to make both ends meet and when they fail to repay their mounting debts, they are left with no alternative but to commit suicide to escape humiliation from moneylenders. The rate of Kisan suicides has multiplied numerous times since UPA came into power. And remember, before it was voted into power, it had shed a hundred crocodile tears on their plight and promised to do everything to end this phenomenon.

Sensex may be zooming, but not the fate of the common man. It may turn some people millionnaires who constitute not more than 10 lakh people in the country of 120 crores (less than 0.09 percent). But the present trends in the Indian economy have certainly sent shivers down the spine of the common man. There has been a whopping rise in the prices of essential commodities of his everyday use. Prices of dal have shot up to Rs. 60 from Rs. 50, a 10-kg bag of atta has gone up to Rs. 140 from Rs. 100 and price of milk up by upto two rupees a litre. Prices of salt have doubled. The essential staple food of people, rice, is getting beyond their reach because of sky-rocketing prices. Increasing prices of sugar are making it taste bitter for the poor. Kerosene oil is turning a luxury for them. The prices of ghee and vegetable oil are soon going to make it a memento to be displayed in the room but not to be used in the kitchen. It is no use discussing the prices of cement, steel, iron, sand etc. Their prices are always touching a new height each day. The common man may not be able to build a new house, or repair his old one but the situation should not deteriorate so much that he should not be able to have dal-roti two times a day. What is this aam aadmi ki sarkar which is making it difficult for the commoner to eke out a living and making him prefer death?

Not only that ordinary people are not able to extinguish their fire of hunger; this government has rendered the life of the annadata, the purveyor of food to the nation, so miserable that everyday in one part of the country or the other, kisans are resorting to suicides in frustration. If after 58 years of independence, people are allowed to die of hunger and forced to commit suicides, even collectively, who is to be blamed – the people or the government?

But why are people taken in by these catchy slogans? Why does Congress fight elections on false promises and empty slogans? It is time people also do not allow themselves to be swayed by such sheer rhetoric. As ever alert and vigilant citizens and voters it is their duty to realise their responsibility in the vibrant democracy as we have in the country. They should assess the candidates, their parties and their past record of having been true or otherwise to their promises. At the same time, it is time the Left parties who otherwise swear by the name of the poor, dalit and downtrodden should hang their heads in shame for not coming up to people’s expectations or being true to their words. If they cannot be true to their ideology and commitment while supporting the UPA, is it not the time for them to quit? But, perhaps, they would prefer to continue to be hangers-on of power than be the servants of the people they otherwise profess to be. The Leftists have tasted the blood of power and they are now finding it difficult to come out of this addiction. So ideology has become irrelevant, secondary to them. Their ideological character and conduct is changing. Power has corrupted the red colour of their ideology.

Rising prices are turning into an instrument to kill the poor. The day the dam of people’s patience bursts, it will be impossible for the government to contain it. The common man has seen through the reality of Congress and the Left. If they fail to act in right earnest and rectify the situation, it will be no wonder if people tomorrow come out in the streets.

BJP is in the forefront in mobilising public opinion against inflation and rising prices. Lists of comparative prices of essential commodities during NDA regime and the present one are being distributed. During their Bharat Suraksha Yatra Leader of Opposition, Shri Lal Krishna Advani and BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh are highlighting the anti-people policies which are making the life of common man impossible in the present situation. Wish, UPA heeds to this warning!