An Absurdity Called Austerity

‘E-Cow-Nomics’ screamed Amul’s latest satirical advertisement making a pun of Junior Minister Shashi Tharoor’s uncharitable Twitter references to economy air passengers as “cattle class”, days after he was forced to vacate his plush suite in the Taj Mansingh, where he was staying in the absence of privacy and a gym in Kerala House.

The austerity fad seems to spreading like a pandemic, sort of H1N1, with no one including the Royal Gandhis escaping from its clutches. While his expression of solidarity with the ‘Aam Aadmi’ saved a meager Rs 445, it will cost much more for the Indian tax payer to repair those windowpanes broken by some wayward boys of Haryana (some television shows identified one of the stone-throwing boys as Varun Gandhi, little knowing that his expertise lies somewhere else – Just remember the Pilibhit speech).

Rahul’s Discovery of India was preceded by his mother’s equally fascinating journey to Mumbai not to talk about the circuitous route taken by our Foreign Minister S M Krishna to reach Belarus and other places to save some money for the country. The Vokkaliga stalwart was not even allowed to rest in peace at his Maurya Sheraton suite and was forced to vacate it by people who apparently didn’t know that he was the father-in-law of the owner of Café Coffee Day.

This whole exercise or enactment of this farcical and absurd horse play began when the Indian Express broke the story about these two Ministers leading a royal life in a country of the poor, downtrodden, Dalits, underprivileged, religious, linguistic and sexual minorities.

If that be the criterion, why on earth should we be hosting the Commonwealth Games. After all, you cannot blow away the wealth of the common man even if it has been named ‘Commonwealth’. We need more schools than stadia, more hospitals than velodromes, more houses than Five star hotels and games villages.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda never used to claim any of the free bus passes or railway coupons he was entitled to as an MLA. In fact, even today, he travels by his own car and stays in a bungalow lower in category than the one to which he is entitled.
One may have sharp differences with the man on his politics, but when it comes to leading a simple life, you just cannot beat the man who wears bathroom slippers to the Parliament and lives on a staple diet of Ragi balls (Muddae) and sambar.

Even in the UPA, we have leaders like A K Antony, whose wife used to travel to her office by bus when he was the Chief Minister of Kerala, Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge who stays in a room at the Karnataka Bhavan and the indefatigable Mamata Banerjee, who even goes to Parliament on Railway Budget day in a friend’s car sans any security cover and is caught in a traffic jam. Even when he was the country’s Defence Minister, the gates of George Fernandes’ residence on Krishna Menon Marg always remained open (one reason why the Tehelka team was tempted to enter and catch Jaya Jetlie unawares). We can recount several such instances from the past.

In the land of Gandhi, I mean the Mahatma, austerity has to be an integral part of life. In fact, it is the ordinary Indian’s inclination towards savings and an austere life that has seen us through the worst of recession.

The Congress stage managers must realize that the ‘Aam Aadmi’ does not travel even the economy class or chair car. At the best, a lower middle class family may travel by a low cost carrier once in a blue moon. Therefore, if at all these leaders and ministers have to travel, let them book their cheapest available tickets through travel portals like ordinary folk and travel without any frills.

Secondly, let these leaders not trivialize the very concept of austerity. If a senior political leaders does not keep well and needs more legroom at his or her age to travel comfortably, even the media should not grudge it. As private citizens, we also look for our basic comforts. Being a politician is not a crime. We don’t mind our elected representatives being looked after well, so long us as they also look after us well.

In countries such as United States, several facilities are extended to elected representatives to enable them to function smoothly and independently. A newly elected Corporator was complaining to me recently that he was finding it difficult to even offer a cup of tea to the scores of constituents who come to him daily with problems. In fact, some newly elected MPs from adjoining states who were allotted rooms in Hotel Samrat temporarily after the recent Lok Sabha elections vacated it after they found it beyond their means to entertain constituents.

Coming back to Gowda, he recently contributed 20% of his annual salary to the Prime Minister’s Famine Relief Fund, keeping in view the flood and drought situation in different parts of the country. And the princely sum amounted to Rs 38, 400/-. That being the case, isn’t it high time, we take a look at the salary structure of our elected representatives and devise mechanisms that would ensure that they are not forced to take favours to do their work properly. In fact, a hike in their salaries and allowances would give us better returns in the long run rather than short-term and short-sighted absurd austerity measures.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WOES

Two Indian priests at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu were at the receiving end of the Maoist ire in Nepal recently. The incident is not an isolated one. Ousted from power, the Maoists have found India to be favourite whipping boy to stoke Nepalese sentiments and project the existing regime as an Indian stooge. Wittingly or unwittingly, the Maoists are falling into the trap of the Chinese, who are slowly but steadly increasing their presence and influence in the Himalayan state.

While one appreciates the Nepalese concerns over India’s alleged ‘big brother’ attitude, one would also expect them to look at and ponder over the fate of their Tibetan brethren, who have been reduced to a minority in their own country by the Han Chinese.

The Maoist attack on Indian priests is not an attack on India but an assault on Nepal’s own culture and traditions. The sooner the Nepalese realize it, the better for them.

YSR Death : Need for a balanced approach

At least 60 persons either committed suicide or died of shock after hearing the news of Chief Minister YSR Reddy's death in a chopper crash. The deaths have been reported from Guntur, East Godavari, Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Prakasam, Medak, Nalgonda, Karimnagar and Kadapa, according to reports on Telugu television channels. Shocked by the spate of suicides, son Jagan Mohan Reddy appealed to the people not to resort to such extreme steps. "Due to such acts (suicides) my father's soul will not rest in peace. He had an ever-smiling face and worked for uplift of the poor. They (people) should not resort to such acts," an emotional Jagan said. Unfortunately, the media's hype projecting YSR's death as a catastrophe for the state too has contributed to this trend. While YSR was certainly a popular Chief Minister, he was not above board. The media should have covered him objectively including allegations of massive corruption against him and his family. The media lost its sense of balance. At a time when we are broad minded and liberal enough to analyse the actions of even the father of the nation and leaders like Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel, why not objectively look at YSR? He was not God. Neither did he have the charisma of Prakasam or NTR. The media should not get carried away and mislead the gullible people. There is life beyond YSR both for Andhra and Congress. His death is undoubtedly a tragedy but let us not indulge in hipocrisy. Let not political crooks take advantage of this emotional and sensitive situation.

Both Jaswants book and BJPs action lack credibility

After Balraj Madhok, K N Govindacharya, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh comes the latest oustee from BJP Jaswant Singh. But unlike others who were shown the door for pointing fingers at the partys top leadership, the MP from Darjeeling got the boot for criticizing a Congress leader, who died several decades back. Ironically, as the former BJP leader himself pointed out, it was during the tenure of Sardar Patel that BJPs parent organization RSS was banned for the first time following Mahatma Gandhis assassination. Advani later claimed that Sardar acted under Nehrus pressure, forgetting that it was Iron Man Patel and not the sartorial (Shivraj) Patil who could have been pressurised. It is also ironical that the Kangaroo Court was presided over by Advani, who committed the original sin of calling Jinnah secular.

Singhs expulsion appears to be an exercise in isolation and has little to do with either the partys poll fiasco or a serious introspection. Singh had earned the ire of the Advani camp for questioning the link between Parinaam (poll results) and Puraskar (rewards) indirectly hitting out at the likes of Arun Jaitley, the partys Chief Poll Strategist who was promoted as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, succeeding Singh.

Singh too has the dubious distinction of not only escorting dreaded terrorists to Kandahar in lieu of the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight but also making unsubstantiated allegations in his earlier book about a mole in former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Raos office, not to talk about providing opium-laced drink to guests and distributing cash to voters. Thus, both Jaswants book and BJPs action against him lack credibility.

(Same views has been published in the latest issue of 'Sunday Indian')