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.