Winston Churchill had once remarked “If we sit in judgment of the past, we’ll have no time for the future”. Our ruling dispensations would do well to take a cue from this bit of wisdom. Almost all our political parties are so busy with pointing fingers at others that they forget that while they point one finger towards the others, three fingers are pointed towards themselves. The latest remark of our PM Modi about Indira Gandhi’s Slogan “Garibi Hatao” (Herald, June 3, 2016) reflects more on the vindictive attitude of the speaker than on the subject of discussion. In recent times there is a message on the public domain which reads “Congress took 60 years to raise Daal price to Rs70/Kg. BJP took two years to raise it from Rs 70 to Rs 180/Kg. Congress was BAD. BJP is Super BAD”
Indeed before condemning any party it would be in order to introspect and see for ourselves the achievements that our country has attained during the last 50 years or so. I am not a protagonist of the Congress party but ungratefulness is certainly not an Indian trait. In the 1970’s India was almost a starving nation. The policies followed by the then government not only made us self sufficient in food but now we are even exporting food stuff. Our roads have improved tremendously and today we are able to drive at a speed over 100Km/Hr on many of our highways. Not too long ago we had to book and wait for 5-7 years to get a vehicle. This changed since the 1980’s and today we can walk into any service centre and buy a vehicle of our choice. Since the 1990’s even our working masses own a mobile. Computers and mass media in our country compares well with any nation in the world. Indeed none of these and many more developments including fields in defence, space and nuclear energy are achievements of the last two years but of the last few decades.
On the other hand our present government seems to be very fond of coming up with new ideas such as Swachh Bharat, Krishi kalyan and charge a CESS to the people for such items. Entry toll for outsiders into Goa is another such charge. No improvement in any of these sectors is perceivable so far. May be we should soon expect some more such CESS for items such as pollution, sewage, water, education, roads, etc. Makes one wonder why we have been paying regular taxes such as Income tax, Road tax, house and property tax, excise, VAT, service tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax, stamp duties on various items, etc.
