As the fuel prices hit record high and there seems to be no stopping, there’s a strange silence from the quarters that matter. Where are those celebrities who spoke their mind on issues that were ‘detrimental’ to society during the UPA government’s regime?
We were witness to Amitabh Bachchan speaking about high fuel prices then. The ‘khiladi’ Kumar (Akshay Kumar) too had spoken about the fuel issue as also Anupam Kher who had expressed his views with a lot of fire against the high fuel prices then. Today, we are witnessing a silence that is probably saying that it is acceptable. In fact, it was shocking to hear politicians who took this ‘acceptance’ to a different level. When asked about the high fuel cost, they shot back that ‘if you want cheap fuel go to Taliban’.
A minister even stated that 95% of the people in the country do not need fuel while another minister defended the fuel cost rise by counter questioning as to why we are being selective about fuel and not concerned about the rising alcohol and meat prices. If that isn’t enough, one minister even thought of allowing triple seat for 2 wheelers to counter this issue.
A wrong being justified especially by people who are at the helm of affairs is indeed saddening, which brings us back to the question ‘whatever happened to those people who would come out on the streets if there was a rise in fuel prices before 2014? Where has that activism disappeared?
Our honourable Finance Minister has pinned the blame of the fuel rise cost to the previous Government saying they left a huge debt of oil bonds to be paid to the oil companies. As usual, we the people are gullible enough to nod in agreement to what is being told to us. So fine, oil bonds were to be paid by the past governments to the tune of Rs 1.3 lakh crores. But how much have we recovered in the past few years? According to statistics by Auto Car, we have recovered almost Rs 3.34 lakh crores only in 1 year i.e 2020-2021. In fact economists say the Government has already collected Rs 17.29 lakh crores towards the excise.
In the past, we would compare the fuel prices of the world. Today we are a nation which is collecting the highest tax on fuel in the world. Before 2014 we paid 66% for the fuel and the balance 34% for excise duty, taxes and the commissions today we pay 33% for the fuel and the balance 67% for the taxes, duties and commissions (as per the report of India today in February 2021)
Fuel prices control the prices of essential goods. When crude oil was 130 $ a barrel we paid Rs 65 per litre for fuel. Today when fuel is 65$ a barrel we are paying Rs 115, So, I wonder what will we pay if the fuel touches 130$ again, How much are we supposed to pay then? Who has the road map or as usual we will blame Nehru for it?
We are a democracy where we may follow an ideology of a political party but we can also ask them questions, isn’t it? We did that earlier but today asking question will be termed as anti-national. While we struggle with this, the media is busy covering non-issues like ‘Aryan Khan’s drug issue’ or the ‘India-Pakistan’ match? And we believe when we are told ‘Sab Changa Si’.
