Ayres Sequeira
Mahatma Gandhi went about very poorly clad, almost half naked, during the British rule in India. He was projecting the poverty in our country to get the British out for suppressing our freedom to live independently. But the freedom we gained has backfired benefiting only the affluent class and the politicians; 69 years since, our country is still termed poor while the benefit of national wealth in terms of accumulation has remained concentrated in the hands of a few.
The poor stretch out their begging bowl for a daily meal, some sleep by the roadside and the rest take shelter under a bridge against the pounding rains in the monsoons. Very contrastingly the rich and the politicians live in the comforts of modern day living. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore a Rs 10 lakh suit when President Barack Obama visited India last January. Business community is quick to take advantage in times of commodity shortage to reap the maximum. Laxmikant Parsekar talks of schemes having reached the poor, a major achievement of the BJP government according to him. It is a shame. The chief minister, instead, should have talked of providing incentives to the younger generation to empower the citizens to become enterprising entrepreneurs to project a healthy image of our society.
Interestingly, we favour politicians not because we love them but because at some point of time they may have favored us with some favors. Obviously, we garland them profusely on auspicious day expressing our gratitude. This behavior has kept us in a vicious circle not realizing its impact on our living. The scenario goes on decade after decade. Every government that comes to power talks of progress and development while poverty in the country and in every State has remained stagnated to bear upon us the shameful tag of poor people. It may remain so with no government taking seriously to eradicate poverty from the face of our country.
But for one man’s concern and advice, how many will follow suit to give away half of their wealth in our poverty-ridden country with philanthropic mindset for the good of our nation? Many must have mocked Wipro’s billionaire, Premji’s advice: Rich Indians must give away wealth. He is right. Here is a quote. Jesus answered the rich man who wanted to follow him: Sell all you have and give the money to the poor; then come and follow me. How many are willing to do just that for the love of their country and the people.
