EDITORIAL

The Emperor Is Not Wearing Any Clothes

MR Deve Gowda's description of the late Congress president, Sitaram Kesri, as "an old man in a hurry" suits Mr Vajpayee more aptly! 

The series of sops that this government has been announcing since its declared intention of holding an early general election are clearly in the nature of doling out favours in return for electoral support, in a hurry, before the waiting young man on the street shouts that the Emperor, after all, is not wearing any clothes! 

Before we discuss certain substantive measures that have been announced, it is necessary to note the glaring constitutional impropriety that this government is resorting to. The Indian constitution clearly spells out that the first session of the parliament in every calendar year must be addressed by the president who sums up the balancesheet of his government's activities. The Vajpayee government violated this constitutional provision in order to avoid a substantive discussion on the report card that the president would have placed. This is for the simple reason that there is very little for the government to report on its achievements. A discussion in the parliament, therefore, had to be avoided. It needs to be noted that the president's address is debated and put to vote. If the government loses the vote, then it is bound to resign. The Vajpayee government took refuge behind a subterfuge to avoid such an eventuality by stating that this session of the parliament is the continuation of the winter session since the house was not prorogued. Between the winter session and now, the calendar year has changed. This, however, appears of little concern to the Vajpayee government which is bent upon violating the constitution to serve its ends. 

The basic, wide-encompassing weaknesses of governance are sought to be covered up through an orchestrated euphoria and a massive propaganda blitz financed by various ministries. Hundreds of crores of rupees worth of advertisements are being put out daily. Such is the desperation that even the Planning Commission is putting out advertisements hailing the Vajpayee government! 

Elsewhere in this issue, the substantive critique of the interim budget presented in this truncated session of the parliament is carried. However, it is necessary to note that all the sops announced so far do not contain any relief whatsoever for the 80 crores plus of Indians who are eking out a miserable existence. If there are new trains that are to be introduced, these will not connect the remote and  backward regions of our country but these would be linking the already linked national capital with the state capitals! Reservations in high-profile trains like Rajdhanis and Shatabdis can now be made through a cell phone! Frequent foreign travellers can bring back goods free of any customs duty to the tune of Rs 25,000 instead of the earlier limit of Rs 12,000. The import duties on items of luxury consumption (like scotch whisky and foreign liquor) are either eliminated or reduced. Clearly, concessions are being doled out to those sections who, apart from being wealthy, are both vocal and influential. What is worse, it is precisely these sections who least require relief. 

Crores of Indians, particularly youth, wandering aimlessly due to staggering growth of unemployment have virtually nothing to look forward in these series of sops. There is no relief to contain starvation deaths or distress suicides. Clearly, for Vajpayee & Co, there are two Indias --- a minuscule minority that continues to fatten their earnings and the vast majority who continue to groan under waves of economic onslaughts. 

It is this India with its vast majority --- the asli Bharat --- that is going to vote with a vengeance to rid itself of the burdens that this government has imposed through its rule.