This timely Pioneer edit exposes the party of the aam aadmi and its various bedmates. This is really, the party of the elite, the social-reformers, the visualizers of a just society, high on scotch and fine whisky after a hard day’s visit to rotten places like Vidarbha and the Mumbai slums.

Paying the price

The Pioneer Edit Desk

UPA gifts runaway inflation

After the 2004 general election resulted in a surprise defeat for the BJP-led NDA and thus paved the way for a manufactured coalition of disparate parties to come to power, the Congress was quick to claim that the aam admi had reposed his trust in the party because its heart beats for the poor and those struggling to make both ends meet.

Inherent in this absurd claim was the suggestion that the NDA, during its years in power, had neglected the interests of the masses. Just how absurd was that claim and the mocking insinuation is demonstrated by the crushing blow delivered by the runaway inflation of the UPA years which has placed all essential commodities and vegetables beyond the reach of the aam admi. Latest figures peg the rate of inflation at 6.12 per cent, up from 3.86 per cent a year ago. The real impact of this can be gauged from the prevailing prices of cereals, pulses and vegetables; we shall not talk of the prices of fruit and other such ‘luxuries’ because, in the perception of the Congress and its allies, especially the Communists, they are not meant for the masses. It is entirely possible that those who hold office in the present regime, and those who rule from behind the scene, are ignorant of market prices and the seething rage that is building up. After all, power does create a comfortable cushion separating the rulers from the ruled, insulating those who frame policy (or dictate it from the confines of their splendid isolation) from those who have to foot the bill for Government’s folly.

One of the reasons behind the skyrocketing inflation is the increasing input cost for industries, specially those dependent on non-ferrous metals. But that does not entirely explain the galloping prices of essentials. Unchecked Government spending on hare-brained, populist ’social welfare’ schemes, without any meaningful cutback on wasteful administrative expenditure, is also beginning to take its toll. In a throwback to the bleak era of the 1970s, the Congress has revived the policy of taxing the people to sustain Government’s high spending. It’s a vicious circle that, in the ultimate analysis, benefits neither Government nor the masses. We can now look forward to the UPA regime taking further harsh measures to paper over the demand-supply mismatch. With crucial Assembly elections round the corner, the Government shall also resort to subterfuge to pretend all is fine in this land under the Congress’s tutelage. That will not necessarily fetch any relief for the harried and harassed aam admi who can now look forward to higher interest rates, higher taxes in the form of cess or something more insidiously innovative and even higher spending on schemes that allow politicians and bureaucrats, apart from contractors, to feather their nests. This is not to suggest that social welfare spending should be suspended, nor is it to recommend indifference towards those who live below the poverty line. If the Government is sincere about reining in inflation, then it should take a hard look at how and where money is being spent. It must also consider doing away with high tariff barriers that continue to make imports increasingly prohibitive for industry. Given this regime’s predilection to flog the aam admi, that may prove to be wishful thinking. Instead, the babalog’s Bill will be passed on to the people.

Cross-posted to INI Signal.