DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI comes down heavily on Cong-led UPA dispensation for steep rise in petrol prices, calling the Government cold, callous and calculated.
The truth is that the clever-by-half, Cong-led UPA dispensation, is a cold, callous and calculated dispensation, totally unaware of what is pain of penury. The insensitivity that Dr. Manmohan Singh has displayed during his tenure is not found even in those who are born with a silver spoon in the mouth. The late lamented Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru was one of those who felt unhinged at the sight of poverty. So was the case with his illustrious daughter, Ms. Indira Gandhi, who once cried like a child at the sight of bloodshed in a communal riot. Dr. Singh’s skin is perhaps thicker.
Otherwise how to rationalise or explain the May 21 hike in the petrol prices, which are bound to rub fresh salt on the old wounds caused by the Congress wiseacres. It was in this backdrop that the conglomerate of the moonies thought fit to celebrate three years in power. According to some seasoned media persons, the Congress suffers from a fatal disease called Chronic Wasting Disease or CWD as a website informs that animals suffering from the disease show signs of ‘decreased interaction with other animals, listlessness, lowering of the head, blank facile expression and repeated walking in set patterns. Hyper excitability is common among CWD patients.’
Have you ever seen a crestfallen Congressman, returning disappointed at the refusal of the allotment of a mines from the Congress central office in New Delhi? They galore and obviously suffer from the CWD. Political longevity is their weakness.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Right to Information Act, Bharat Nirman Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Cooked Midday Meal Scheme, National Rural Health Mission, Sachar Committee Report, Second Administrative Commission and the Value Added Tax Reforms, among others, promised to make a difference to a majority of people.
All this is laudable. But setting up institutions with attractive signboards is one thing, but running them and coming out with results just another. The various enquiry committee reports have since long been awaiting dusting. So happens to be the case with the Sachar Committee Report. Why no normal sincerity, determination and zeal are shown in the implementation of the constructive recommendations? Why the mystifying periodic silences and policy paralyses? Why the much talked about governance deficit and inaction against the privileged?
It is untrue that negative opposition and coalition compulsions are a hindrance in the performance. It is the lack of will which is the villain of the piece.
Equally grossly exaggerated is the assertion that opposition does not allow the Congress to function. But it is true partially only. Is it not a fact that functioning coordination is missing in the Congress? The fact is that the Congress is not in a position to ignore the spirit and passion for the constrictive work. The general impression is that the Congress does not know how to carry the allies with it. Because of the dearth or absence of this quality, the Lokpal Bill, railway budget, National Counter Terrorism Centre, Central Sales Tax Compensation, Teesta river water-sharing, foreign direct investment in retail and so on, are a few cases. The Congress has no floor coordination strictly.
The government has lauded itself on economy, asserting it has partially insulated consumers from the adverse impact of rising global crude oil prices by keeping the prices of kerosene, cooking gas and diesel under government control and only partially passing on the price increase.
Is it not a fact that the recent massive hike in the petrol prices has undone what the government shows as its achievements? And, what about the 61 per cent rise in the price of vegetables? The truth is not ‘Aam Aadmi’ but the ‘Khas Aadmi’ alone benefits from such steps. The common man just suffers.
Insiders in the Congress Party aver that no policy change is going to take place without a decision on the status of Mr. Rahul Gandhi. What has to be seen, they point out, is whether he takes charge of the party or the government or both.
Without delving deep into the point, we bemoan the slide will continue in the meantime. Please remember that that will be the time when the eyes of the Congress would be focused on the assembly elections in Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Had the Congress a system to face challenges, the slide would have been arrested.
As the matters stand, the Congress seems to have neither eyes nor ears nor tongue nor mind nor heart. The question is what is the use of this Japanese doll? The oncoming 2014 elections would definitely give a definite answer to the question.