Crisis stares the farmers in the face as the rains have come and have been scant and niggardly. Uttar Pradesh, among a few other states, has been declared dry. Of the 70 districts in the state, 51 have been declared drought-hit. You, the common voter, must be wondering how difficult it would be for the state government to allocate appropriate funds. This would be based on the presumption that the State Government is trying its best to assuage and address the problems of the farmers who have been deprived of rainfall during the sowing season of June-July. Well, take that – Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has made a supplementary budgetary allocation of Rs 656 core for erecting statues of elephants and memorials of Dalit leaders, including herself. While on the other hand, a puny Rs 6.5 crore has been sanctioned for the development of the severely drought-hit region of Bundelkhand. What is even more shocking is that the state government has allocated not even a single penny to tackle the drought situation in the state. It has rather sought Rs 250 crore for drought relief from the centrally-sponsored National Disaster Relief Fund.
It has been Mayawati’s obsession to erect statues of Dalit leaders like Kanshi Ram and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar including herself and also of Elephants (the party symbol) since she first became the Chief Minister back in 1995. Since then, she has floundered the state coffers by spending humongous amounts to the tune of Rs 5000 crore in her and her party’s “glorification”, the fact that it left development on the back-burner notwithstanding. It has been reported that Mayawati has also asked Rs 71 crore to be sanctioned so that her aerial sojourns are cozy and comfortable. She has allocated Rs 10 crore to buy a helicopter, although she already owns two helicopters and two aircrafts.
Such has become the state of this democracy of ours. We elect our leaders out of pure faith that they will act in our best interests and here they are, wantonly wrenching the neck of that very faith. It confounds me to the core of my heart, how can we elect such leaders who use their “moment of fame” to suck whatever they can out of the taxpayer’s money and spit right across the face of the very voter who has made it all possible for this personality. Strange but painfully true.
Who am I?
- Pranay Gupta
- I am not religious, but I don't mind calling myself spiritual. Religion, I believe, has, over the millennia, been used as a prop to perpetrate a lot of human suffering. Faith is what matters. I don't believe in the definition of God as a creator. According to me, my God resides within me. Some call it conscience, some call it the sub-conscious, some call it the soul. I don't mind calling it God. So by definition I am not an atheist or an agnostic, but by essence, I may as well be. My God does not reside in a temple, church, mosque or gurudwara. It is right here, within me.
Kudos! You touched upon a very relevant topic. When I read about the same in the newspapers, it infuriated me to no ends to see how fraud is being perpetrated right before our eyes. It disgusts me to think that common man's money is put to such use when it could have been used to put so many out of their misery. I wish I could read into Mayawati's mind and see how she answers to her moral conscience every day she commits acts of treachery like these.
ReplyDeleteVery well written article though, you're surely blooming into an exciting writer, with the use of good words, flowing language et al. Hopefully there are many more to come.
-Ankit
Very well said. Demagogues like her need to be shown the reality and they need to come out of their comfy chairs and face the music.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the words of encouragement. I appreciate you reading my stuff.
Hey Pranay.. I like the expression you've used "...wantonly wrenching the neck of that very faith..." Your writing skills are improving day by day.. Kudos!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the content of the post is concerned, I couldn't agree more. But as you correctly pointed out in one of your earlier posts, most voters in our country are poor and ignorant. All they care about is where their next meal is coming from. Can't blame them really, can't judge them either. These are the poor, vulnerable voters who are exploited by politicans like Mayawati and others..
All the same, it is quite disillusioning to see politicians squander public money.. It is a feeling of disquiet, of helplessness. Something that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
hail to democracy and thr polictics.... :)
ReplyDeletewell thanxx fr all information pranay...
our generation hav to take step to nullify politicians vague decisions...
....keep spreading the knowledge...
Written like a pro, son! A true write-son of a writer father and sis!
ReplyDeleteIn addition to thew good language used, the topic is highly contemporary and needs serious introspection by all of us. Let us stop electing such leaders who themselves want to live in ivory towers and talk of the poor millions for the sake of politics. In fact it is not the UP CM alone but the whole political fraternity is like that. And they all have proved it more than once.