The buzz word doing the rounds in the cauldrons of our country is not Ajmal Kasab or Rakhi Sawant or H1N1 but it is the new found phenomena of Austerity. The incumbent politicians are so hell bent in adopting this new phenomenon that it has left the entire nation in a state of bemusement. And what makes the entire soap even more interesting is the fact that, the opposition parties who can make a large hue and cry out of anything and nothing have kept mum so far. I am still waiting for a statement from any of the non incumbent ministers stating a hidden conspiracy and gimmick out of this austerity drive. And I am sure sooner or later it is bound to come, what is going to be interesting to see will be the form in which it comes outJ. On a serious note, the initiative taken up by the current breed of ministers is worth lauding, unless and until we come to know about any intrinsic motto behind this. Never in my life have I seen any potbellied neta renouncing even an ounce of these luxuries for the sake of humility, leave apart the thought of saving nation’s wealth, rather they aim to suck it by all possible means, and make the most of this golden opportunity. One can feel that what was the point of asking the external affairs ministers, Mr Shashi Tharoor and Mr S M Krishna, to vacate those luxurious suits in the most expensive 5 star hotels of the country, when they were bearing the cost of that princely lifestyle on their own, but the message was loud and clear. If you are serving the nation, whose major chunk of population still lives below poverty line, where a huge mass has lost their jobs in the past 12 months, courtesy global meltdown, where around half of the nation is struggling with a drought like scenario and a quarter of it battling against massive floods, you ought to take some responsibility, you ought to lead by example. It might have been a bit embarrassing for Mr Tharoor and Mr Krishna to handle the situation, even though they were splurging on from their own wallets, but the message being sent by the likes of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Miss Mamta Banerjee and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi by adopting the economic means rather than the business or executives ones while traveling is honestly worth applauding. What is even more refreshing and makes us believe that all this is genuine is the fact that general elections are four and half years away, so this is most definitely not a political gimmick at this point. But these new good boys/girls of Indian politics who seem to have undergone an extensive rehab program should keep this in mind that they shouldn’t over do it, as it happened with Rahul Gandhi’s austerity train drive to Ludhiana, he sent a very good message by that gesture of his, but that was at the expense of the comfort of the common man who was also traveling in that train. Most of them complained that they felt so crippled by the extensively tight security in the train that they will never ever travel in the same train in which any of the austerity driven minister is traveling( so will they take the air route???? the executive oneJwish they could have). On a serious note the political circle should keep a check on this, not only keeping in mind the comfort of the common man but also for the sake of their own security, because these drives give ample and easy opportunity to the miscreants to harm these high profile men so very easily, which neither they themselves can afford nor can our nation. So there has to be a fine balance while exercising this revolutionary practice. But as long as they don’t bring this issue up 4 years down the line in their election campaign by statistically demeaning the opposition by begging for votes on the account of opposition’s extravagant expenses in their tenure compared to the incumbent minister’s frugal expenses while being in office, it is most definitely a JOB WELL DONE! And we all should feel good and proud about this noble initiative.
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