I dread reading the newspaper every 20th August. Every August I uncomfortably watch as the day gets closer. 20th August happens to be our late PM, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi's birthday. It might seem petty and quirky but this day always triggers anger and despair in me. Let me give a little background here.
Every year on this date, depending on whether the Congress party is in power or alternatively the various ministries of the Government of India unleash a disgustingly disproportionate onslaught of print ads commemorating Mr. Gandhi. Today's edition of Times of India has no less than 18 ads! These take more than 9 full pages, from a total of 32 pages in today's edition. That is more than 25% of the space in the 'news'paper. This has been the trend for the last few years. If my estimates from 5 years back are right, at 12 lakhs a page, the total spend is more than a crore. And that is one newspaper in one state.
Now why do ministries need to spend that kind of money, money collected from our taxes, on remembering a departed leader is beyond explanation, That figure in today's time would be much higher by conservative estimates. Lets also not forget that Mr. Gandhi is not the only leader to be remembered so profusely by our forever-stuck-in-the-past government. A poor country (we contribute maximum to the world's poor population and have close to half our population below the poverty line) like ours is already low on resources. Such mindless waste of national resources is criminal.
Our political respresentatives live in a self-congratulating, self-sufficient world. The need to keep invoking memories of leaders, ignoring their shortcomings and the blind idol worship points towards their absolute disconnect with the electorate of this country. Such misguided loyalty benefits no one else but the people who prostrate in front of powerful politicians.This distasteful trend extends itself to doomed government schemes, road names, sarkari buildings and so on.
When our system has so many leaks as it is, such mindless sycophancy should be outlawed if not discouraged.
Hmmm... honestly, I never noticed. Its probably because I read the newspaper only on weekends. Your concern is valid.
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The Reason for the same is that every Minister is trying to score some brownie points by impressing the Ghandhi family. This is ridiculous, we are witnessing an era worse that dictator ship, cause "We the people Of India" elect these stupid morons who in-turn worship a family that takes credit for all the good that has ever been done in the country.
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