JOIN USEvery party shows concern for the poor but achche din will come only if the government carves out larger share for the poor.
The BJP’s election campaign song -- ‘Hum Modiji ko lane wale hain, Achche din aane wale hain’ -- is under attack from the opposition parties in general and the Congress in particular ever since the party formed the government at the Centre. They accuse the BJP of selling dreams by making tantalising promises that can never be actuated. By implication, the song promises to extirpate all kinds of problems -- corruption, poverty, unemployment, lack of security to women, lack of health services and education, etc. to name a few.
Obviously, if these promises are implemented, it will be ‘Achche din’ for the country. The opposition has sharpened its attack after the government presented the budget for 2014-15 saying that it has let down the poor. It is too early to make a judgment. The government must be given the minimum incubation period.
It is not for the first time that such a campaign song was successfully used in any election. In the USA, Frederick Delano Roosevelt won the presidential election in November 1932 defeating incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover with the bouncy popular song ‘Happy days are here again’ as his campaign theme. Buoyed up by his personal victory over polio, FDR’s vaulting optimism lifted the sagging morale of the country pummelled by the Great Depression.
Roosevelt assumed office on March 4, 1933, and within hundred days, he brought in major legislations and executive orders that formed the famous New Deal which aimed at pulling out the country out of despondency and depression by giving relief in the form of government jobs to the unemployed, economic growth and reform through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation. It led to economic boom from 1933 to 1937.
However, the US Supreme Court struck down several of New Deal measures as unconstitutional which led to its fierce confrontation with the President who threatened to pack the SC with the judges of his own choice. The economy relapsed into a deep recession. However, he did not cave in and went on with other reform measures. Despite the Second World War, unemployment dropped to 2 per cent, relief programmes largely ended, the industrial economy boomed and the farm and manufacturing output also went up drastically. His popularity soared and he is the only President so far to have been elected four times and died in harness.
Thus, Roosevelt sold dreams and delivered on them. For Narendra Modi, it is to be seen whether he delivers on his promises or it is a case of aposiopesis. Congress’ animadversion is a paroxysm of jealousy which is not ready to self-introspect for its worst ever humiliation. Every party shows concern for the poor but the poor remain poor. Achche din will come only if the government carves out larger share for the poor and rural areas.
Partial Plan
When the First Five-Year Plan was being prepared, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Vinoba Bhave to Delhi to give his suggestions. Since Vinoba only walked on foot, it took him several months to reach Delhi by when the Plan was half way through. Vinoba, after going through it, lamented that there was nothing for the poor in it. When Nehru assured him that it was a partial plan, Vinoba retorted that if it was partial, then it should have been partial to the poor. J C Kumarappa, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, was a member of the first Planning Commission. As he was going to attend the meeting of the commission by bullock cart, he was stopped on the Rajpath. He reached late and registered his protest for ignoring rural India. It is certain that he must not be using bullock cart as his normal vehicle, but it was a symbolic protest against ignoring villages and the poor. Though educated in Britain and the USA, he is considered a pioneer of rural economic development theories based on Gandhism that he called Gandhian economics.
Villages were known for the community life -- a sharing and caring community. The spirit is now missing even in villages. Achche din will come if people care for others, not only for themselves. Whenever budget is presented, everyone asks what is there for them in it. Achche din will not come if we do not have an equitable society. The gross disparity makes the society grotesque. The spirit of renunciation that was pronounced during the freedom movement has to be revived.
Mahatma Gandhi wrote an article in Harijan (July 16, 1934) titled ‘Kaumudi’s Renunciation.’ It is based on his personal experience at Malabar where a 16 year old girl gave up all the jewellery she was wearing at his instance. Gandhi asked her if she had her parents’ consent. Someone informed him that the girl’s father was right there in the audience who endorsed her sacrifice. She nodded in agreement when Gandhi asked her not to have her ornaments replaced. The autograph he gave to her read: “Your renunciation is a truer ornament than the jewellery that you have discarded.”
He further asked, “Will not your mother be unhappy to see you stripped of all ornaments?” The girl replied, “She will. But I am sure she won’t compel me to wear them again.” “When you get married, your husband will not perhaps like to see you without any jewellery. What will you do then?” Kaumudi pondered a little and answered, “I will select a husband who will not compel me to wear ornaments.”
We all need to have this kind of spirit to remove disparity. Culture of acquisitiveness must be replaced by the spirit of renunciation. Gandhi said, “I urge the rich to live simply so that the poor may simply live.”