Destitution, bankruptcy, mass famine! And destitution comes only after bankruptcy. More serious is the fact that while earning to live from paycheck to paycheck, sizable numbers of Indians have nothing left to feed their savings account. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts, the ‘saviors accounts’ for people who had never seen the insides of a bank, have nothing to show for their existence. Most of these accounts show only a couple of 100s on the credit side. The other day, RJD Member of Parliament Dr Manoj Jha brought alive “Nainsukh Lal” in the Rajya Sabha, and Nainsukh wasn’t in good shape, forget great shape. He earns Rs 12,000 a month, of which Rs 4,000 goes for rent; Rs 2,000 for the children’s school fees; Rs 1,200 for the cooking fuel, and Rs 3,000 for food. The total damages add up to Rs 10,200. There is not much left with Nainsukh Lal after the Delhi Metro takes what’s due. The message of the story: There’s a Nainsukh everywhere, in every state, living in poverty and threatened by the price rises.
Fact is, inflation, and the high prices of food and fuel, have sucked the life’s breath out of Nainsukh Lal though he is still standing. On the other hand, the Union Finance minister, on Tuesday said India’s 7 percent inflation rate compared well with that of “peer” countries, and with that of even the developed nations. Compelled to explain, the FM informed that the government was fighting retail inflation with a “targeted approach”, based on “ground-level inputs”, an explanation that would fly over Nainsukh Lal’s head. What she may be failing to understand is the fact that Nainsukhs of Bharat don’t want lessons in Economics from the FM. Price rise is not a Modi-era phenomenon, it’s how it’s handled and explained which makes all the difference.
There are Indians who have money to burn on the cinema and takeaway pizza, but the countless millions who survive hand to mouth, live a BPL life. There are tens of thousands of Nainsukhs in every town and city, not counting the rural folk, with a vote each! And when the FM compares the 2013 prices of tomato, onion, and potato, to give a clean chit to the 2022 prices of tomato, onion, and potato, it is beyond their belief. The FM has a poor estimation of the Nainsukhs of India. She’s maybe under the impression that they cannot get hold of a calculator, forgetting that computing comes easy to people who have to make every rupee count! The other day somebody asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared unable to empathize with those impacted by the price rise. The simple answer to that is, that the Prime Minister is not a Nainsukh with only school fees, rent, and food and fuel prices to think of. The Prime Minister is the head of the Executive, and can’t be bothered with things a friendly media cannot give a spin to! For now, it is ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ for him, with the price of the tricolor jumping to Rs 50 a piece, from Rs 16 a piece a couple of weeks ago. Security guard Nainsukh is supposed to buy and hoist one atop his rented house if he’s to be counted a patriot!
