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The day Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unveiled his 10 guarantees was also the day when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced her government’s commitment to economic freedom by opposing the very idea of wealth redistribution. It became very clear that day that the INDIA bloc must remain in the Opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should come back to power.
Though Kejriwal did not consult his alliance partners about the 10 guarantees he promised, there is a likelihood of them agreeing with him. For, on their part, they have also made equally outlandish promises. Kejriwal has pledged, among other things, free 24-hour power supply, free healthcare that is not based on insurance schemes, freedom to the Indian Army to get back the Indian territory occupied by China, abrogation of the Agniveer scheme, legal status for MSP on all crops according the Swaminathan Commission report, two crore jobs for the youth, and ease of doing business for traders.
A few days later, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said that the INDIA coalition, if victorious in the ongoing general elections, will work for the empowerment of women: “Our sisters across the country are ready to form the INDIA Alliance government with enthusiasm. From July, Rs 8,500 deposited in women’s accounts every month, i.e., Rs 1 lakh annually, will change the financial condition of every family.”
If wishes were horses, our politicians would bring heaven to earth, but that’s not the reality. Sometimes it takes a lifetime for a wish to be realised, sometimes more than that. Just as calamities cannot be wished away, good outcomes cannot be ushered in just by wishing them.
If Kejriwal pledges to offer free 24-hour power supply and free healthcare, for instance, he should also enlighten us where the money would come from to ensure such freebies. After all, it costs a great deal to run power plants, transmit and supply electricity, pay doctors and paramedics, run hospitals, and so on. In the final analysis, it is the public exchequer that will bear the costs. And since it is the taxpayer money that makes the public exchequer, ultimately taxpayers will be burdened with these expenses — that is, the people who pay direct and indirect taxes: in short, all people, as indirect taxes are paid even by the poor. Freebies, after all, are not free. What we get free as consumers, we end up paying for them as taxpayers.
The same is true for the Congress’ promise of offering the largesse of Rs 1 lakh per annum to women. If the grand old party wins and redeems its pledge, it would give women the money it would take from them as taxes.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOn the face of it, populist promises are so hollow that nobody should believe them, but ideological claptrap and political drivel generate such miasma that it entices large sections of the populace. Unfortunately, all political parties, including the BJP, contribute to the generation of the miasma.
Thankfully, the BJP has restrained itself; it is not making too many populist promises this time. In fact, it is to the credit of the ruling party that it is opposing some of the dangerous ideas that keep resurrecting in the political arena. The Congress’ idea of wealth redistribution is nothing but robbing Peter to pay Paul, Sitharaman said in an interview. “These are not the days of Robin Hood,” she said.
“The methodology Congress has been adopting is very insidious. They have been constantly talking about carrying out X-rays of wealth and caste census. They say their poll manifesto doesn’t talk about wealth redistribution, but their leaders are saying the same thing again and again,” Sitharaman said.
She hit the nail on the head, for that is exactly the GOP has been doing. Unable to discard the dogmas and shibboleths of socialism, the Congress persists with its simplistic and hazardous policy of wealth redistribution. For the party, wealth is a zero-sum matter: one can have it only at the expense of the other. “Instead of making the poor wealthier, their solution is to make the wealthier poor. It’s just unjust. Wealth creators also provide jobs and opportunities to people and resources to the government. Sensationalising it only because you are desperate to win and come to power shows you care nothing for people,” Sitharaman rightly said.
What makes the Congress’ pertinacity about wealth redistribution downright egregious is the fact it did try, and fail, in this endeavour in the 1970s, with around 98 per cent top bracket income tax. It was the successive governments that brought that down later. Yet, in its desperation, the GOP still wants to bring back the dark ages of Nehruvian socialism.
Today, as the country votes for the fifth round of voting, it’s just a matter of a fortnight to realise who will have the last laugh. Things will settle down one way or the other, on June 4.
The author is a freelance journalist. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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