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Thursday, March 28 2024
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Rahul Gandhi, Creativity and Moments of Truth

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About the Author: Dr Edmond Fernandes is a medical doctor and public health advocate associated with several International organizations. 

It is a welcome sign which Rahul Gandhi (RG) has taken by joining the twitter community. This gesture will open a new direction to the discourse of journey that is likely to be taken by the Indian National Congress (INC) party. INC will need to preach politics of civility and create communities with mutual respect and responsibility.

Being the grand old party of India, it is needless to say that we ought to take forward a rich heritage with the needed vigour of youthful energy. It is necessary that INC realizes soon how to rediscover genius by investing in human development which is by far more productive than investing in institutional assets.

We have paid little attention to the power of Public health which could have by now ended most of India’s problems, perhaps it was a symbolic mistake by which lessons have been learnt. Thousands continue to die even today just because they have no healthcare access, millions go hungry because food does not reach them, the burden of malnutrition among India’s precious children is huge and among tribal children stunting and wasting raises growing concerns.

Swaccha Bharat was superb sloganeering with superficial commitment to cleaning up the country. Nirmal Bharat abhiyan was started by the Congress party in 1986 when I was not around, and this present NDA Government decided to take forward an already existing idea by putting old wine in a new bottle and packaging it well as a pet project of the Prime Minister.

Common sense tells us that Swaccha Bharat cannot succeed if there are no dustbins at least at every 500 metres. So what is the inherent worth of a program of this nature when we have no provisions to dump the waste. In rural areas, dumping is practiced widely for household and kitchen waste. Concepts of composting, incineration are not heard of.

Rahul Gandhi had gone for his personal leave, and it was extremely shameful of the popular Government at the centre to raise questions. As a rightful citizen of India, someone who has done much more than you and I ever have, whose family has given up much so that we could live free, should not be subjected to politics of opportunism. It is a fundamental right to freedom. Rahul Gandhi has been attempting to reach out to people of the country and on the other side we have the Prime Minister who tours other countries instead of reaching out to the people who sent him to South block at Raisina hill. Feedback from the local citizenry helped tell me that they would have really wished the PM travelled across the country like, Rahul Gandhi has started too and heard their pleas rather than visit countries on public money in the name of development.

It is important to have a head and heart in the right place kind of leader which is being rediscovered through Rahul Gandhi instead of having a person who wears a 10 lakh worth suit and talks about Mahatma Gandhi who sacrificed a lifetime of struggles to make India free.

Arun Shourie, a BJP hardliner who recently gave an interview also expressed his great displeasure in the manner in which the present Government functioned. Trying to hijack poor farmers through land reform bills to please some friends in the corporate division is anti-national by any element of thought. Robbing people in a peoples’ democracy is a sign of difficult days to come.

Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party needs to identify youth who are capable of articulating well and who can shape the party out of the shackles of power politics, slogan mongering and outdated ideologies. Taking in professionals to the helm of affairs will be the backbone through which it will be able to inject a new form of hope and optimism which will shape the nation. INC should permit these youth with kinetic energies to address issues related to drugs, crimes, populations, riots, shortage of the police forces, poor schooling infrastructure and many more.

Focus needs to shift towards the country’s roads which are the arterial lifeline for the nation. Roads address economic growth. We still have more than 5 out of 10 villages in India who have no access to roads. The draft national road safety bill is a draconian bill which injects fear rather than commands the idea to follow rules. It is superficial in its depth and casual in its approach. we end up talking about having a valid driving license, does anyone speak about providing driver education?

The spending on healthcare has been reduced to a shameless percentage by this present NDA Government, public health in India faces a new form of urgent crisis. NGO’s like Greenpeace and Ford Foundation which have been improving the indicators for India have been regulated, their wings clipped, their conscience muted and their future questioned. May be this was the elaborate signal of Acche Din which the 39% of Indians who contributed in vote share interpreted wrongly when they sent the BJP to manage India’s affairs.

The Congress party could provide Disaster Mitigation plans as the National Disaster Management Authority has lost its scared space and has become unpopular in the eyes of many health professionals.

Eminent economist Adolph Wagner in 1863 wrote how budgets in India have vindicated with a vengeance the validity of law of growing public expenditure. It would be a wonderful gesture to re-invent the wheel by focusing budgets on how it could be, rather than how it is now. Cutting tax to help the middle class will help raise the standard of living.

Commercial banks that are strictly regulated by RBI and offer low interest rates can we re-shaped. It needs to be imperative that salaried employees and charities get appropriate return on investment to carry out their daily affairs. Well since the Congress is in opposition now at the Center, it should pressurize the Government to bring back black money which it promised during election story telling.

I also hope that Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare once more come forth to protest at Ramlila Maidan for bringing back black money, to order appointments for vacant posts in the central government which have been deliberately kept that way.

India by far is going through a season of change, we have more people today who like to speak about education , health and progress rather than speak about religion, caste and creed. The days of prophesising religion is an age gone by and is something that deeply disinterests many. After all, the common man is worried about what he would like to eat this evening, what movie should he watch over the weekend and which job change should he identify. The Congress has stood for ideals of secularity and peace, unlike its other competitors who mask themselves.

Perhaps it is that time of the day when India is getting a new creativity and a new face lift through Rahul Gandhi. There is no doubt that we should support him in this journey and stop complaining.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Newskarnataka.com and Newskarnataka.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same

 

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