PRESS RELEASE
Open the newspaper, and there will be some news every
other day with Mr. Narendra Modi tom-tomming about how great a state Gujarat
is. The truth is something else, entirely. Gujarat is in debt. And who is
expected to pay the debt? Gujaratis. Gujarat is touted to be the most
progressive state in India, but what really is the fact? Is Gujarat really on
its way to development, or is it just an eyewash, and the state’s overactive PR
machinery in action? Every act of Mr. Modi seems like a Publicity stunt. One fails
to understand why would one worship modern weapons in Shastra Puja (in news
recently), when it is an age old tradition for ancient weapons. And then, he
never misses to tweet about every ‘good’ act of his.
Two years back, there was an article in a reputed
newspaper which stated how Gujarat’s debt had tripled in the decade gone by.
With a massive portion of the state’s revenues going towards clearing the debt,
wonder what is the state spending on development and progress. Recently, it
became public knowledge that the Narendra Modi government spent Rs 45 crore of
the tax-payers' money to block his appointment as Lokayukta. The government not
only funded its own legal expenses, but expenses of NGOs who became
co-petitioners in Supreme Court. When there is so much debt to pay off, ideally
the government should use those fund to get rid of the debt, and not indulge in
frivolous expenditure.
If Gujarat claims to have a lot of money in its kitty,
the money should be spent on the areas where the state lags far behind,
socially, such as education, health, development of Schedule caste and
scheduled tribe. There is a huge gap between the money allocated and the money
actually used, under many heads – constructing offices, computer education and
special courts. The government has showed mismanagement of funds at various
steps, such as lesser returns on investments made compared to the interest paid
by the state government and also, a larger loan taken to adjust the value of
monetary deficit. Not just this, Gujarat has not even submitted a certificate
for the utilization of funds to the tune of over 9000 crores.
With the massive debt that the state is in, the people
are getting increasingly worried if they will be burdened with tax to make up
for the government’s mismanagement. They pray that the farce will come to an
end, and someone will take Gujaratis out of the doldrums. Till that happens,
hope is all there is. And after the Gujarat Riots, the hope is bleak.
