KN Pandita
The rising prices of consumer goods are a perennial question in developing countries. India is no exception. Price rise is connected with the level of development. But people often protest against the price rise and impress upon governments to effectively control it.
The people have a right to protest peacefully. The government has the right to explain and make the people and their representatives understand the reasons for the increase in the prices of consumer goods. The government’s response is laced with technicalities that transcend the common man’s understanding. An economist is better poised to understand these nuances.
The opposition raised a hue and cry in the parliament demanding a debate on price rise. The Finance Minister clarified that a 6 per cent rise in GST for consumer commodities was recommended by the GST Council in its previous meeting. But this time the government reduced it to 5 per cent again on the recommendation of the GST Council. All States are represented in the Council by their Finance Ministers and their unanimous decision is implemented through the Central government. The Central government has only less than 30 per cent of voice in the deliberations of the GST Council decisions.
In this background, raising the hue and cry about PM Modi increasing the GST is unfounded and preposterous. The Congress that is ruling six states at present should have staged a protest against price rise (if the dharna of 5 August was meant for that purpose) first at the headquarters of those six states instead of making a show at Janpath.
It, therefore, follows that the demonstration of Congress activists on August 5 was only a smoke screen behind which other motives were being pursued. Let us analyse the ground situation. Congress has been rushing to the streets ever since the ED began investigating The National Herald’s alleged scam. The party is using all means of disrupting law and order by insinuating the people against the ED, casting aspersions on the NDA government and bringing new charges against the government with each passing day. By spreading false rumours and stories, Congress has been trying its best to instigate the masses of people against the government by projecting the Gandhi parivar as the victimized one. Congress eyes are focussed on 2024 elections.
These activities are undertaken with the sole purpose of saving one dynasty from the long arm of the law. Even the senior leaders of Congress tell the television reporters that they have “to defend and protect the Congress super dynasty because the dynasty has protected them.” Protected them against what and how is not defined. There has never been any threat or challenge posed to the Congress echelons by anyone. All the lurking fear that causes them delirium of sorts is their share in the spoils which they fear might be unearthed by the eagle-eyed law of the land.
The 5th August protest of Congress is significant in many ways which ordinary people may not be aware of. All of us know the stubbornly negative attitude of the Congress lawmakers in parliamentary debates. Their one-point policy is to disrupt the sessions and create chaos and not allow serious issues of public interests to be discussed in the parliament. Their body language, their idiom which at times is not only disruptive but also disrespectful, and their intentions all are self-explanatory. No viewer of the proceedings has an iota of doubt about Congress’ interest in dynastic rule and with no consideration for the welfare of the masses of people.
Unfortunately, the loss of power (in a democratic dispensation) has blunted the sense of reason in the Congress party stalwarts. Forgetting the glorious and proud history of the Congress party, these minions have chosen to sink deep into the morass of the anti-national mission.
A few points need to be taken note of. Why did they choose the 5th of August for the big anti-government demonstration? It was an anti-national demonstration. On August 5, 2021, PM Modi had laid the shilanyas of Ram Janam Bhumi temple in Ayodhya. He had in person offered prayers on the occasion on the particular spot where the temple is to come up after its destruction 550 years ago. The reconstruction of the Ram Janam temple is a big irritant to those who have been the pronounced anti-Hindu and anti-Indian civilization. Secondly, August 5, 2019, is a great historic day in the modern history of India because on this day the Indian Parliament passed the J&K Restructuring Act by which Articles 370 and 35-A were abrogated and J&K was made an integral part of the Indian Union. The Congress Party led by the Gandhi dynasty with first to oppose the abrogation and demand the rescinding of the Act and restoration of the statehood of J&K. They were eager to disown the rise of fundamentalism and terrorism in Kashmir during their regimes because they were co-actors with the NC in letting loose the hounds of bloodshed and mayhem in the valley which converged into the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir valley of four lakh and more Hindu population.
By staging a massive demonstration on the 5th of August, they wanted to convey visual material to the foreign press and agencies handled by known Indian bashers to denigrate their own country.
Yet more astonishing is that under a well-preconceived plan, the Congress party leaders and activists came out on the streets in the top to bottom black dresses. A black dress is a sign of mourning. So they were in a state of mourning. The price rise was only the smoke screen as we said; they mourned the loss of political power through the democratic process. Normally, a party defeated in fair elections, concedes the defeat gracefully and as a principle declares to support the elected government in developmental activities that lead to the improvement of the living standard of the people. Instead, the Congress workers dressed in mourning dress code came together to once again denounce the rise of the Ram temple at Ayodhya — a lasting signal of Indian civilization— and shed tears on the integration of Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union.
There is another aspect to this narrative. Usually, a black band is tied around the arm as a symbol of mourning. If the honourable members of the Congress High Command had the compulsion of expressing their grievance visibly, they would have chosen the common practice of tying a black armband around their arms. But, they did not, and instead wore mourning clothes. This has a background which will explain the source wherefrom wearing the black mourning dress code idea sprang.
On 2 October 1922, Mussolini, the then political activist, along with his anti-regime goons gathered the crowds of Italians in Rome, all clad in a black dress, and raised the slogan of toppling the Government and ousting the existing administrative structure. His movement succeeded, and he became the new Italian Dictator. To what fate did he drag his country in WW II is not hidden from anybody.
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