BAPU SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING???

"It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple
lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-
naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace, while he is still organizing and
conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms
with the representative of the king-emperor."

This is how Winston Churchill infamously described the father of our Nation, in
1930, when Bapu was called by the British for Peace talks with them.

Gandhi Ji, an apostle of Simplicity, unperturbed by Churchill’s comment, is

conformed to have told the immaculately clad Viceroy of India Lord Irvin & his
clan "I have caused a great deal for trouble for your government. But as men,
we can set aside our differences for welfare of the nation" He also had the
audacity to tell Churchill amusingly, when he met him in The Round Table
Conference, “...I have an alternative that is unpleasant to you… India demands
complete liberty and freedom...the same liberty that Englishmen enjoy...” while
still wearing his white dhoti!!! Churchill must have fumed, frothed, sneered &
pulled his hair!!!

Where has this spirit of Simplicity, Serenity, Sagacity, yet the courage to do
what you feel is more in the interest of the nation rather than the parochial self,
gone from the Leaders of this nation today??? It’s indeed sad to see them treat
Gandhi ji as their ‘Adam’, their ideal & role model yet do nothing to emulate
him, save sporting a white Kurta-Paijama & a Gandhi Toopi. That too a Designer
one!!! Made from the finest fabric available!!! Crisply starched & spotlessly
white… The ladies too are not far away in their stride for recognition, with their
passion for swanky Sandals & trendy Purses. They stay in mansions unlike the
Kutia at Gandhi Ashram, drive around in SUVs & are surrounded by chumchas
rather than desh bhakts. I am sure if Dandi March was to be replicated today it
would be a caravan of sporty luxurious cars!!!

No wonder our MPs find their salaries too meager & allowances too little to
sustain their pompous life style… What an irony it is, that our Parliamentarians
not only join “Politics” (the name given to Desh Seva & Samaj Seva now) on
their own choice, but also choose the amount of remuneration they feel they
are entitled to!!! How funny can this be??? The recent arbitrary, unanimous
decision at the parliament to hike their own salaries from Rs.16000/- to
Rs.50,000/- only proves this point…

What was more demeaning is that few senior MPs from various parties called
this 300% hike as “minimal” & have demanded a salary of Rs.80,001/- which is a
rupee higher than the top bureaucrats in an bid to prove their one-up-ship …

I for one is not against a hike in anyone’s pay packet. I would only like our self
styled “Samaj Sevaks” to answer a few questions before they claim any amount
from the Government exchequer.

 How do you justify a Salary of Rs.50.000/- per month when the people
you claim to represent, have a per capita income which is lower than this
amount on an annual basis???

 If you compare yourselves with the Bureaucrats, why should there not be
a qualifications & age limit for your job??? Why shouldn’t there be an
entrance exam & interview to vouch the suitability of the person who will
frame the future of this country???

 If you compare yourselves with the Corporate India, why shouldn’t you
get a ‘Performance Bonus’ rather than a straight hike in salaries???
 Why shouldn’t there be a competition between all of you??? A
competition to publicly detail your assets… and show savings from the
whopping Rs.30 Lakhs allowances that each of you get annually, as
largess, to look after your “janta”!!!
 According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the number
of crorepati MPs has increased from 156 in 2004 to 315 in 2009. How to
you explain this piece of statistics, if you are poorly paid???
 How come all of you have moved across your party lines & are unanimous
on this issue, when most often than not, you all tend to - “agree to
disagree”???
 No one has the luxury of fixing one’s own salary!!! Be it the Kids who
work at Mc. Donald’s or the CEOs of any company in Corporate India.
Only a Lala of a Private firm, to whom that firm belongs, can do it!!! What
are you trying to prove by this action???
  & for Heaven sake, please do not compare yourself with Senators of other
nations… India has own dynamics, compulsions, reservations &
peculiarities. Also, if someone is being overpaid, we just can’t follow
suit???
 HR experts exhort “Money is not a long term Motivator”. Very soon the
expenses will catch up to match this salary hike & the increase in salary
will seem paltry to sustain your lifestyle once again. Then what???
Another Unanimous, unilateral decision to hike your own salaries…

The Definition of Democracy as I learnt during my Civics Class, while in School, is

“Government of the People, by the People, for the People”. I think this maxim
has since changed with time. This action of the Parliament makes me to reframe
this Tag-Line to read “Government of the Politicians, by the politicians & for
politicians”.

Hark… O’ the leaders of my country!!! The answer to your financial miseries

does not lie in getting larger pay packets… But rather in changing your mindset
& lifestyle!!!

Jai Hind!!!