The Great Socialist Darkness

This really came as a shocker:

As our cars pull out, word has spread that some “important” people from Delhi are here, so a clamour builds up: light de do, light de do (give us power), and soon it becomes a small mob, pleading, even begging, faces behind desperate hands beating at our car windows: light bhijwa do, hum mar jayenge, humaare bachche padhenge kaise (send us power, we will die, how will our children study).

This happened in Babrala, deep inside UP. The quote is from Shekhar Gupta’s excellent two part travelogue on his election tours in rural India: part one; part two. [The quote above is from part 2.]

Shekhar Gupta was in Babrala with Mulayam Singh Yadav. He reveals that Mulayam, Nitish and Paswan are “Lohia socialists.”

Actually, UP is a great example of what Aravind Adiga called “The Great Socialist Darkness.” The passage quoted above could well have been a para from The White Tiger. This novel is a must read, a very powerful indictment of Indian socialism.

Yet, UP elects the highest number of MPs among all Indian states. This is why most Indian prime ministers have been elected from UP. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have their constituencies in UP. Hence the Darkness.

We are lucky in Goa: just 2 MPs. Very little “politics.”

The lesson: Democracy has “diminishing returns” – and these have turned negative for UP. Uttar Pradesh has become Chuttar Pradesh. I did not wish to be vulgar, but reality is even more vulgar. This is the truth.

But I wanted to focus on electricity: Why don’t the citizens of Babrala, and thousands and thousands of such towns, have electricity?

The answer: because of “socialism” – which makes this a monopoly of The State. There has been zero “liberalization” of the power sector. This is the problem. And The State seems happy to continue its monopoly indefinitely: the “civilian nuclear deal” with the USA will enable The State to generate nuclear power, and thereby maintain its monopoly. This actually means that The State is not really run by “civilians” – but that is another matter, which should occupy the minds of Americans.

Yes, the people are crying out for bijli, sadak and paani.

All three are State monopolies.

This is why The Great Socialist Darkness persists.

[Incidentally, this post was delayed because of a long power cut.]