Chacha Speaks - A Whole Lotta Bull!

Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi's address to the nation on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of Independence Day, the day on which our ancestors threw out the British Raj and installed the CONgress, is available here.

At the outset, let us note that Chacha does not speak to the public much. Just the other day, he held a press conference at which not much was said, except that it was his first press conference in four years. Quiet, backdoor man, our Chacha.

Predictably, Chacha began by invoking the spirit of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Great Socialist, whose grandson's widow now commands the CONgress - and Chacha as well. He said:

When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Tricolour on this historic Red Fort, on 15th August, 1947, he called himself the first servant of India. I address you today in the same spirit of service.

Yes, it is true that our Chacha has spent his entire life in "public service": he has been Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Governor of the Reserve Bank, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Finance Minister, and now he has reached the very top of the greasy pole and become PM. A lifetime of selfless "service," he assures us.

Let us now jump to the penultimate para of his speech, where this "first servant of India" talks about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. An obscene amount of public money has been spent on hosting these games, and we all know that much of this money has been stolen by the "servants of India" Chacha employed for the purpose. Chacha says:

The Commonwealth Games will start in Delhi after about one and a half months. This will be a proud moment for the whole country and especially for Delhi. I am convinced that all our countrymen will treat the Games as a national festival and will leave no stone unturned to make them a success. The successful organization of Commonwealth Games would be another signal to the world that India is rapidly marching ahead with confidence.

Actually, to most observers, these games are our "common loss." It is clear that Chacha is talking rubbish. He expects us to believe this rubbish - simply because HE said it. He thinks we are all schoolchildren, or illiterates, or JNU grads. He thinks we are a nation of fools - because he knows that the CONgress has been fooling us all these past 64 years with this "first servant of India" bullshit. He wants to continue on this path.

It is poor form to end a political speech on such an important occasion with a bald lie. The politician who does this loses his audience entirely. But Chacha is no politician - and we all know that. He calls himself an "economist" - so let us now examine what he said on an economic issue of great importance: inflation. He said:

I know that in the last few months high inflation has caused you difficulties. It is the poor who are the worst affected by rising prices, especially when the prices of commodities of every day use like foodgrains, pulses, vegetables increase. It is for this reason that we have endeavored to minimize the burden of increased prices on the poor. Today, I do not want to go into the detailed reasons for high inflation. But, I would certainly like to say that we are making every possible effort to tackle this problem. I am also confident that we will succeed in these efforts.

More bull.

Inflation is a "policy" used by government to fund itself. Chacha is an "inflationist." All Keynesians are. But he doesn't want to "go into the detailed reasons for high inflation." He wants to keep the people in the dark - to go on fooling them forever. First servant of India, indeed.

If you want to know the real causes of inflation, I recommend an article I once wrote called "Funny Money." You can obtain it here.

The rest of the speech babbles on and on about a host of issues - and it all sounds like the same old bull we have been hearing for so long. What I found particularly odd is that, just after boasting that ours is one of the fastest growing economies of the world today, Chacha thanks those who made this possible - but misses out on our businessmen and entrepreneurs. He says:

All of you have contributed to India's success. The hard work of our workers, our artisans, our farmers has brought our country to where it stands today. I specially salute our soldiers whose bravery ensures the safety of our borders. I pay tribute to all those martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for our country.

This is the Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan nonsense. Of course, this servant of the Nehru dynasty cannot bring himself to say "Jai Vyapari."


To conclude: Lewis Carrol's story of Humpty Dumpty is a satire on a British prime minister of that era - or so I believe. Chacha is our Humpty Dumpty. He "sat on the wall" between Liberalism and Socialism for a long, long time - but finally fell on the wrong side. When he ascended to the top post, everyone welcomed him as a "liberalizer." But he turned out to be nothing of the sort. He remained a Statist - only, in his case, a Welfare Statist. And an inflationist to boot. He has only championed increases in the Role of the State - (mis)education, right to work, right to food etc. For these, he has levied new taxes. He has also borrowed excessively. And inflated the currency too. All these measures cause "capital consumption." Thus, they retard progress. They reduce prosperity. They cause de-civilization. They harm us all - especially the poor, in whose name all these first servants of India profess to work. Never has Chacha spoken in favour of The Market. His trade minister, Kamal D Nutt, single-handedly wrecked the WTO. Chacha hates the idea of free international trade. Even today, foreign capital is debarred entry into many areas where it could do great good - like retailing, on which I have a recent post, here.

So there you have it. The "world's largest democracy" - and a prime minister who has never won a Lok Sabha election, deliberately trying to fool the people, pulling the wool over their eyes.

But I do believe that our own Humpty Dumpty has suffered a fatal fall. This bogus speech proves it.