Kejriwal’s demand to bestow the Bharat Ratna on Sunderlal Bahuguna is just a gimmick for votes

The politicians in India are an amazing breed, going to any length to pocket people’s votes. Hardly anybody clad in khadi is averse to this trait or modus operandi to curry favour with the electorate, even if such promises are never meant to be kept. The latest to line up in this queue, yet again, is AAP’s national convener and Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Days after making in the poll-bound States of Punjab, Gujarat, Goa and Uttarakhand a four-pronged promise, including free electricity for all up to 300 units and waiver of all pending power bills, the wily bureaucrat-turned neta has hit upon another idea to pull at the heartstrings of the voters in the hill State. He has demanded that the Union Government should honour noted environmentalist, Chipko Movement progenitor and a Padma Vibhushan awardee in 2009, Sunderlal  Bahuguna (he had turned down the Padma Shri in 1987 over the Government’s refusal to cancel the Tehri dam project despite his protests), with the country’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. It is a simple matter that if any such demand is to be made, and there is no denying that it should be, it should ideally come from the Uttarakhand Government as a matter of propriety, protocol and accepted norms and not from the Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab or any other Governments. The environmental activist passed away on May 21 this year.

But, as the saying goes, common sense is the most uncommon and we may extend the corollary especially to include the nation’s politicians. Already, in the recent past, totally cold-shouldering the cold numbers regarding the debt burden of the respective States, Kejriwal had promised a host of freebies that would further stress the exchequer. For the record, the outstanding liability of the AAP-governed Delhi stands at Rs 31,135 crore till March 2020, and its per capita debt (population based on the 2011 census) is higher than that of economically backward States like Bihar. Similarly, Punjab has an unsustainable debt burden, with the outstanding debt set to hit Rs 2.60 lakh crore, with an additional Rs 12,000 crore borrowing allowed in 2020-21 because of a COVID-induced economic meltdown. In 2020-21, Uttarakhand is expected to spend Rs 9,396 crore on servicing its debt.  This is 17 per cent higher than the revised estimates of 2019-20.  It includes Rs 3,503 crore towards repaying loans, and Rs 5,892 crore towards making interest payments.