India Elections 2009 – Open Letter to Rahul Gandhi

Dear Rahul Gandhi

I am writing to you because Times of India has this report from PTI that you will always take care of me.

Now that you have promised to the whole nation that you will take care of me, I thought it was important for you to know me close and personal for you dont seem to know very much.

Let me begin with your assurance that the UPA Government was a Government of the “poor people” and “aam admi”.

Did you know that back in 2004 you said the same thing that the UPA Government would be a government for the “poor people” ?

Well even if you didnt I am happy that you kept your promise.

Because of your promise State Governments across the country took good care of us poor people.

They took such good care of us poor people that between 2004 and 2008

#1 The proportion of BPL population fell to 26% from 28% at the national level

#2  poverty decreased across all states barring Uttarakhand

#3 poverty has declined in 380 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies

So I am little confused when you say the UPA Government in 2009 will be a Government of the poor because guess what there are many of us who are no longer poor !

#1 Does that mean that if in 2004 you were for us, now in 2009 you are against us ?

#2 Does that mean you will take care of us only if we remain poor and you will abandon when we no longer remain poor ?

#3 Does that mean we are “common masses” as long as we remain poor and you will treat as uncommon exceptions when we are no longer BPL ?

#4 Does that mean if in 2004 when you came to our village found that we didnt understand “India Shining”, we should remain ignorant that way for 5 years and still not understand it in 2009 ?

#5 Does that mean India should never shine for us even if we manage to improve our standard of living ?

You may not have all the answers for these but I think I do.

When the rest of us in those 385 Lok Sabha constituencies managed to reduce poverty, in your own pocket borough of Rae Barelli poverty increased.

I now understand your duplicity better.

#1 When you say you are for the poor in 2004 and in 2009 what you really mean is you are for the poor staying poor election after election ?

#2 When you say you will take care of the aam admi in 2004 and in 2009 what you really mean is you want the aam admi to continue to be helpless and dependent election after election ?

#3 When you say you are a Government for the common masses in both 2004 and 2009 what you really mean is you want us to remain faceless underachievers ?

#4 When you say in 2004 and in 2009 that we didnt understand India Shining, what you really mean is you want us to remain ignorant and never understand what “India Shining means” ?

#5 When you say in 2004 and in 2009 that anyone who talks of India Shining is talking for the rich, what you really mean is you never want us to aspire to become rich and you never want India to Shine for us ?

I can see how well you have done this in Rae Barelli and Amethi and I can also how well your comrades-in-arms the CPI-Mafioso has done this in West Bengal where after decades for claiming to be pro-poor the Government has actually accomplished by keeping the people of Bengal poor and by increasing their numbers so there are more poor to celebrate the triumph of Social Justice.

You made this claim today that

Congress president Sonia Ganhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and myself will not let down common man and will leave no stone unturned in removing poverty

but how can I believe you when you are coming back to me in 2009 with the same attitude you had in 2004.

Here I am in 2009, I am no longer below the poverty line, I am hungry for knowledge and learning, I am hungry for opportunities.

But I see that you dont have a new message for me.

I see that you want me to feel guilty that I am now above the poverty line.

I see that you want my fellow poor to look upon me as rich and anyone who wants myy vote as being there enemy.

You claim the opposition is practising divisive politics, but I see here that you are practising the same divisive politics by making my fellow poor feel victims of my success and by making me feel guilty about that.

I see that you are practising the same divisive politics by making an enemy of the poor anyone who wants to talk about how India can shine for me with new skills, knowledge and opportunities.

But what hurts the most is when you claim to take care of me as an aam admi when you were nowhere to be seen when Terrorists struck in Varnasi, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Guwahati and again in Mumbai on 26th November 2008.

When my kith and kin aam admi who were both poor and common died in these incidents you did nothing to take care of us and you now come back in 2009 to talk about something that happened in 1999.

I dont care about what happened in 1999. I do care about what happened to the promises you made in 2004 and what you delivered at the end of 2008.

In closing as “an above the poverty line”, “not so common”, “one in a few” aam admi, I am lead to conclude that you have no real intention of taking care of me and that you intend to make an enemy of anyone who provides me with the opportunity to take care of myself.

Yours Sincerely

a recently uplifted and barely Above The Poverty Line Aaam Admi

Originally posted here

Filed under: Dharmayudh-2009, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009