The only way to begin a column that appears on Diwali morning is to start by wishing all of you the very best for this most auspicious and beautiful of our festivals. My personal wish today is that next year brings a Diwali that is less shadowed by war and death. I do not know about you but when I light the ‘diyas’ tonight and seek the blessings of the Goddess Lakshmi I will find it hard not to think about the horrors unfolding in Gaza. It is heartbreaking to see children dying for reasons they cannot understand, and horrifying to see people fleeing from homes that they may not return to because they may have been destroyed by bombs.
Having said this I would like to reiterate what I have said before in this column, that the reason why the people of Gaza are suffering is because of Hamas. This would not be happening, and could stop quickly, if Hamas freed the Israeli hostages that it has now hidden in its dreadful network of tunnels for more than a month. Why do they not do this? And why are countries like Iran, Russia, China, and every Islamic country not putting pressure on Hamas to stop this evil war? There is pressure on Israel from its allies and because these are democratic countries, there have been huge protests in London, New York, Paris, and Berlin in support of Palestine. This does not make Israel the villain of this horror story. The villain remains Hamas and far too many people seem to have forgotten this.
For me, this Diwali is not the happiest for domestic reasons as well. Since today is when we celebrate the Goddess of Wealth it has worried me to see that in the past week there have been political leaders who appear to celebrate the survival of poverty. Poor people and poverty are handy props in election season, because then politicians who have failed to deliver prosperity spend their time promising scraps from the high table to those living in poverty. Chief Ministers, desperate for re-election, have been distributing charity in the name of welfare as if it was their personal money that they were spending.
Promises of monthly pocket money for women and promises of more quotas based on caste have been so recklessly made that in doing these things they have virtually admitted that India is still a very, very poor country. The Prime Minister who often rails against freebies has joined the ‘povertarian’ club by promising that cheap food grain will continue to be supplied to 80 crore Indians for another five years. Are there 80 crore Indians too poor to buy food at market prices? And, if there are then we need to forget about that dream of becoming a developed country in the next decade.
When political leaders spend taxpayers’ money on handing out charity, they fail to tell voters that if they were not spending money this way, there would be more money to spend on schools, hospitals, roads and creating real jobs. They fail to tell them that no country in the world has ever got rich from distributing largesse to poor people instead of helping them escape poverty. Countries that are rich have invested wisely in prosperity and not poverty. If India is not yet counted among them, it is because of ‘socialist’ economic policies that made our unwise leaders squander money on giving the poor charity. Socialism of this kind has proved to be a failure. But because most of our leaders have spent their formative years in socialist times, they remain stuck in ideas that should have died long ago.
As the only civilisation in the world that worships the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity on our most important festival, we should instead celebrate the creation of wealth. This is something we have not learned to do because it is not just our political leaders but our ‘intellectuals’ who continue to cling to economic ideas that belong in the garbage bin. Perhaps our political leaders and thinkers will only discover they were wrong when we spend more decades distributing charity without getting any closer to helping our most desperate citizens escape the shackles of poverty.
That is a truly gloomy thought, but it is a gloomy time. At a personal level I admit that I have been so depressed by events in the Middle East, and the low quality of the campaign promises being made in this election season that I have found it hard to enjoy Diwali festivities like I usually do. When I light my ‘diyas’ tonight and pay my obeisance to the Goddess I shall make a wish that by next week somehow the Israeli hostages have been miraculously freed. And, that the bombing of Gaza miraculously ends and there can be the first glimmers of peace between Israel and Palestine. I will make this wish knowing in my heart that peace will only be possible if Hamas and other jihadi terrorist organizations are crushed once and for all.
Meanwhile may you have a wonderful Diwali and may the coming year bring prosperity and good fortune to your families, to our country and to the world. If things get better, I promise that next Diwali I will write a piece full of joy and sparkle. This year it has been too hard to do.
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