Madhya Pradesh State Committee Secretary Badal Saroj has asked BJP to explain the source of more than 20 crores which have been spent in organising a royal ‘bhandara’ for 5 lakh persons in the jamboori ground of Bhopal and decorating the venue with huge cut-outs. The people of Madhya Pradesh have a right to know the source of this gigantic expenditure. The BJP which keeps on swearing by ‘honesty’ and ‘ethics’ should make the source of this funding public, he said.
It is really sad that this huge and vulgar expenditure is being done in Madhya Pradesh, a state whose citizens have a life-expectancy which is 5 years less than the national average, which is number one in terms of malnutrition and where 250 children die due to this every hour, which is one of the hungriest regions in the world and where 75 % of the people are extremely poor. 91 % of the tribal children are stunted due to under-nutrition and 90% of tribal women are suffering from anaemia. From the fifth position in the matter of farmer suicides (after a farmer’s son became Chief Minister!) the state now ranks fourth, about 2.5 lakh people are homeless and 34 lakhs are jhuggi-dwellers. 33 cases of gang-rapes are registered every month. That the ruling party and its executive head are spending so much for a self-idolatry and meaningless demonstration reminds one of ‘Nero fiddling while Rome was burning’.
Regarding ‘burqa’, both BJP and Congress are issuing statements which reveal their anti-woman and conservative mindset. On the one side is the BJP which is bent upon organising ‘burqa-parade’ to show that they have the support of Muslim women, while the Congress’s only objection is which black-marketeer has funded the purchase of the ‘burqas’, lamented Badal Saroj.
September 26, 2013