The government spends much of our taxes on things that don’t really affect us, but we need to be more supportive
If we hand over a percentage of our salaries, what politicians do is far greater, which is spending it to generate jobs for private contractors. When our politicians live well and eat well, a few thousand of us do the same too. It really is that simple
I was horrified to read about people protesting renovation of government buildings in Delhi. There weren’t that many of them, obviously, because going to jail is an inconvenience at the best of times, but a few critics did have awful things to say about this plan on social media platforms. They wanted to know why this was necessary at all, let alone at a time when jobs have disappeared, vaccines have been shipped abroad as gifts, and we are all struggling with a pandemic that shows no signs of going away.
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If I could, I would sit each of these naysayers down and explain why our taxes need to be spent on making Parliament look better. When a classy, historical building is torn down and replaced with something brighter, gaudier, and more akin to a Bollywood set, it sends the rest of the world a very strong message. It tells them that we, as a country, are unique. We don’t respect the past because we shimmy and shake towards a shiny future. We thumb our noses at class and embrace everything crass with pride. The men and women who represent us, and spend their time in the heavily subsidised canteens of these new buildings, will inevitably be happier when their surroundings start to reflect their backgrounds. Eventually, their happiness will trickle down to the nearest billionaire businessman who, in turn, will help spread the goodwill among thousands of shareholders. It is a massive win for India.
In an ideal world, this wouldn’t need to be explained. It would be drilled into us from kindergarten, this urge to please the politicians who rule us. We don’t even think of them as rulers, referring to them as representatives instead, and conveniently forgetting that they deserve more because they do more for the country. All we do is work hard and hand over a percentage of our salaries. What they do is far greater, which is spending that money in ways that generate jobs for thousands of private contractors. When our politicians live well and eat well, a few thousand of us do the same too. It really is that simple.
I thought about this when there were complaints about the vaccines too. Some pompous man on Twitter pulled up a dubious statistic comparing the number of Indians who had been vaccinated with the number of doses given away to foreign countries as a goodwill gesture. He had a problem with the fact that more vaccines had been given away than used on Indian citizens, and his selfishness appalled and saddened me.
What separates India from the rest of the world is our ability to think about others before we think of ourselves. Yes, this acceptance doesn’t extend to women, children, the poor, the minorities, or members of some castes, but it is still present when it comes to foreigners. It is that respect alone that allowed a small number of Englishmen to control millions of our forefathers for centuries. It is why we all ended up with railways, roads, gothic architecture, and an English-language education. To extend that courtesy to foreigners again, putting their needs before our own, is a guarantee that our children will reap the benefits of our servility a few generations down the line.
I want the government to use my taxes to do whatever it likes, without checks and balances. If a minister wants to paint every street in India saffron, he or she should be allowed to, because that is the kind of outlandish idea that makes a country special. It is only by confounding everyone on the planet by focusing on things that don’t seem to matter, that we can prove how unique we really are. That is the kind of attitude that will eventually bring more tourists to visit us, the way we now stop by zoos to admire other species.
Today’s India is a bold place, where outdated things like criticism and common sense have no place, where leaders march to the tunes of their own drums, dragging the rest of us kicking and screaming with them. If we can’t appreciate the intelligence of their ideas, the least we can do is stop complaining. They haven’t taken all of our money yet, for which we should be thankful. I intend to hand over more of my taxes if possible, so more things can be torn down and replaced. I look forward to my friends and family being on board with this approach too.
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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