It is not about that petrol and diesel are
still cheaper in Delhi than neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
It is about betraying people once again and
that too when the Aam Aadmi Party government is just five months old in the
office - the five months that it completed only yesterday.
And the move by the AAP government has come
just two weeks after denying to plan anything on this line.
After the uproar two weeks ago about the
proposal to increase VAT, Raghav Chadda, the party's spokesperson, had rushed
to clarify: "We have reduced the penalty. We didn't say that we are
increasing the VAT. We have just tabled the amendment for the flexibility of
VAT department."
Let's see what he had to say today. Today,
he tried to shield behind verbal jugglery inundating his response with
technical (financial) terms saying - "FMs of all North Indian States
decided that fuel prices should be at
uniform rates to avoid geographical tax arbitrage and trade malpractices."
Well, public doesn't understand such
jargons and people who have voted for the AAP (or for that matter any other
political party or government) react negatively to such developments.
And it will reflect in elections. The AAP,
due to its ignorance, may not gauge it in Punjab polls, but the outcome will
certainly be humiliating in Delhi if this streak continues. Five years on
electoral scale are not too long.
And such a 'hostile to public sentiments'
move came on a day when the BJP led Union Government reduced prices of petrol
and diesel by Rs. 2 throughout the country. That made the AAP's shabby response
sound even more hypocritical.
Totally indefensible and Manish Sisodia's
response only added to it - (tax rates on Petrol-Diesel are being rationalised
in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, HP, Chandigarh & UP under unified tax policy.
1st time in North India.)
It may be first time in India - this
rationalization as said by Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal's right hand and
Delhi's deputy chief-minister, may be debatable - but the AAP's fall from grace
after February 14, 2015, when it took oath for the second time, has been,
unfortunately, an uninterrupted show.
And the continuing advertising blitzkrieg,
on public's money, is only adding to it. The message such acts by the AAP
government send that the government has not been able to raise money and is insensitively
indulging in acts to finance its populist measures and its wasteful
expenditures.