Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 11: Even as the ruling BJP and the opposition parties, particularly the Aam Aadmi Party traded charges and counter charges on “freebies” for electoral advantages, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to consider the question of derecognising political parties for resorting to freebies.
“Derecognition of parties is an undemocratic thing… I will not go into all that,” Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, heading a Bench, orally observed. The apex court was considering the question of reining in the practice of political parties offering “irrational freebies” to the electorate for catching votes. But the court also drew a demarcation line between freebies and the promises for the government’s welfare scheme.
The bench was of the opinion that “care-free promises” and distribution of freebies and the actual government welfare schemes were “as different as chalk and cheese.” “One leads to sheer loss to the national economy while the other feeds the poor in drought-ridden areas and distributes care during COVID-19,” the Supreme Court said.
Senior advocates Vikas Singh, for petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay, said states have ₹15 lakh crore debt. “Public money should not be misused by political parties whose only intention is to gain and retain power.” Senior advocate Arvind Datar, also for the petitioner side, said “giving laptops, TVs and gold chains cannot be to promote Directive Principles of State Policy”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, agreed with the court’s proposal to form an expert body to recommend guidelines against freebies. He said the “freebie culture” has been “elevated to an art” by some parties.
“Sometimes, elections are fought only on the promise of freebies. It is a dangerous situation if distribution of freebies is considered the only way to reach out to the electorate… We are leading the country to a disaster,” Mehta submitted.
He also suggested that the proposed expert body should, along with representatives of national political parties, RBI, Niti Aayog, Finance Commission, etc, also have members of the industry. He pointed out that some of these sectors, like electricity, was already “stressed” by the distribution of freebies by certain state governments, apparently a direct attack on the AAP whose top leader and the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had in most of the states promised “free electricity” to the voters if his party was elected.
Chief Justice Ramana said the court was striving for a balance between the welfare requirements of the people, especially the poor and the downtrodden, and the need to avert a national economic loss through unbridled distribution of largesse by political parties to hold on to power. The CJI referred to how political parties when they come into power use freebies to regularise the illegal acts of sections of society.
“People who violated the law gain through freebies while people who chose to abide the law are punished… What is the message being given when freebies include regularisation of illegal acts?” Chief Justice Ramana asked. Mehta said ordinary tax payers, when face-to-face with crumbling public infrastructure, would wonder where their money had gone. “They will not understand if freebies become a norm,” the Solicitor General said.
The court said it was time to trigger a debate on the issue which raises “serious concern.” “Financial restrictions” need to be debated. The Bench asked the parties to give written suggestions and posted the case on August 17. Earlier, the Election Commission of India had turned down a suggestion to be included in the proposed experts’ committee on freebies.
Meanwhile, in yet another attack on the ruling BJP on the question of freebies, Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that the central government led by Narendra Modi had been piling on taxes on the masses but waiving it off for the rich. The BJP hit back, challenging Kejriwal to prove his allegations within 24 hours.
His comment comes amid a fight between the ruling BJP and opposition parties over the issue of freebies, or “revdi culture”, which the centre has alleged is a method that leaders as the Delhi Chief Minister often uses to keep voters happy.
“They brought Agnipath scheme saying they have no money for pensions. It has never happened since independence that the country is left with no money to pay pension to soldiers,” Kejriwal said.
Modi during the inauguration of an expressway in Bundelkhand on July 16 had cautioned people against what he called a “revdi (sweet) culture” under which votes were sought by promising freebies, that this could be “very dangerous” for development of the country. The BJP leader Amit Malviya brushed off Kejriwal’s allegations as “brazen lies.”
BJP leaders had attacked Kejriwal over freebies for the people of the national capital, which they claimed had put severe stress on public finance. Hitting back, Kejriwal had pointed out that his “free” government’s programmes helped people come out of poverty and ensured quality services like health and education reached the poorest of the poor.
“Where has the central government’s money gone? The central government shares a part of taxes it collects with the states. Earlier, it was 42 per cent. Now it has been cut to 29-30 per cent. The centre is collecting twice-thrice the amount of taxes it collected in 2014. Where is all the money going?” Kejriwal asked.
“We are about to celebrate 75 years since independence. The centre has taxed gehu-chawal of the poor, which has never happened. It is a cruel thing to do. Tax on gehu, tax on chawal, tax on gur, tax on lassi, tax on paneer…how did it get so bad that the centre has to tax the food of poor people?” Kejriwal said.
“The centre’s budget in 2014 was ₹ 20 lakh crore, today it is ₹ 40 lakh crore. The centre has spent ₹ 10 lakh crore on waiving off loans of super-rich people, their friends. Had they not waived off these loans, the government wouldn’t need to tax people’s food, they would have money to pay soldiers’ pensions. The government has also waived off ₹ 5 lakh crore worth of taxes of big, big companies too,” Kejriwal alleged.
Amit Malviya tweeted all the allegations by Kejriwal were “brazen lies.” “Centre hasn’t waived off loans but recovered ₹ 6.5 lakh crore since 2014-15. Nowhere has the centre said that Agniveer is to cut pension bill. The Modi government has all the money for our armed forces. There is no tax on loose food items. States levied VAT (value added tax) earlier,” Malviya tweeted. “The bunch of lies continues…Centre hasn’t cut MNREGA allocation. States aren’t able to spend. The Modi government’s Ayushman Bharat is the biggest healthcare programme in the world. Kejriwal hasn’t set up a single hospital in Delhi. The centre is providing free food to 80 crore people,” the BJP leader claimed.