Suppose you asked a common person in Mumbai if they want to pay significantly more for petrol and diesel than in say neighboring Gujarat or Karnataka. What do you think the answer would be?
In a democracy, the government has to keep the people in good humor. That is the whole point of being a democracy. Now, populism is not always the right way to go. It can interfere with a setting up a prudent long term vision. Sometimes it is not even morally correct. But in most places, most of the time, letting the people decide is better than most other options. That is why democracy is central to our idea of what the modern world should look like.
In India, there is always an election happening somewhere. And so, ruling parties have to be on their toes, listening to what people are saying.
Now let us consider what happened the day before Diwali. For a while, prices of petrol and diesel had been rising sky high. That means people pay more for everything. It is not just those who own a car or a bike. Rising fuel prices make every item in the market more costly. That drives popular resentment. And why shouldn’t it? When household budgets go wrong, people get angry. And if you argue with them, they get even more angry.
That is what the Central Government realized. In a quick move, they slashed central excise on petrol by Rs 5 per liter and on diesel by Rs 10 per liter. Within hours, several BJP ruled states followed, slashing state taxes on fuel. As a result, petrol in many BJP ruled states became cheaper by Rs 12 overnight, and diesel by Rs 17. That is a huge reduction. It certainly made Diwali brighter for a lot of people.
To be fair, petrol and diesel are still much costlier than they were a year ago. But now the Modi government, aided by BJP ruled states, appears to have drawn a rough line in the sand. In all probability, petrol will stay below the psychological mark of Rs 100 per liter.
Of course, the fiscal math behind these cuts is not so healthy. Because of the recession last year, the government does not have a lot of money coming in. But as I pointed out, you cannot argue with someone whose household budget has gone wrong. And so, Modi sarkar listened.
The good news is that the Indian economy is going through a stellar recovery. Despite the high prices, fuel consumption has climbed above pre-pandemic levels. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates Diwali sales of Rs 1.25 lakh crore this year. This is nearly double of Rs 72,000 crore last year and more than double of the Rs 60,000 crore of sales in 2019. As the economy recovers and consumption picks up more pace, we are likely to see more tax cuts.
So Modi sarkar listened. Guess who didn’t listen? Take for instance, the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. Give them a Bollywood controversy and they will be all over it, digging up people’s personal documents, vacation photos and everything else. But have they reduced VAT on petrol and diesel so that the common citizen can get some relief? No way.
The same applies to states like Delhi and West Bengal. They haven’t cut taxes on petrol or diesel. In case you are keeping count, that already includes three of India’s biggest metros: Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. As you would expect, people who live in border areas of these states are flocking to neighboring BJP ruled states to buy fuel at lower prices.
But something is off about all this. Why has the media gone missing? The media is generally obsessed with Delhi. Anything that happens in a back alley in Delhi quickly becomes ‘national’ news. It is now three days since folks in Delhi are going to UP or Haryana to buy petrol and diesel. It seems nobody in the media has noticed. Where is the outrage?
As a general rule, Mumbai gets a lot less coverage than Delhi. But when the issue is just ‘right,’ the media can get just as obsessive about individuals living in Mumbai. We saw that all through October. What happened now? Are high fuel prices in Mumbai not an issue because those facing the brunt are not superstars?
The problem of course is liberal privilege. Because Delhi, Maharashtra or West Bengal have ‘liberal’ governments, the media cannot highlight the suffering of common people in these states.
Imagine if the situation were reversed. Imagine if the great liberal government of Delhi or Maharashtra or Bengal had reduced prices of petrol, but BJP ruled states had not. Think of the epic tributes that would have been written about their empathy for the poor. Speaking of VAT, there is an old ‘news’ segment of Ravish Kumar with children in Bihar. The kids are bargaining with the shopkeeper to buy their favorite Lalu doll. But VAT has made the doll more expensive by Rs 10. You can watch that whole ‘news’ segment here, which NDTV has listed among its ‘classics.’ Reporting on how much kids love Lalu Yadav dolls is how real journalism is done. Got it?
The opposition state governments can relax. They know nobody would ever dare to question them.
This is the liberal privilege I am talking about. This is why less than 40 percent of Indian households had toilets in 2014. And this is why 87 percent of rural households did not have tap water in 2014. Forget asking what liberal governments were doing in all these years. Let me ask you this. Before 2014, did anybody even discuss what percentage of people have toilets, tap water, electricity connections or gas connections in this country? Liberal privilege did not just hide the incompetence of so called secular governments. Liberal privilege got so deep inside our heads that we did not even realize that access to water, electricity or toilets could be an issue!
But now, access of all sorts is an issue. The other day, Ravish Kumar asked in a segment about bullock carts not having access to the expressways that Modi sarkar is building. Please don’t make fun of him. At least he is asking questions instead of reporting on the popularity of Lalu Yadav dolls. Some questions are clever, others less so. Let it be.
This however is not the era of political monopolies. And also not the era of media monopolies. People are bound to feel the pinch of paying Rs 110 per liter for petrol. And they will know that those in neighboring BJP ruled states are paying a lot less. People will also understand the liberal privilege instinctively: they know that they are paying less because ‘secular’ parties get favorable coverage from media. The media can’t keep them distracted with stories about celebrities. This is one time that liberal privilege is working against the parties that have it.
