Well, its just about time when I can share my views about an upcoming budget with a popular government. Atleast, a government I would like to call popular so far. Well, I for that matter, have been living with this hope of getting some benefit since last many years of your popular government. Yes - you Mr. Prime Minister. I voted for any Tom, Dick or Harry just because he was attached to your name as I had hopes from you. Who am I? I say that's a good question. I'm the one who doesn't get free electricity, who doesn't get tax free income, even if it is at the lowest slab of your categorization. I'm the one who doesn't have the privilege of any quota just because I was born with a certain type of last name. I also had no say or hand in how and why the ones who had a certain last name had a raw deal in the past. But I'm surely the one who had less number of available seats for Engineering/Medical/Civil Service or any similar areas. I am surely the one who fought through, not just competition, but also reservations/quotas and the red tape and the general looking down upon as the filthy, good for nothing, having no say types middle class kid.
I'm the one who, after fighting through all the previously created biases, didn't sit for a dharna to ask for a quota, or ask for lowering of passing marks or any similar concessions to permeate my growth on some pretext or the other - whether coming from the past or the future. I had none of the varying caps of religion on my head and I came with no certificate of my caste or religion to you or your predecessors to beg for leverages due to how and where and in which caste/religion I was born.
While I do not think I'm proud of my position today but I atleast carry the pride that I fought through it all MYSELF. Yes, MYSELF. I reached wherever I am because I persisted. I achieved what I did because I didn't give up against all the biases. I didn't get disheartened with all that happened around me. While my parents still had to pay for electricity and water when I was studying. They still had to pay for my education through their nose, sometimes through all their savings and assets. While they still paid for all this, I was not - even on a single instance, the one to damage or harm public property. I had no thoughts to protest against all the injustice I had to deal with.
I still get goose bumps when I see and hear about my soldiers. I still get teary eyed when I hear the National Anthem. I do not go on any media to criticize the Nation. I may cry foul about lack of structure or responsiveness. But I still hold dear the values I possess as a virtue of being an Indian.
But what do I get for all this. What did I get for all my life. I can be harrassed by any public servant without any remorse. I can be taken for a ride by any government functionary. I have to look for only 2 options if I get stuck. Either a bigger government functionary to bail me out or a bigger money bag to buy my already proved innocence. And then I pay taxes for this. I pay so much that it hurts after all this. It would not have mattered if it was not for you. It would not have been expected if it was not you - at the top.
I have been patiently waiting for my turn to get reprieve from past few years. I have been trying to console myself with every budget that it will come next year and the next or the next. I must tell you now that I'm about to give up on you. I have been seeing what's happening around me at my expense, with my tax money, for quiet some time now. Whereas, no benefit has come back to me.
All I ask is, how long you think I should wait. Mr. Prime Minister, I ask YOU. How long should I wait? How much longer would I be the one to only spend and not earn. How long will my spending drive the economy while no money is left in my hands. How long will I, the bloody common middle class man, be expected to pay all his/her taxes and not get any benefits while still see the ones who call themselves Farmers, Downtrodden, Lower caste, Exploited etc take all the benefits and credit as well as leverage to do anything and get away with it. I have paid, in cash and kind, in peace and dignity, in privilege and ignorance for long. I must tell you now that its too much and too long. I know in 1.3 billion my voice and my decision will not affect you at all but my last decision Mr. Prime Minister will be to leave hope or the country or both. But before that I want to rely on my last hope. And my last Hope Mr. PRIME MINISTER- IS YOU AND YOU ALONE.
JAI HIND And Hail the Indian Middle Class.
