Besides the social media brouhaha over freebie politics and one of the most erudite proponents of it – Arvind Kejriwal – there are some fundamental issues that beset the practice of this brand of social welfarism. First of all, it is more an explication of social welfarist nihilism than actual policy level changes that brings in long-term benefits to people. Second, it promotes a form of primitive dependency on the state and whatever it can dole out, negating enterprise, entrepreneurship and the vibrancy of a functional political economic system. Third and most importantly, it has the potential to push the state coffers to the brink, heralding panic in the financial system and straining foreign reserves. The simulated scenario appears bleak when viewed against India’s dark past when erstwhile PM Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had to perforce liberalise the economy because of our desperate need for an IMF loan. Such were the contributions of the Nehruvian economy!
The national capital territory – Delhi – where elections are due in February has seen a flurry of schemes bordering on welfare nihilism from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and his stand-in Chief Minister, reminiscent of the many sops – free bijli, free pani – he has been wont to announce at every given instance. One of the many welfarist promises Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly made is with regard to the cleaning of the Yamuna, one of Bharat’s holiest rivers, which flows down the eastern flank of the city and presently is little more than a gigantic drain. There are 28 actual drains in Delhi which flow into the Yamuna taking all nature of filth into the river which the Delhi Government vowed to clean up. Three terms later, the AAP seems to be floundering to answer the basic query on what happened to the Yamuna. This is the party – and Kejriwal the man – who promised the people of Delhi a vibrant, thriving riverfront economy. Instead, it is quite common to pass by or over the Yamuna every year and witness thousands of devotees worshipping the Sun on the occasion of Chhath Puja half immersed in carcinogenic froth and foam. The 2023-24 budget of the Delhi Government earmarked ₹1,028 crores for the cleaning of the Yamuna. In April 2023, it was brought to light that the Delhi Government had spent around ₹6,856.91 crores on the river cleaning project in five years, between 2017-2021. Data obtained from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), however, suggests something else—that the pollutants in the Yamuna turning it into a morass of dirt, garbage and industrial effluents have doubled between 2015 and 2023. The AAP has been in power in Delhi all this while. You do the math!
While the Yamuna waits for its deliverance, Kejriwal and the AAP has gone ballistic with its freebie salvo, announcing direct debit transfers for women and a health insurance scheme for senior citizens besides its usual bijli-pani rhetoric. While making these grandiose pronouncements, the scam-tainted Arvind Kejriwal and his temporary Chief Minister conveniently placed a few matters on the backburner. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of the national capital crossed 490 in November 2024, plummeting into the “severe plus” category, choking the city beyond comprehension. The elderly citizens who the AAP claims to be shoring up with its Sanjeevani scheme are the very people facing the gravest of health issues due to the disastrously toxic air. Delhiites across the board – and social and economic classes – have been experiencing acute water shortages throughout the city due to extremely high levels of ammonia in the Yamuna with the existing water treatment plants failing to treat the water. The inability of the citizens of Delhi to get access to clean, potable water through the recognised supply chain has resulted in the growth and consolidation of a black market in – hold your breath – water! Unregistered supply tankers have been making a quick fortune on the side while the AAP government has conveniently looked the other way. A recent television news report was enough to churn the gut – several neighbourhoods in Delhi are forced to either fall prey to the tanker mafia or drink sewage water – with traces of faeces!
Each passing year, more people have lost their lives to the monsoon season in the national capital due to overflowing clogged drains, open sewers and potholes on the roads. Infrastructure in the city has been crumbling without a solution in sight. Most recently, in 2024, people died due to electrocution from open wires hanging down into lanes and by-lanes that turn into rivulets, or their vehicles tripping over gargantuan potholes. Some perished because the underpass was flooded enough to drown an entire SUV! In fact, Kejriwal promised us a city of lakes – and rain-fed lakes are what we got.
Ironically, the very constituency that Kejriwal so eloquently appears to champion, are the worst sufferers. Several units of free electricity are useless if blackened, filth-ridden sewage comes gushing into your home every time it rains. Some cash in the bank cannot bail you out if debilitating disease grabs hold of your innards. The AAP government has – over the years and the three terms that it has been in power – ignored the basics and gloated over the whitewash. Freebie politics has rung the death knell for many an economy the world over. Some recent examples are Argentina and Sri Lanka. Electoral victories alone could not keep them from going under. Long-term political benefits accrue from long-term gains, for the public at large. Not really sure if free bus rides, a few thousand rupees in the bank account, and a non-starter health plan qualify.
