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Fastag Extortion

From Deccan Herald

 What India now has is an extortionist government. It raises the prices of everything on a daily basis. Petrol and diesel prices are just conspicuous examples. Today the price of cooking gas went up yet again. Do you know how many times the price of gas has been increased in the month of February alone? Probably, you don't. We have stopped thinking about price rises. We have got used to the mounting prices. Maybe, we have accepted the rising prices as the cost to be paid for keeping Narendra Modi as our PM. Maybe, this is what patriotism means: attaining multiple orgasms while being screwed wholesale by your government. 

What are we to Mr Narendra Modi? Are we citizens or subjects? 

In the olden days there were kings and subjects. Not citizens. We have been taken back to those old days by Mr Modi. Of course, he is in love with old days. He spoke to us no end about the greatness of the old days. Now we are there: king and subjects. No more citizens of a democracy. 

The king has dedicated a stadium to himself. The Motera cricket stadium has been named Narendra Modi stadium by our President. Who is the President? Well, we know him, don't we? He will be remembered by posterity as the Head of a state who usurped a stadium from India's first deputy Prime Minister and freedom fighter and handed it over on a platter to a narcissist with the deference of a galley slave.  

I was in hospital the other day attending to my wife who had been admitted for a few days with a rather serious medical situation. As I sat outside the intensive care unit, a message landed in my phone which read: "As per record, vehicle no PQR is not issued a FASTag. Non-fitment of FASTag is a violation of CMVR 1989 and liable for penalty. Get a FASTag today..." 

I live in a village in Kerala and have never had to pass through a toll gate in all my driving years in the state so far. The nearest toll gate is some 100 km away and I don't think I'll ever have to go anywhere near it. Why should someone like me fit a FASTag to my car? Why does the government extort money like this from us? We pay road taxes, vehicle taxes, insurance and its taxes, fuel taxes, maintenance taxes... an endless array of taxes for the simple convenience of owning a vehicle. Now another burden which is nothing short of plunder for people like me who never drive on those elite highways. Moreover, banks are charging fines too for not keeping minimum prescribed amounts in these FASTag accounts. Indian banks have already looted Rs300 crore from FASTag users, according to a news report I read this morning. Not only the government has turned looters in Modi's India!

Has there ever been such an insensitive government in independent India so far? Yet why is this man still worshipped like a god? I know the answer but won't say it. Find out yourself. 

Comments

  1. जितेन्द्र माथुरMarch 2, 2021 at 1:56 PM

    I am in complete agreement with yourself as I am also sailing in the same boat. This is an extortionist government beyond doubt. And the question asked by you in the penultimate line is for everybody like you and me. And yes, each one of us has to find his answer himself only.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 2, 2021 at 4:13 PM

      Our country has become a frustrating place in too many ways. I wonder when the tide will turn. It has to turn anyway.

      Delete

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