Sir — This refers to the article, “Free food will come at a very steep cost” (July 22) by Balbir Punj. It is easy to point fingers and ridicule the regime for trying to win the support of the masses by bringing in social welfare schemes, such as the food security scheme.
The writer lampoons the ‘garibi hatao’ slogan given by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi four decades ago, but conveniently forgets that the Bharatiya Janata Party too invoked lord Ram’s name to garner support. The writer has to be impartial and objective in his analysis.
The fact of the matter is that every political party, without exception, follows the same route to win elections — offer sops, make grandiose promises and indulge in a fair bit of ‘appeasement’. However, it is difficult to fool the people all the time.