When ministers S.M. Krishna and Shashi Tharoor were shown to be staying in five-star hotels while conducting the affairs of state,there were many accusations hurled. One pertained to hypocrisy. A government that preached salary cuts and austere values had ministers living a less than Spartan lifestyle. The second was breach of protocol. There were also questions on the actual amount the ministers were paying. Were there concessions,for instance? But one angle has been missing from the debate: whether taxpayers must pay for their representatives lavish lifestyles. This is because,as the ministers themselves are at pains to point out,they had chosen to pay their own tariff. At least one of those choices,it now emerges,was not altogether voluntary. As The Indian Express reported,External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishnas ministry pushed hard to get the government to pick his hotel bill. The only reason this did not happen was that the urban development ministry,to its credit,put its foot down and pointed to cheaper staying options. This revelation does not change the fact that Krishna did in the end pay his own bill. But it does undermine the moral high ground hed taken about not burdening the taxpayer. This newspaper believes that ministers,just like ordinary citizens,are entitled to spend what they legitimately earn any which way they like. The problem with the ministerial austerity spectacle is that it is drama meant to distract from real issues. News that two ministers were living in five-star hotels exposed these claims of austerity for what they were. Krishnas ministrys efforts to get the government to pick his tab only expose that claim even further.
