Sample: “This lady who was born in a rich, prosperous family came to us as a daughter-in-law and has added gloriously (char chand) to the glory of her husband’s family.”

The Prime Minister’s name was mentioned only twice and nothing was said by any of the speakers about his immense contribution to changing the face of the Indian economy.

This brings me to the second reason why the rally depressed me.

It was the mindless populism that made up the bulk of the speeches. I do not approve of populism but can understand its uses at election time. Voters are more enthused by extravagant promises and passionate rhetoric than by a catalogue of good deeds, so if at election time a politician indulges in rhetorical nonsense he can be forgiven.

But an election is not due in Rajasthan for two years. So where is the need to mislead farmers into believing that the creation of an SEZ (special economic zone) amounts to robbing them of their land? Why tell them, as the MP from Alwar, Karan Singh Yadav, did that “their land is being taken from them to be given to businessmen from Mumbai.”

Personally, I do not like the SEZ idea because I believe that India will only progress when every district is given SEZ laws and facilities, but does Mr Yadav not know that the policy he is attacking was made by his party’s Prime Minister?

Does he not know that development and economic progress have a price and often it is land? Could we have built highways and power stations if farmers had not been persuaded to sell their land? Can rural India ever become rich if the vast majority of the population continues to rely on subsistence farming as their main source of livelihood?

... contd.