Shri Sriman Narayan has suddenly become luxury-conscious. In speech after speech, he is explaining the need to cut down on luxury at the people’s level so that the Third Plan may be helped along. If an austerity-struck people turn back to ask him what are the ‘luxuries’ left to them to enjoy, of course it will not be up to the august planning expert to take note of the question. The people may say that they do not have the luxury of even two per cent beer left to them, but the Planning Commission knows of the existence of such other luxuries as cinema houses, cool restaurants and foam cushions in buses. These should be done away with so that the next Plan will not be jeopardised on that account. All the same, Shri Sriman Narayan’s allergy to our Welfare State luxuries hardly comes from an inspiring source. It is a safe guess that the patriotic speeches made by him were delivered in air-conditioned auditoriums. Probably he drove to the auditorium and back in a plush limousine. It is the privilege of the ruling class, including members of the Planning Commission, to enjoy the luxuries their planning brains abhor. No wonder therefore that Shri Narayan can drive in his car to a meeting place and declare that a people’s car is just so much crap. This makes one draw a parallel, albeit unpatriotic, between Shri Narayan’s campaign and the irrepressible Dr. Lohia’s campaign against English
— in English.
January 18, 1961
