Dear friends,

This petition is to request Mr Akhlesh Yadav, CM of UP to drop the idea of buying two luxury cars for himself. As I see it, the purchase that will be a drain on people’s money will serve no public purpose.

The waywardness of leaders world over is stuff of lore. They lack all sense of propriety and are shamelessly insensitive to public misgivings. No wonder they move around in kingly cavalcades, much grander than warranted by concern for their safety or security, at the cost of people’s ire and media censor. Their royal trappings are forever an eyesore. Indian leaders are way ahead of their global cousins in this dirty game. Many of our netas are untouched by winds of change as continue doing their own thing.

With that backgrounder, I would like to bring to your kind notice the issue that constitutes the subject of my Petition herein. I have come across a newspaper report which tells us of an impending purchase of two Mercedes cars by Uttar Pradesh government for pleasing and comforting our young chief minister. I was appalled to read the report and could not help reacting to it. Even as people of Uttar Pradesh suffer one cruel blow after the other due apathetic and selfish political shenanigans, our CM’s love for ostentation is outrightly despicable. Be it Muzaffarnagar riots, deplorable plight of cane growers, state of roads or utter lawlessness on the streets, the administration has come a cropper. This instant act of frittering precious public fund on nonessentials is simply telling us to keep off. Our helplessness due to lack of political alternatives, and to a lesser extent lure for freebies, has brought us to a pass where they treat our vote as a certificate to plunder for five years.

But this must stop. We must refuse to be silent onlookers and use our right to protest. Please join me in requesting Mr Akhilesh Yadav to try and feel young India’s pulse and spare old political gimmicks. Coming to the point, the chief minister should drop the idea of buying luxury cars. Instead of planning such projects, he should use his time and energy in bringing about some positive change reflecting a sense of urgency towards public good. If at all he should get some jeeps to visit the state’s hinterland, where no minister has ever been. Hope he will listen to the voice of reason.

PS: Here is a shocker which should break our long stupor of nonchalance. A recent RTI query has revealed how Badal duo’s love for travelling has cost Punjab ( with a debt of Rs 1 lakh crore to bear) Rs 14 crore ( Rs 30 crore for the whole cabinet) between March 2012 and Dec 2013. And we all know about Maya’s love for palatial houses. Mind you these are just two of the innumerable instances of how they mercilessly bleed our poor nation of multitudes of hungry and malnourished to death. Who does not know the lavish styles of Jayalalithas, Karunanidhis, Jaganmohans et al. Time we woke up and took note.