[Reader-list] letter to Bachchanji from Mallika S.

[Pawan Durani]

sour grapes !!!

On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 9:46 PM, Javed <javedmasoo at gmail.com> wrote:

> Can I believe in your endorsements, Bachchanji?
> Mallika Sarabhai
>
> My dear Bachchanji, Greetings from a Gujarati.
>
> You are indeed a fine actor. You are an intelligent man and a shrewd
> businessman. But should I believe in your endorsements?
>
> Let's take a brief look at what you proclaim you believe in (albeit
> for huge sums of money). BPL, ICICI, Parker and Luxor pens, Maruti
> Versa, Cadbury Chocolates. Nerolac Paints, Dabur, Emami, Eveready,
> Sahara City Homes, D'damas, Binani Cement and Reliance. And now
> Gujarat.
>
> I wonder how you decide what to endorse. Is your house built with
> Binani Cement? Do you really like Cadbury's Chocolates or do you have
> to resort to Dabar's Hajmola (whose efficacy you have earlier checked)
> after eating them?
>
> And, having endorsed two pens, one very upmarket and one rather down,
> which one do you use? Have you, except perhaps for the shooting of the
> ad, ever driven or been driven in a Versa? Do you know whether the
> Nerolac paint in your home (you do use it don't you?) has lead in it
> that can poison you slowly as it does so many people? Or are the
> decisions entirely monetary?
>
> It has been reported that no direct fee will be paid to you for being
> my Brand Ambassador. So, with no monetary decision to guide you, how
> did you decide to say yes? Did you check on the state of the State?
>
> I doubt it, for the decision and the announcement came from one single
> meeting. And I somehow doubt that you have been following the news on
> Gujarat closely.So, as a Gujarati, permit me to introduce my State to
> you.
>
> Everyone knows of our vibrancy, of the billions and trillions pouring
> into our State through the two yearly jamborees called Vibrant
> Gujarat. But did you know that by the government's own admission no
> more than 23% of these have actually moved beyond the MOU stage?
>
> That while huge subsidies are being granted to our richest business
> houses, over 75,000 small and medium businesses have shut down
> rendering one million more people jobless?
>
> You know of Gujarat's fast paced growth and the FDI pouring in, you
> have no doubt seen pictures of the Czars of the business world lining
> up to pour money to develop us. To develop whom?
>
> Did you know that our poor are getting poorer? That while theAll-India
> reduction in poverty between '93 and 2005 is 8.5%, in Gujarat it is a
> mere 2.8%? That we have entire farmer families committing suicide, not
> just the male head of the household?
>
> You have heard of how some mealy mouthed NGO types have been blocking
> the progress of the Narmada project, how the government has prevailed,
> and water is pouring down every thirsty mouth and every bit of thirsty
> land. But did you know that in the 49 years since it was started, and
> in spite of the Rs.29,000 crores spent on it, only 29% of the work is
> complete?
>
> That the construction is so poor (lots of sand added to the you-know-
> which cement perhaps) that over the last nine years there have been
> 308 breaches, ruining lakhs of farmers whose fields were flooded,
> ruining the poorest salt farmers whose salt was washed away?
>
> That whereas in 1999, 4743 of Gujarat's villages were without drinking
> water, within two years that figure had gone up to 11,390 villages ?
> (I cannot even begin to project those figures for today - but do know
> that the figure has gone up dramatically rather than down.)
>
> With our CM, hailed as the CEO of Gujarat, we have once again achieved
> number one status - in indebtedness. In 2001 the State debt was
> Rs.14000 crores. This was before the State became a multinational
> company. Today it stands at Rs.1,05,000 crores. And to service this
> debt we pay a whopping Rs7000 crores a year, 25% of our annual budget.
>
> Meanwhile our spending on education is down, no new public hospitals
> for the poor are being built, fishermen are going a begging as the
> seas turn turgid with effluents, more mothers die at birth per
> thousandthan in the rest of India, and our general performance on the
> Human Development Index is nearly the first - from the bottom.
>
> One rape a day, 17 cases of violence against women, and, over the last
> ten years, 8802 suicides and 18152 "accidental " deaths of women are
> officially reported. You can imagine the real figures.
>
> You have said that you are our Ambassador because we have Somnath and
> Gandhi. Somnath was built for people. Gandhiji was a man of the
> people. Do the people of this State matter to you? If they do, perhaps
> your decision will be different. I hope you will read this letter and
> decide.
>
> In warmth and friendship,
> Mallika
>
>
> http://www.dnaindia.com/india/column_can-i-believe-in-your-endorsements-bachchanji_1347680
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