BY J.R.PRASAD
Hyderabad, April 9: In Telugu folklore, there is the story of a poor man who promised his children the moon expecting a stroke of luck.
But the goddess of luck never smiles and the wish remains a wish.
It looks as if the state will soon have another modern folktale which mothers can narrate to children after supper.
We are talking about the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu’s fond wish to get hold of the “black money, stashed in Swiss banks” to fulfil all the promises he has made in his manifesto.
As in the folktale, Mr Naidu has literally promised the moon to the people, that is, free cash at the beginning of every month.
He wants to pay Rs 1,000, Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 to the middle class, the poor and the poorest of the poor respectively under the cash transfer scheme.
When Congress leaders ridiculed the scheme, he said the state budget had touched Rs 1 lakh core and it was easy to implement his promises.
But, now he seems to have had second thoughts and is referring to the black money in the Swiss banks.
“Soon after coming to power, I will ensure that the black money stashed in Swiss banks will be brought back,” is the TD chief’s constant refrain in his campaign trail to convince the voters that his promises are practical.
But legal experts point out that it is not easy to bring back the black money from Swiss banks as it needs cooperation from the international community to exert pressure on the Swiss government.
Though the United States President, Mr Barack Obama, has succeeded in forcing the Swiss government to reveal the names of some Americans who have stashed cash there, it won’t be that easy for the India to do something similar.
The minister for finance, Mr K. Rosaiah, has further poured cold water on Mr Naidu’s dreams by saying that even if the money is brought back, there is no provision in our laws to allow the government to take possession of that money.
So Mr Naidu’s cash transfer scheme may in the end turn out to be just moonshine.
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