Yesterday (15th April), I had travelled to Jaipur by the Ajmer Shatabdi train which starts at 06.00 hours from New Delhi and reaches Jaipur at about 1030 hours. I was looking outside through the glass window, as I was sitting on a window seat. Within minutes of leaving the station, I was compelled to turn my eyes from looking outside.

It was a sad sight that I saw. A large number of old people, young men, children were sitting on the open spaces on both sides of the railway tracks and attending to the call of nature, with a bottle of water in their hands. The area where they were sitting was completely dirty with wastes and gutter water. At some distance, women and girls were standing, waiting for the train to pass away. The sadness and misery on their faces were heart-rendering.

This scene is not in New Delhi/Delhi alone. All over India, such tragic scenes can be seen. Even after more than six decades of Independence, the condition of the poor has not improved. I do not have the statistics, but approximately 60% of the people in the country have no toilets. Crores of people do not have a house to live in. They do not have even Rs.20 for per day as earning to maintain their family.

At the same time the number of billionaires in India is increasing in leaps and bounds. They have palace-like residences, planes for their private use, fleet of foreign luxury cars and what not. They party in the seven star hotels, spends thousands of crores of rupees for celebrations, while crores of people having nothing to eat.

The General elections are going on. This is the time to give a suitable reply to the ruling classes and their political parties that the common people of this country will not tolerate this insult, injustice and discrimination. Let the ruling classes be taught a tough lesson.