Delhi traders urge Rahul Gandhi to cancel rally amid pressure

Do these traders in Delhi prefer authoritarianism?

Delhi's traders have appealed to Rahul Gandhi to postpone the rally scheduled for November 1 at Ramleela Maidan and hold it after November 10, as the atmosphere of the Diwali festival is prevailing and they will incur losses in business. Adam Smith, regarded as the father of modern economics, wrote a book in 1776. Its name was 'Wealth of Nations'. It states that “people connected to the same business rarely gather, even if they meet for enjoyment or entertainment, but their conversation ends in some conspiracy against the general public or in devising a way to raise prices.” The notion of traders conspiring against the general public was mentioned by Adam Smith. It seems to be manifesting in Delhi at this time.

It is a well-known fact that traders and industrialists adulterate and raise prices, thus robbing consumers, but it has now also become a known fact that traders engage in anti-democratic conspiracies. They claim that if the rally takes place at Ramleela Maidan on November 1, they will suffer losses in business. Was their business not disrupted during Anna Hazare's movement at Ramleela Maidan in 2013, which lasted for thirteen days? That was also the wedding season, and business was flourishing. Rahul Gandhi's rally is only for one day!

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This means that traders in Delhi went to appeal to Rahul Gandhi to postpone the rally at Ramleela Maidan under the pressure of the Modi-Shah government. There has been no announcement of a 'Delhi Bandh' that would halt business. Business will continue as usual. The question is, during the demonetization in 2016, was their business not disrupted? When the indiscriminate implementation of GST began on July 1, 2017, was their business not stalled for months? Why did they not demand the postponement of demonetization or GST implementation before the Modi government? Was it because they were scared? Were they afraid of being labeled as traitors or urban naxals or part of the 'tukde-tukde gang' and being harassed?

Most importantly, do traders not vote? They must have the right to vote. So what about those millions of Indian citizens who have lost their voting rights under the Election Commission's SIR process? Why do they not care about them? The right to vote is the essence of democracy. India became a republic on January 26, 1950, and since then it has granted the right to vote to every citizen without any discrimination. If the right to vote is taken away, democracy ceases to exist. Do traders not know that the rally at Ramleela Maidan is a rally to save the right to vote? Do these traders prefer dictatorship?

It seems that traders in Delhi do not care about India's democracy. They are only concerned about their business and profit. However, this is not surprising. The traders who have requested Rahul Gandhi to postpone the rally at Ramleela Maidan are comparatively large traders. They generally do not care about small traders either. Those who are industrialists and traders mostly do not care about democracy. Their main objective is profit. They never care about how the government rules or in what manner.

The fundamental question is that traders are afraid of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The way the government has been run for the past 12 years has created an atmosphere of fear. This atmosphere of fear has been created through raids by the ED, CBI, and IT, and by instilling the fear of jail, and therefore traders may feel that if they appeal to Rahul Gandhi, they will receive the government's goodwill. They want to be in the government's good books. It is also possible that the government itself asked the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) to make such an appeal, and then this appeal was made. It could also be that CTI president Brijesh Goyal was threatened or offered some inducement.

They claim that there are about 24 wholesale markets around Ramleela Maidan and that their one-day business of ₹10,000 crore will be disrupted. They need to be reminded that during the country's freedom movement, prominent industrialists like Ghanshyam Das Birla and Jamnalal Bajaj supported Mahatma Gandhi. Ultimately, Gandhi was assassinated in Ghanshyam Das Birla's building. They were not afraid of the British. National-level business organizations like FICCI, ASSOCHAM, and CII, or state-level business organizations, have never raised their voice against the anti-democratic rule of the Modi government in the past twelve years. Their only slogan is: ‘Never thought of good or bad, asked for profit and nothing else.’