MP Wimal Weerawansa deserved the backlash for his tone-deaf comments in Parliament, blaming families for spending their Rs. It was a statement reminiscent of Marie-Antoinette, bride of France’s 18th-Century monarch King Louis XVI, who, as legend has it, said “let them eat cake” upon being told that her French subjects had no bread to eat. In fact, the latest available government statistics on households show that as of 2016, the average household comprised 3.8 persons with mean household income amounting to Rs. This is not politics; it is the lived reality of thousands of families who have no other recourse right now. Moreover, whatever allowances must be disbursed efficiently and fairly; the right information and logistics must support the disbursement.

Source: The Nation November 28, 2020 19:07 UTC