Today was all India bandh day. The strike was called by opposition parties to protest the rise in prices of petrol. As is usual the strike will be patchy allowing both opposition and government to claim victory. Businesses will suffer losses in areas controlled by opposition parties where thugs armed with sticks and stones will be out in force to prevent people from going to work and shops from opening up. Daily wage earners will lose a whole day's wages. The tragedy for the country is that all politicians from all parties are dishonorable liars. The government is lying when it says that it has merely removed subsidies on petrol when they are charging 100% taxes on every liter and the opposition is lying when it claims that the strike is being called in the interest of the people. Truth is that petrol is taxed by both central and state governments so in states controlled by opposition parties they are the criminals responsible for the high prices. So why is the Congress dominated government so adamant about increasing the prices of fuel? The reason is that the government is nearly bankrupt. The lying freeloading press is keen to point out that our foreign exchange reserves are in excess of $ 250 billion but it is the internal debt that is out of control. Instead of a tax refund, which is a one off expense for the treasury, the Congress chose to give 80% pay rises to useless, thieving civil servants to win last year's elections and is now unable to manage its debts. UP is said to owe Rs. 1.8 trillion which is set to rise to Rs. 1.98 trillion this fiscal. The state power distribution companies have huge losses on their books. What other debts are being hidden from us who knows. When will the lies explode into the open and what the people will have to suffer only God knows. Or maybe even He doesn't.