Shashikant Shukla

Proud 🇮🇳, RT are not endorsements or support

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Is 10.19 slow churchgate from borivali (PF-2) s permanent cancelled. Not able to see that train since weeks. @m_indicator_app shows train but #Borivali indicator has no display.

Train cancellation during office hours at Borivali creating chaos. @drmbct #MumbaiLocal

[Raj Thackeray @RajThackeray]

Lal Bahadur Shastri, too, appealed for sacrifice during the war with Pakistan. But he first practiced it personally. Will today’s leadership demonstrate similar restraint? Will political parties reduce campaign extravagance, publicity expenditure, and unnecessary state spending? If leadership leads by example, citizens will follow willingly. But this seems more like preparation for another sharp increase in fuel prices. Citizens will naturally reduce consumption if they can no longer afford it.

My humble appeal to the Prime Minister is this: enough of moral lectures whose burden is carried only by the people. Let us honestly admit that the economy today often appears strong on the surface but is quite vulnerable underneath. Please do not blame it just on the Iran–Israel conflict. Tell the country why the rupee has weakened significantly over the past decade. Explain why three RBI Governors resigned during your tenure. Dr. Manmohan Singh, despite being an accomplished economist and former RBI Governor himself, still believed in listening to experts. You have not run even a simple business. How will you understand it. Enough with your ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Now listen to the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ of the real economists.

Tell the nation what concrete steps the government plans to take. Call a special session of Parliament if needed - which is anyway practiced on a whim nowadays. Explain transparently how the country reached this situation and how it plans to navigate it. We have opposed many of your decisions and supported several good ones too. But nobody’s your enemy, including us, during such trying times. But this does not mean we will not raise difficult questions. Democracy cannot survive without accountability. The Prime Minister should show the nation how austerity begins at home and explain how we as a nation will come out of this crisis.

— Raj Thackeray

[Raj Thackeray @RajThackeray]

Jai Maharashtra,

Two days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to Indians to adopt austerity. Reduce gold purchases, avoid unnecessary foreign travel, consume less petrol and diesel, shift to electric vehicles, and embrace work-from-home practices. Why? Because gold and crude oil are imported, and they drain precious foreign exchange reserves. And with the Iran conflict escalating, global crude prices have surged sharply.

Fair enough. But the Prime Minister and senior leaders continue to travel across the country with massive convoys, roadshows, helicopters, flower showers, and extravagant political campaigns. Will the prime minister admit that ‘such political excesses were our mistake, and all of us including me, will not repeat it’? Why should the common man suffer for your mistakes? Is austerity meant only for the citizen and never for the political class?

Crude oil today is hovering around 90–100 dollars per barrel. But this is not the first time the world has seen such prices. During the 2008 financial crisis, during the Arab Spring of 2011–12, and the 2013–14 phase (when the BJP itself aggressively attacked the UPA over fuel prices) and again during the OPEC production cuts in 2022–23, crude prices had similarly touched these levels. During 3-4 such periods Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. Narendra Modi himself held the position once. Dr. Manmohan Singh did not ask citizens to stop travelling abroad. Narendra Modi himself did not make such appeals earlier either. So why now? When global crude prices had fallen to nearly 60–65 dollars per barrel, Indian citizens were still paying extremely high prices for petrol and diesel because of heavy taxation. The government earned lakhs of crores through fuel taxes. Where did that money go?

The Prime Minister once mocked the “freebie culture.” Yet elections - from Maharashtra to Bihar to West Bengal - are increasingly fought and won through precisely such populist giveaways. In Maharashtra, the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme has put tremendous strain on state finances. Instead of genuinely empowering women through jobs, education, and safety, governments distribute temporary cash benefits while inflation silently takes back much of that money. If the economic situation is indeed serious, will the Prime Minister openly ask all political parties to stop competitive populism?

The PM now asks citizens to reduce fuel consumption. Fine. But why did this wisdom not emerge during massive election campaigns involving thousands of vehicles, endless roadshows, and the transport of lakhs of supporters across states like West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala? That itself would have burnt crores of liters of petrol and diesel. This didn’t occur to you when massive money power was wielded to gain votes there? Citizens are also being advised to avoid foreign travel. But how many Indians can afford international travel today? Even the middle class that can afford it is living under constant job insecurity. Students wish to study abroad because India has not invested deeply enough in higher education over the last decade, nor created enough confidence in domestic institutions. All you seem to be interested in is imposition of Hindi.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors have been steadily pulling money out of Indian markets. Estimates suggest that nearly ₹1.5 lakh crore has exited over the past few months. The Prime Minister and his Chief Ministers travel to colder climates to cement investment deals. But if they are making those deals with Indian companies, why even go to Switzerland for it? The Prime Minister himself is embarking on another multi-country foreign tour beginning May 15. First cancel these travels and then preach austerity.

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Watched #TereIshkMein, brilliantly directed, superb music. Zero unwanted song, nice casting.

@dhanushkraja #PrakashRaj @kritisanon together rocked.

Worth watching in theatre 🎭

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

@IndiGo6E Neither we got hotel arrangements nor cab to our arranged hotel. Our flight cancellation notified us at midnight.

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

@IndiGo6E @MoCA_GoI @JM_Scindia क्या हमें कोई समाधान मिलेगा? हम दोपहर 1 बजे से बैंगलोर हवाई अड्डे पर 2 बजे की उड़ान के लिए प्रतीक्षा कर रहे हैं, जिसे 4:20 बजे पुनर्निर्धारित किया गया है और पुनर्निर्धारित किया जाना जारी है।

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

यहां @IndiGo6E स्टाफ मानसिक आघात से गुजर रहा है। एक व्यक्ति को कई लोगों को संभालना पड़ रहा है।

कृपया इसे जल्द से जल्द हल करें 🙏

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

हवाई सेवा के किराया भी बहुत महंगे कल के लिए । वरिष्ठ नागरिकों और विकलांगों के बारे में सोचिए। कृपया कुछ कीजिए 🙏

समाधान आवश्यक है। यदि आप सेवा नहीं दे सकते, समस्या के समाधान के लिए समय चाहते हैं, तो कृपया सभी सेवाएँ रद्द कर दें। समाधान करें और सेवाएँ शुरू करें।

[Sridhar Vembu @svembu]

I recently came across Indian students going to Vietnam to study medicine and the colleges there charge them ₹4 lakh a year (about $4600) in fees. I am told the quality of education is good.

Vietnam's GDP per capita is about $4700 and our southern states are at about the same level now or a bit below it. The fees they charge foreign students are about the same as their per capita GDP, which makes sense.

Why are our medical colleges so expensive compared to our per capita GDP? How is Vietnam able to offer lower cost education to foreign students? It is a shame that Indian students have to go abroad to get an affordable medical education.

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

@drmbct last minute train cancellation (10.04) created so much chaos at Borivali. It's time of cancellation announcement that created chaos. PF-2 entrance is bottle neck when people of 2 trains try to get IN & Exiting people of arrived train. #MumbaiLocal

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

The #Maharaja of @airindia on the #Mumbai #Nagpur route is giving a bad experience. This is 4th time in a row.

It seems when you try especially on this route then expects delay by #Maharaja

My heart is crying 😭 while writing this.

Please save a fan in me for #Maharaja

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

I prefer @GautamGambhir should continue with the same supporting staff for the Indian cricket team as they delivered #TeamIndia @BCCI

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Y no announcement for delayed or cancel train?

On Borivali PF5 public is waiting for 9.48 & no update on it. Y create chaos during office hours?

@drmbct @mumbairailusers @WesternRly #MumbaiLocal

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

ऐसा लगता है UP अभी भी जात की राजनीति में विश्वास रखता है, न विकास की।

मेरे प्रदेश का दुर्भाग्य

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Result बता रहा है

UP वालों ने #Modi-#Yogi को नका दिया या धोखा दे दिया

@aajtak @ABPNews @ZeeNews

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

From #backbencher to @IPL #playoff. Well done @RCBTweets

Next is #IPLChampion

#NammaBengaluru #NammaTeamRCB

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Internet don't work #Virar railway station. As result #UTS don't work & railway queue don't move fast as well. @drmbct #VI @reliancejio

[Shashikant Shukla @IAmSMShukla]

Railway का इंफ्रा तो बढ़ रहा है। कृपया इनके ticket booking कंप्युटर को भी थोड़ा तेज कीजिए। Virar में 4 लोगोँ टिकट लेने 8-10 मिनट लगता है, वो भी peak hours में। @drmbct #LocalTicket @mumbairailusers