The election time is here and election time means more golden dreams and more allegations. Pointing fingers at each other and digging out each other's mess is more important than anything else. To be in the limelight, the political leaders go to any extent even if their decision or statement is 'a developmental step' in the downward direction i.e against development of the nation.

A couple of days back, Mr . A.B.Bardhan, General Secretary, CPI said in his statement that they will continue protesting against POSCO, TATA and Vedanta University. It clearly seems that it's a cheap publicity stunt by a political leader who has no other topic to talk over. Protesting any industrial project perhaps makes some sense, but protesting Vedanta University (an educational institution) means preventing India's future growth.

Once famous for his anti-Naveen Pattnaik diatribes, Mr. Bardhan, CPI General Secretary seems to have a change of mind after the recent BJD-BJP split. The veteran Left leader, who in the past portrayed Mr. Naveen as anti-poor and anti-farmer and led many rallies against the BJD-BJP government is now praising the Naveen government. What made him change his mind? Oh yes, it is because of the seat-sharing with BJD. A person who had always opposed the CM is now accepting that Mr. Naveen is going to retain the chair of CM after the election. Mr. Bardhan's change of mind not only comes as a surprise for the people but also raises question on his integrity. One's ideology should not keep on changing and if it changes, it should completely change. Mr. Bardhan says he is ready for seat-sharing but will continue to protest POSCO, TATA and Vedanta University. It seems Mr. Bardhan is anti-development person who doesn't want to see India next to US or even above it or else, he would not have been protesting a not-for-profit educational institute to be established near Puri-Konark area with a student capacity of 1, 00, 000 in 95 academic disciplines. Being a veteran political leader, Mr. Bardhan should realize that the future of India lies in the hand of the youth and more importantly, the well educated youth. And to educate the youth we need to have better educational institutes in India and Vedanta University is one such good initiative by Mr. Anil Agarwal.

The time has changed, earlier the 3 basic necessities were "Roti, Kapda aur Makaan", but now it's four and the fourth one is "Good Education".

The scenario is same in local Puri politics. Mr. Uma Rath, Ex-MLA, Puri has been opposing Vedanta university Project for a quite long time as if he is against education in India and he himself wants his children to start a bettle shop. When will they understand the urgent need of a world class educational institute in India and stop opposing Vedanta University?

India is today one of the fastest developing countries of the world with the annual growth rate going above 9%. In order to sustain that rate of growth, there is need to increase the number of institutes and also the quality of higher education in India. Therefore the Prime Minister of India has announced the establishment of 8 IITs, seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and five Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research (IISERs) and 30 Central Universities in his speech to the nation on the 60th Independence Day. Apart from this, the National Knowledge Commission in its report has stated that to compete with other nations India has to have at least 1500 more Universities by 2015. The commission has also recommended more private investment in higher education sector in India.

But leaders like Mr. Bardhan and Mr. Rath considering themselves more intellectual than the Prime Minister and the Knowledge commission are protesting an initiative that is in tune with India's development. Golden opportunity is knocking at the door in form of Vedanta University but people like Mr. Uma Rath and Mr. A.B.Bardhan are busy buying locks for the door. So, one can imagine the fate of Orissa with people like them trying to run the government.

It does not matter which party comes to power. But if the next government is interested in maintaining growth, it should teach itself the importance of education reforms and welcome initiatives like Vedanta University.