by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
Manish Sisodia
New Delhi : Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that BJP has driven India’s economy into ground and currently GDP growth rate is lowest since 2014, private investment is lowest in 25 years, and job creation in lowest in eight years.
Addressing media here, Sisodia said that demonetisation, the “botched-up” GST rollout and ‘raid raj’ has led to this situation.
“Yashwant Sinha has today reiterated what many leading economists have been saying in recent months – Indian economy is already a mess and it is further headed for disaster,” Sisodia said, referring to an article written by the former Union Finance Minister in the first NDA government.
Sisodia said that from thee fastest growing economy, the Modi government has thrown the Indian economy into a free fall, which will have disastrous consequences for the country.
“Modi promised to create one crore jobs every year and launched Skill India, Startup India and Make in India. None of these have worked so far, as official figures from the Labour Bureau show that only 1.55 lakh jobs were created in 2015 and 2.31 lakh jobs in 2016,” he said.
The minister said that strong economies cannot be built on a foundation of fear and intolerance.
“However over the last three years, a climate of hate and intolerance is being systematically propagated by the ruling party. Journalists are being killed, media has become a state puppet and opposition parties are being victimised through state institutions,” he said.
Sisodia said that Modi government should take immediate corrective measures to save the country from an economic disaster.
He added that the central government must consult all stakeholders, including elected state governments on how to salvage the situation.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Brajendra Nath Singh,
Title: How the BJP Wins; Author: Prashant Jha; Publisher: Juggernaut Books; Pages: 235; Price: Rs 399
Barring a hic-cup or two, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, has been winning election after election since its 2014 Lok Sabha poll win.
Here is a book that takes you through the saffron party’s victory path, illustrating how the blend of Modi’s charisma and Shah’s organisational skills, coupled with their political willingness to sharpen the Hindu-Muslim divide, have seen the BJP home — most recently with a thumping win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
“How The BJP Wins”, authored by senior journalsit Prashant Jha, also focuses on how the party has succeeded in consolidating the Hindu vote beyond its traditional upper caste vote bank.
“Anyone who sees the BJP as an upper caste party is living in the past. The BJP is becoming an inclusive Hindu party, winning the support of various communities, including the subaltern, which inhibit the broad Hindu fold,” says the book.
It is a must read for the new generation of leaders across ideologies and also for all the parties opposed to the BJP to understand its strategy of election victories. It will also be helpful for those keen on understanding contemporary Indian politics.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 282 of the 428 seats it contested and, with the help of allies, formed a government with two-thirds majority. It was also the first time in the 67-year history of independent India that a non-Congress party won a simple majority on its own.
After the historic victory, the BJP won assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh.
In Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, the BJP formed governments on its own while in Jammu and Kashmir it tasted power for the first time with the state’s Peoples Democratic Party. In Manipur also, the party formed its government with the help of some junior allies.
However, the BJP lost heavily in Delhi in 2015 against Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and in Bihar against Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance of Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress. That it managed to break the alliance and formed the government with Nitish Kumar is a different story.
The book describes in detail how the BJP transformed itself into a more inclusive Hindu party, open to all castes, which led to its victory in Uttar Pradesh — despite the risky decision of demonetisation.
“In recent Indian economic history, no move has been as disruptive to the eveyday lives of ordinary citizens as demonetisation. No move has caused job losses or logistical inconvinience to such a degree. Yet, there was palpable enthusiasm for the move.
“From the expectation that the move would clean the economy to the pleasure at assuming that the well-to-do were suffering more, from hopes that the additional resources would be transferred to the poor to the desire for a more equal society, a range of motivations drove the support.
“Over subsequent months, this enthusiasm slowly dissipated, but it never translated into outright hostility,” says the book.
Dedicating a chapter to the future of the BJP, the book explains how “Modi’s mass charisma and Shah’s tremendous organisational skills together laid the foundations for the new BJP in the middle of its most ambitious experiment of social engineering”.
The book notes that apart from these two main factors, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — the BJP’s mentor — supplemented and contributed to its phenomenal success.
“How the BJP acquires power is now clear. But winning is easier than ruling. How the BJP uses the political power it has acquired so successfully will determine whether Modi’s dream of a ‘New India’ is fulfilled,” the book says.
It speaks about how the issue of Muslim appeasement by non-BJP governments was exploited by the BJP’s top leadership. Shah during his rallies in Uttar Pradesh clearly gave the message that the Samajwadi Party favoured the Muslims.
Shah’s not-so-subtle polarisation efforts included describing the opposition parties (Congress, SP and BSP) as KASAB, while Modi spoke about the politics of appeasement while mentioning “kabristan and shamshanghat” at a rally in Uttar Pradesh to polarise the elections.
The book contends the relationship between Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is smooth, citing it as one of the reasons for the BJP’s success and a key factor that did not exist during the time of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then RSS chief K.C. Sudarshan.
If you have an interest in contemporary Indian politics, the book is worth a read.
(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Varanasi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday the BJP did not believe in vote bank politics as the country was above party politics.
On the second day of his visit to his Varanasi parliamentary constituency, Modi told a gathering that he had launched a major war against corruption and the corrupt to ease the life of the common man. He also said cleanliness was worship for him as it could rid the poor of various diseases and a lot of economic burden.
“Governance for us is not about votes or winning elections. The priority is the development of the nation. For us, the country is bigger than party,” he said, in his address to farmers in Shahanshahpur on the outskirts of Varanasi.
He said most of the problems faced by the common people in India were rooted in corruption.
“I have launched a war against it and will take it further to ensure that graft is weeded out from the country.”
The Prime Minister urged the people to also ensure that the mission for cleanliness gets their support.
He said it was his good fortune to lay the foundation stone of a public toilet in Shahanshahpur village “because sanitation is also a kind of worship for me.
“It will rid the poor of my country of various diseases and the economic burden due to those diseases that result from dirty surroundings. Hundreds of diseases come knocking at your doorsteps because of lack of hygiene,” Modi said.
He quoted a Unicef report that each household in India which does not have a toilet spend around Rs 50,000 a year on treatment for different ailments.
“It is the responsibility of every citizen and every family to keep their surroundings clean so we are able to build clean villages, clean cities and a clean nation,” Modi said.
The prime minister urged the people to take cleanliness not only as a mission but also turn into a habit for everyone.
Referring to his government’s housing scheme, Modi said he wanted every one in the country to have a roof over their head when in 2022 India completes 75 years of independence.
He said he realized that it was an onerous task but he would be the man doing it. “I know it is difficult. But if Modi cannot do the difficult job who else will.”
He added that those homes – crores in number – would need bricks, cement, iron and wood, and would create several employment opportunities.
He also lauded the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for his work for welfare of cattle and said in the past no one paid attention to them as they are not able to vote.
He also informed the gathering that small initiatives like switching of Varanasi street lights to LED bulbs had saved Rs 13 crore in electricity bill for the municipal corporation.
Modi added the government’s resolution was to double the farmer’s income.
Earlier the prime minister inaugurated a cattle fair – Pashudhan Aarogya Mela.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Sushil Kumar Modi and Nitish Kumar (For representational purpose only)
By Amulya Ganguli,
Nitish Kumar must have realised by now that his ‘ghar wapsi’ hasn’t helped him. The BJP is treating him more like an unwanted guest than the repentant prodigal son.
The Bihar Chief Minister’s sense of being redundant in the BJP’s scheme of things is likely to intensify in view of the reports that the BJP intends to contest 25 of the 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar in 2019, leaving a paltry nine to the Janata Dal-United.
Of the remaining six, the BJP is considering giving four to the Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan, another somewhat morose camp follower of the saffron brotherhood, and two to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).
If this kind of seat-sharing really does take place, then Sharad Yadav may well have the last laugh. His glee will be shared by Lalu Prasad for more than one reason.
First, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader knows that he will be able to present the downsizing of Nitish Kumar in the saffron camp as an insult to Bihar.
Secondly, Lalu Prasad is aware that the more Nitish Kumar sinks in public estimation, the greater will be the RJD’s gain.
The only way out for the Chief Minister is to focus on development. Considering, however, that ‘vikas’ is Narendra Modi’s trump card, the BJP will take care to project any sign of growth in Bihar as the Prime Minister’s achievement rather than the Chief Minister’s.
Therefore, Nitish Kumar can be said to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
On one side is the Modi-Amit Shah duo who are perhaps the most hard-boiled pair in the country today, combining their political and official clout with a highly effective publicity machine backed by scores of vitriolic trolls and abusive bloggers who saturate the Internet with their extravagant praise for Modi and venomous tirades against his purportedly anti-national and anti-Hindu opponents.
Nitish Kumar is hardly visible in the company of these boastful, swaggering allies.
On the other side for him is the equally cunning and resourceful Lalu Prasad, whose self-confidence will be boosted by the possibility of the minorities turning to him in even greater numbers at a time when the Hindutva brigade is growing stronger in the absence of a major challenge from its adversaries.
As a result, Lalu Prasad’s fabled MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination in Bihar comprising 16 per cent Muslims and 11 per cent Yadavs will be as stable as ever.
These supporters are unlikely to be bothered by the charges of corruption against father and son in the Yadav family. Lalu Prasad has successfully weathered such storms before, including being debarred from holding office, but his support base has remained solid.
The RJD may also be able to rope in a section of the Janata Dal-United who are with Sharad Yadav. If the latter’s claim that 72 of the 125 national executive members of the party are with him is true, then Nitish Kumar may well think that he has made the biggest mistake of his life.
Even if the Chief Minister cannot be compared, as a commentator has done, with the other Kurmi leader in the BJP’s company, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel, there is little doubt that Nitish Kumar will continue to play second fiddle to Modi and Amit Shah in the foreseeable future.
His position may suffer a further decline if the BJP goes ahead with a rally of Kurmis to demonstrate that it doesn’t want to depend only on Nitish Kumar to secure the votes of the Kurmis, who comprise six per cent of Bihar’s population.
However, their traditional connections with the Koeris or Kushwahas (nine per cent) raises the voting percentage to a respectable figure.
In Modi’s cabinet, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha represents the Koeris. The Kurmis and Koeris are associated with Luv and Kush, the sons of Lord Ram.
For Nitish Kumar, who was considered to be prime ministerial “material” when in the “secular” camp not long ago, his present status in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cannot be a matter of pride.
True, there is no final word in politics. If the economic slowdown, farmers’ distress, the sense of insecurity among Muslims — as noted by former Vice President Hamid Ansari — and the belief among the so-called Left-Liberals that the country is becoming increasingly intolerant erode the BJP’s support base in next year’s assembly elections, then the BJP may lose some of its arrogance, thereby giving the likes of Nitish Kumar more political space.
But it goes without saying that he will find it extremely difficult to regain his earlier prominence in national life.
Instead, he will be seen as someone who was spooked by the RJD’s formidable presence in Bihar to run for cover, presumably because the Janata Dal-United’s own vote bank of Kurmis and a few other non-Yadav castes is not substantial enough.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Anand Sharma
New Delhi : Terming demonetisation as the “scam of the century”, the Congress on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go down in India’s history alongside Muhammed bin Tughlaq for the “gross misadventure” and demanded that he quit office.
“Narendra Modi will will go down in India’s history alongside Muhammed bin Tughlaq for the gross misadventure of demonetisation that wreaked havoc with India’s economy.
“No wonder that former PM Manmohan Singh called it organised loot and legalised plunder. Rahul Gandhi had demanded an investigation through Joint Parliamentary Committee in the demonestisation scam, layers of which have now been unveiled by the RBI annual report. Demonetisation is aptly described as Modi Made disaster,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala during a seminar on “Demonetization and its devastating effect on the economy and society”.
Surjewala also said: “GDP data released reflects a decline from 9.2 to 5.7 and per cent the picture of colossal economic pilferage of India’s economy is writ large. This itself means a loss of over Rs 3 lakh crore to the economy for which PM is solely responsible.”
“If morality is still alive in India’s polity then it is time for PM Modi to introspect and demit the office he holds, besides apologising to the nation for the unpardonable blunder and order an immediate investigation into the demonetisation scam,” he added.
Surjewala wondered: “Where has the black money gone? Where is the fake currency? Has terrorism and Naxalism been curbed? Cost of printing new currency is more than savings – proves folly of the demonetisation? Has India moved towards digital economy?”
“Who is responsible for the death of 150 people who died in bank lines? Who is responsible for the utter confusion and consequent losses and repeated change of demonetisation rules by RBI on 128 occasions. Who is responsible for the loss of 15 lakh jobs, loss of savings of crores of housewives, crash of businesses of small shopkeepers and SMES and who is responsible for the contraction of GDP from 9.2 to 5.7 – a loss of over Rs 3 lakh crore,” Surjewala asked.
“PM is solely responsible for this lapse. It is time for him to own up responsibility,” he added.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said demonetisation was the scam of the century and it happened under the watch of the Prime Minister, who he called a megalomaniac and thick-skinned.
“In one stroke he delivered a body blow to the Indian economy and it will take years to put the economy back on track. The government has lost its credibility though it continues to brazen it out being thick-skinned and shameless.
“Any other PM would have owned up and apologised. Unfortunately we have a PM who is so full of himself and is a megalomaniac. He will not admit to any mistake. He is above making any mistakes. He is living in a different world. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done what he had done,” said Sharma at the seminar.
Sharma also said: “Overnight he (Modi) created a national project of corruption controlled by few. That was a national money laundering project. It was the scam of the century.
“Time will prove it was the biggest scam that has been under the watch of PM Narendra Modi and many of his party colleagues and leaders and also those who are connected with their larger ideological family,” he added.
Sharma said: “Businesses and jobs were destroyed. Informal economy was severely hurt. Over 80 per cent of the economy is dependent on informal sector. Tens of millions of jobs have been lost..
“About 99 per cent of money returned to the bank. Prime Minister Modi is thick-skinned. It doesn’t matter to him at all. How did it come back if it was all black money?” Sharma asked.
“The leaders of the other countries are seeing through our PM and he talks nonsense most of the time. He thinks others don’t understand all this,” added Sharma.
—IANS
