by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Saeed Naqvi,
It was what a film director would have described as a perfect take. “You are a beginner,” he said, grinding his teeth in simulated anger. “These are your days to learn.” A measured pause; he then emoted. “And you are insulting a former Prime Minister, a senior-most leader?”
This was Narendra Modi chastising Rahul Gandhi, the Congress President. In the course of a fierce three-way election campaign, Rahul Gandhi, prompted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, described the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) as the B team of the Sangh Parivar. Modi tore into Rahul.
The manner in which Modi leapt to Dewe Gowda’s defence raised eyebrows. The outburst cast the JD-S as a party which had the BJP’s sympathies.
If this creeping murmur reached Muslim enclaves which were once Congress vote banks, a section of the Muslim vote which would otherwise have travelled towards Gowda, would check itself. This would be ironical given that the “S” in JD-S stands for secular.
After the demolition of the Babari Masjid in 1992, the disenchanted Muslim vote, walking out of the Congress fold, was waylaid by regional parties. In Karnataka, this vote took respite under the JD-S umbrella.
In these circumstances, is the Congress delusion, of being the “only” national alternative, sustainable when a pan-Indian quantity like Muslims is permanently averse to it in the states? To overtly woo Muslims, Congress leadership has been advised, risks loss of Hindu vote in direct proportion to the saffron in the air. Congress avionics are now conditioned entirely by these weather conditions. Such abject dependence on the weather will have its logic. There will be occasion when the flight will not take off at all.
Now, the post-Babari shortfall has to be made up by holding on assiduously to the Hindu vote. This requires the kind of Hindu cohesion the Congress is not geared for. If it plugs upper caste haemorrhage, the lower castes flow out into regional receptacles.
It cannot do what the BJP does: Pose the Muslim as the unstated other for Hindu consolidation. The Congress simply steers clear of the Muslim like one would steer clear of trouble. It differentiates itself from the BJP, though. It has a distinct self-image: It’s the party of “good Hindus”. It does not endorse the lumpenisation associated with “street” Hindutva or the BJP.
It is a difficult pirouette. How do you project yourself as a squeaky clean Hindu without criticising excesses in the name of the cow, love jehad, Muslim youth languishing in jails without trial. National monuments like the Red Fort will now be handed to cement magnates for repair and maintenance and so on.
All right, the BJP erects its “hard” Hindu edifice “othering” the Muslims. How does the Congress delineate its “soft” Hindu outlines? Is there clarity or is it all hazy and vague?
Modi chastised Rahul for bad-mouthing Gowda. Rahul found it so important to come clean on the subject that he agreed to give his very first newspaper interview since he became Congress President in December to Karnataka’s Deccan Herald group of newspapers.
He said he was not attacking Gowda at all; he was only inviting Gowda to explicitly declare whether he was on “that side or this side”. An epic ideological battle was on between the Congress and the BJP. Choose one.
What was the urgency for him to seek this clarification? In fact, it is all the more puzzling because Modi’s intervention was designed to soften Gowda towards the BJP — it was like an olive branch to the JD-S. If amplified, this would have the effect of the Muslim vote shifting away from the JD-S towards the Congress. Why would Rahul need to neutralise conditions for this possible outcome? Well, it was a gamble. Rahul needs an outright victory with a safe margin. In a house of 224 he needs well in excess of 113 seats. Muslim support might help.
Conventional wisdom in Bengaluru gives Congress 95 to 100; BJP 85 to 90 and JD-S 35 to 40 in a hung house. This is dicey — for the Congress. Deve Gowda, as kingmaker will immolate himself but not make Siddaramaiah the Chief Minister.
The moment Rahul looks for an alternative to Siddaramaiah in order to keep Gowda in good humour, a new game will have begun.
If Congress wins outright, the credit must go to Siddaramaiah, whatever self-serving message the Congress coterie in New Delhi coaxes out of the result. In a state historically dominated by Vokkaligas and Lingayats, Siddaramaiah has brought under one umbrella the upwardly mobile Kuruba (Shepherd) community as one powerful group. By accepting a demand by a section of the Lingayat community (the late Gauri Lankesh, for instance) that they are “outside” the Hindu fold, he has created mild disruption in the Veer Shaivite, Lingayat ranks. BJP’s Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, will face that music.
By replicating, Jayalalithaa’s canteens, selling subsidised rice and pulling out every implement in the populist tool kit, Siddaramaiah has cast a wide net to ensnare the voter. At a time of Rahul’s frenetic temple-hopping, Siddaramaiah’s irreligious, Lohiaite persona is refreshing.
What profit for Siddaramaiah to remain affiliated to the Congress if he sees regional actors play a greater role in post-2019 calculations? Who knows, he may like to consolidate his regional base. Siddaramaiah is not the only one who is basically averse for a ride in a messy coalition just months before 2019. Suppose Modi calculates that Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh can be bunched with 2019 to his advantage? That is why any long-term player will not be enthusiastic about the unstable Karnataka gaddi. But the eager bearer son of Deve Gowda, H.D. Kumaraswamy, is aching to ascend the throne even for a few months with BJP support, Gowda’s denials notwithstanding.
From the Bengaluru throne, the Gowdas, BJP, everybody will then train their guns on Siddaramaiah. It is Catch 22 for all.
(A senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs, Saeed Naqvi can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com. The views expressed are personal.)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Chamarajanagar (Karnataka) : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lamented that all development in Karnataka has been “blocked” by the ruling Congress due to its obsession with family politics.
“Where there is Congress, all roads that lead to development are blocked. There is only family politics, corruption and lack of harmony,” Modi told a BJP rally in Santhemarahalli village, about 170 km south of Bengaluru.
Launching the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign in the district for the upcoming Assembly election, Modi addressed hundreds of people, including party cadres.
“We hear in Delhi that there is a BJP wave in Karnataka. But as I see it, it’s not just a wave but a storm,” thundered Modi.
The Prime Minister’s 40-minute speech in Hindi was simultaneously translated into Kannada, a first since his visits to the southern state over the past few months, so as to connect with the people in the local language.
Law and order in Karnataka has collapsed under Congress rule, Modi said.
“When the Lokayukta in the state is not safe, how can one expect the common people to be safe under the Congress government?”
Karnataka’s anti-graft ombudsman Justice P. Vishwanatha Shetty was stabbed at his office by a man in the state capital on March 7.
“For the Congress, it has always been about family politics. But for us (BJP), it is about people’s politics. People of the state will decide which kind of politics they will choose (in the upcoming election),” Modi said.
He appealed to the people to vote for politics of honesty.
“Let this vote strengthen our commitment to end corruption. This vote of yours will not just choose your MLA, but will decide the future of the state.
“(BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate) B.S. Yeddyurappa is the hope for Karnataka and he will soon be chosen as the Chief Minister,” asserted Modi.
Modi will also address rallies on Tuesday in Udupi and Belagavi districts.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Markets, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Saturday called Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal’s alleged sale of shares held in a privately-held company at nearly 1,000 times the face value as a “murky saga” of “gratification, gross impropriety and conflict of interest”.
The Bhartiya Janata Party quickly came to the defence of its minister saying it was an attempt by the Congress party to attack Goyal based on “baseless, malicious and incorrect” accusations.
The Congress party has sought Goyal’s removal and a “comprehensive, independent investigation” into the matter.
Citing a detailed story by a news website, the Congress alleged the BJP leader had sold, in September 2014, the entire stock of the privately-held company he and his wife owned, at nearly 1,000 times the face value to a group firm owned by Ajay Piramal, without informing the Prime Minister’s Office then or later. The transaction took place four months after Goyal became a minister.
IANS has sent an email to the Piramal group for a reaction, but it did not receive any response till the time this story was released.
The BJP said in a statement that “in the last month, the Congress party made Piyush Goyal a target by hurling malicious allegations against Goyal’s bonafide business dealings to insinuate wrongdoings and irregularity.”
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera earlier told reporters that the deal “directly exposed” one of the seniormost cabinet ministers of the Modi government.
The article in the news website, The Wire, alleged Goyal’s ownership of the company — Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Private Limited — nor its subsequent sale were disclosed in the mandatory statement of assets and liabilities he made to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2014 and 2015.
The BJP said: “The sale of Flashnet shares took place in July 2014 before the declaration of assets and liabilities was submitted on July 25, 2014 and not on Sep 29, 2014 as falsely alleged by the Congress. This sale was made at full market value as per third party, independent, expert valuation and the entire sale value was received in the bank before submitting the declaration and was fully reflected in the value of assets submitted.”
Khera alleged that Goyal and his wife, who owned 50,070 shares of Flashnet Info priced at Rs 10, sold the entire stock at a premium of 1,000 per cent to a group company of Piramal Estates Private Limited. He held the Power & Renewable Energy portfolio in the Union Cabinet for four months at the time.
He said that the board resolution of Piramal Enterprises on June 12, 2014, authorised the purchase of the entire stock of 50,070 shares in Flashnet Info held by Goyal and his wife “for a consideration not exceeding Rs 10,000 per share”.
Piramal group entered the renewable energy business in 2013 and in July 2014 inked a deal with APG Asset Management for investments worth $1 billion in various infrastructure projects, including in the power sector, according to details given by the website. Khera called this a “clear case of conflict of interest and brazen crony capitalism”.
Khera said that “although the net worth of Flashnet Info was only Rs 10.9 crore (even six months after the sale, according to statutory filings), filings by Piramal Estates reflect that… Rs 48 crore was provided (for) Goyal family-owned shares”.
The BJP said that the “modus operandi of the attack has been to gain cheap political mileage by indulging in a baseless campaign against Goyal with no sound facts to back them but with the only intention of creating false controversies. The falsehoods spread by Congress reflect their desperation since they have nothing to attack the Modi government.”
Goyal served as director of Flashnet from November 25, 2004, to May 26, 2014 — the day he was sworn
in as Minister for Power and Renewable Energy. Seema Goyal was a director from April 2009 till May 26, 2014. The couple, however, continued to own almost 99 per cent of the company even after resigning as directors, the website alleged.
Khera said that the transactions raised several question which needed to be answered by Goyal, including why the Piramal group bought Flashnet Info from him for a whopping Rs 48 crore; why did he not mention his controlling stake in Flashnet when he was MP, BJP’s National Treasurer and then Union Cabinet minister; why as Union minister he did not declare his ownership and his wife’s ownership in Flashnet while declaring his assets on the PMO website; and why had the PM not questioned him.
The BJP further said Goyal, who is an eminent chartered accountant, was carrying out his professional work through his companies, which were also holding his investments. “Prior to his becoming Minister in May 2014, he stopped all professional/business activities, resigned from all directorships and started the process of selling all his investments.”
The BJP said Goyal was being targeted, because Congress “wishes to divert attention from the series of scandals of its leaders for which they have no answers.”
Khera said Prime Minister Modi’s credibility was on “test once again”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress of spreading lies by hiring foreign agencies and dividing societies on caste lines. He said political purity cannot come unless the Congress culture ends.
In an interactive session with BJP candidates, state office bearers and leaders of Karnataka via the Narendra Modi app, the Prime Minister urged them not to fall for the Congress’s lie and focus on people-to-people contact till the voting.
“If you analyse last few elections, you will realise how a few political parties have indulged only in dividing societies on religious lines. They give lollipops to a community before elections and then forget them,” he said.
Modi said that this is the working style of the Congress in which they exploit emotions of some community before elections and forget them after the elections.
“They will never give account of their works. They keep indulging in dividing the society. The political purity can not be established in the country till the Congress culture is finished from the mainstream,” he added.
Hitting out at the Congress for spreading “rampant” lies, Modi asked the party workers not to fall for the opposition’s trap of falsehoods.
“Congress has resorted to rampant lying after a series of defeats in elections. Earlier, the Congress used to spread lies over five to 10 issues they raised. Now out of 50 issues, 40-45 are based on lies,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi said, in such circumstances, karyakartas must stand their ground, expose their lies and also fight their means of deceiving people by “hiring foreign agencies”.
The Prime Minister said that the other political parties hesitate to talk on development because development can be quantified.
“This was unacceptable to those parties which only concentrated on division. We govern and also fight elections based only on development model,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Monday attacked the Narendra Modi government for infringing upon people’s privacy, calling it a “data leak government” while taking down its ‘With INC mobile app and emphasising that there was no breach of data through it.
Accusing the Prime Minister of misuing his position by spying on Indians, and calling him ‘Big Boss’, the party said the NaMo App, run by the BJP is sharing data of millions of users with American companies.
“Not only people’s money, but people’s privacy is also in question. Modi Government mocks and flouts the right to privacy with brazen impunity,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, while terming allegations of Congress collecting data through its app were the “half truth”.
“As is usual with the BJP, they did not tell you that the ‘WithINC’ app had only 15,000 downloads. It had become defunct because our people do not like the ‘missed call’ membership. Congressmen believe in physical or offline membership. In contrast the Narendra Modi app has had 50 lakh downloads,” he said.
“While the Prime Minister’s Office, PMO India App, asks users to voluntarily part with their identity on 14 data points, the NaMo App asks for a sweeping access to 22 data points.
“The NaMo App records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS. Modiji is like the ‘Big Boss’ who brazenness likes to spy on Indians,” he said, adding that IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who holds daily press conferences on the issue of data security and democracy has much to answer on the unscrupulous means of Narendra Modi’s personal app.
“Why does Modi, in his own book ‘Exam Warriors’ urges to download the NaMo App. Is Modi now planning to snoop in on minors?
“Modi is misusing the PM’s position to build personal database with data on millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by government,” he added.
The party also said if as PM he wants to use technology to communicate with India, there is no problem in that, but he should use the official PMO app.
Claming neither people’s money, nor Aadhaar details or personal details of people are secure under Modi government, Singhvi said: “No wonder this government fought against making right to privacy as a fundamental right and did nothing when our banks were looted by fraudsters.”
Earlier, the Congress, on its official Twitter handle, said that the ‘WithINC’ was only a membership app and had not been in use since the party moved membership to www.inc.in from November 16, 2017 and there has been no breach of data from it.
—IANS
